Florida Republicans, Dems, Swap Jabs Over Insults to Hispanics

Tuesday brought another barrage of attacks over Mike Fernandez's departure from Gov. Rick Scott's campaign team, this time with Florida Democrats calling for Scott to fire staffers that allegedly made racially insensitive comments.

"Rick Scotts campaign staff mocked Florida Hispanics like schoolchildren. Thats unacceptable from the people trying to elect a governor in one of the most diverse states in the nation,'' said Ana Rivas Logan in a conference call with reporters. "These anti-Hispanic comments are exactly the kind of comments that made up my mind to leave the Republican Party."

Rivas Logan filed as a Democrat in February, citing hostility toward Hispanics as a reason for her departure from the Republican Party.

"[Scott] needs to take a stand on this,'' she said. "He needs to fire these people and hold them accountable and say that bigotry does not have a place in politics."

Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera said Monday there was no validity to the report of the comments. An email released Tuesday by Republicansindicated that Fernandez never heard the comments he complained about. According to the Miami Herald, a business partner named Luis apparently did on the way to a Chipotle Grill, a Mexican restaurant.

Its culturally insensitive for him to hear a senior staff members [sic] mimicking a Mexican accent on the way to Chipotle. It shows that the team does not understand the culture YOU need to win, Fernandez wrote.

The Republican Party of Florida followed up with comments made by Democrats in a new Web video, noting that it was just last week thatMiami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Annette Taddeo spoke in support of Scott's decision to get on board with offering in-state tuition rates for Dreamers.

"The fact that they will be able to pay the same amount that all Floridians pay to attend the university ... this is something wonderful," said Taddeo.

Republican Executive Committee ChairmanNelson Diaz wondered where the outrage was over former Gov. Charlie Crist's comments about the Cuban community.

"Where was the outrage from Florida Democrats when Charlie Crist insulted the Cuban-American community or Alex Sink made her offensive comment about immigrants?" asked Diaz. "Phony outrage is a specialty that the Florida Democratic Party attempts to perfect each election season.