Q. Do you have any regrets in how you handled the situation regarding your lobbying for Miami-Dade County port security?
A. I regret that it ended up in the newspaper! No, but seriously, I understand why the way it was presented in the Miami Herald and St. Pete Times created some concern. Unfortunately, they didn't get the story right. To be clear, I don't work for a Republican and I don't report to a Republican.
Since before I became Chair, and I have had my own lobbying and consulting firm. Recently, I teamed up with Eric Gould, who served as my former legal counsel from when I was on the House Ways and Means Committee and later worked in the Clinton Administration. In addition to working with me, Eric, a good Democrat, is a partner at Tew Cardenas, a firm that, yes, is part-owned by former Republican Party Chair Al Cardenas but employs Republicans, Democrats and non-partisan folks. Eric asked me to help them lobby on behalf of Miami-Dade County because of our new Democratic majority in Congress. After careful consideration, I decided, because the issue is one that I feel is very important, that it would not conflict with my duties as Party Chair. And it hasn't. In fact, it's opened more doors for Party fundraising than I ever imagined.
Now, I am not and have never been opposed to fully disclosing my outside income as Chair, and I'm certainly not the first chair to have other interests. However, our Party bylaws don't address the issue. But now we are in the process of discussing how to best to go forward. One option is to amend the bylaws with a procedure for disclosure, since that really seemed to be the issue for people that had concerns.
I assure you, I still spend most of my waking hours working for and worrying about the Party. If you don't believe me, just ask my husband!
And finally, if people really are concerned about anything I've done as Party Chair, I encourage you to write to me or call me with your concerns before you go to the papers or secretly videotape my conversations (it's happened!). We're all in this together, and the more we attack our own, especially when the facts aren't clear, the more we cede the upper hand to Republicans. Their Party, for good reason, is getting fired at from all sides. If we want to take back Florida, we should be getting out of the way, instead of taking bullets for them. We have got to stick together and trust one another or we'll never win. (I'm not talking blind, Bush Republican-type trust, but you get what I mean.)
A. I regret that it ended up in the newspaper! No, but seriously, I understand why the way it was presented in the Miami Herald and St. Pete Times created some concern. Unfortunately, they didn't get the story right. To be clear, I don't work for a Republican and I don't report to a Republican.
Since before I became Chair, and I have had my own lobbying and consulting firm. Recently, I teamed up with Eric Gould, who served as my former legal counsel from when I was on the House Ways and Means Committee and later worked in the Clinton Administration. In addition to working with me, Eric, a good Democrat, is a partner at Tew Cardenas, a firm that, yes, is part-owned by former Republican Party Chair Al Cardenas but employs Republicans, Democrats and non-partisan folks. Eric asked me to help them lobby on behalf of Miami-Dade County because of our new Democratic majority in Congress. After careful consideration, I decided, because the issue is one that I feel is very important, that it would not conflict with my duties as Party Chair. And it hasn't. In fact, it's opened more doors for Party fundraising than I ever imagined.
Now, I am not and have never been opposed to fully disclosing my outside income as Chair, and I'm certainly not the first chair to have other interests. However, our Party bylaws don't address the issue. But now we are in the process of discussing how to best to go forward. One option is to amend the bylaws with a procedure for disclosure, since that really seemed to be the issue for people that had concerns.
I assure you, I still spend most of my waking hours working for and worrying about the Party. If you don't believe me, just ask my husband!
And finally, if people really are concerned about anything I've done as Party Chair, I encourage you to write to me or call me with your concerns before you go to the papers or secretly videotape my conversations (it's happened!). We're all in this together, and the more we attack our own, especially when the facts aren't clear, the more we cede the upper hand to Republicans. Their Party, for good reason, is getting fired at from all sides. If we want to take back Florida, we should be getting out of the way, instead of taking bullets for them. We have got to stick together and trust one another or we'll never win. (I'm not talking blind, Bush Republican-type trust, but you get what I mean.)
To Read All The Questions and Answers from the Karen Thruman Q&A CLICK HERE
A Tip Of The Hat To Jennifer Of The Florida Netroots Blog For Facilitating this Event
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