I stopped by the Village Square yesterday, April 23, to see and hear representatives of a number of local political, civic and religious groups discuss ways of uniting around common issues and concerns for the upcoming election. It was a multiracial, multicultural and interfaith gathering that gave me a smattering of hope that maybe this time talk would translate to action.A presentation of racial demographics and minority voting statistics highlighted the potential power of a multi-racial/multi-cultural, interfaith political coalition, but some of the persons present thought the effort was just another in a l0ng line of meetings that would produce no real strategy for going forward.
“Can we agree to come up with a plan before we leave today?” asked Cynthia Harris, a former member of the executive board of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
But with more than 50 people in attendance, the likelihood of a plan coming out of Saturday’s meeting was close to nil. The date and time of a second meeting was raised, but not answered publicly.
Several candidates stopped by the meeting, including Harold Bacchus, a partner in the law firm of a candidate for judge in Group 5.
Gisela Then Laurent of the Laurent Law Firm spoke passionately during the meeting about the need to back and financially support the (coalition’s?) candidates, noting that as a Latina proudly associated with her Haitian husband, she was risking being rejected by non-approving white voters at the polls.
Anita Bradford, wife of Wendell, was also present. She is a current candidate for Deltona City Commission, District 2.
“This is historic,” Dr. Vilbert White-Muhammad said. White is the Regional Director of the American Muslim Democratic Caucus of Florida. He underscored the importance of determining whether the candidates had loyalties to groups with interests opposed to that of the minority community. Some people “won’t want to see this [kind of coming together],” he said, “but we’re moving on.”
Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowell had apparently been invited to offer a few remarks at the meeting’s end. Largely because of his presence, a number of residents of the Greater Washington Shores Area complained that the meeting was governed by the Florida Sunshine Laws and that they had not been given notice of the event. But the fact that Cowell– or any other member of a governmental board or commission– may have attended the meeting is not sufficient on its own to invoke the Florida Sunshine Laws.
Groups like the Orange County Voters League, which I chaired for about 3 years, frequently have Cowell come out to speak to its members. The purpose of the law is to make sure that “two or more members” of the same board or commission don’t meet in private to discuss matters likely to come before that board or commission. So, when a member of a “board” (or an elected official) meets with private citizens, the sunshine law does not normally apply.
I hope the group continues to meet, strategize and develop a plan for meaningfully engaging voters both here and statewide. Lord knows its way past time.
