Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant is doing it again, deciding who can run and who can't. This time she might have brought on a ton of hurt for herself by blackballing an African-American woman from North Palm Beach -- and one who's probably no better at quitting than Nan Rich was.
Time will tell.
Pam Keith, 46-year-old daughter of a career diplomat -- articulate, fluentin Spanish and French, a former judge advocate in the U.S. Navy, former in-house counsel for Florida Power & Light Co. -- is trying a 2016 run for the U.S. Senate.
Keith said she's had one and only one conversation with Tant.
"(Tant) said it's great I want to run but the party is solidifying behind Patrick Murphy in the Senate race," Keith told me in a telephone interview Thursday. "... And the way the conversation was going, she said she could work it so (the state party) would get behind me if I went for Patrick's House seat instead. ... But there was no follow-up after that. Only silence. She didn't answer my texts, didn't answer my emails.
"That's when I realized they've been out there for a while recruiting candidates for Patrick's seat. I'm not very savvy in these things, but don't you think if they really wanted to recruit me, they would have called me? ... It was only a talking point when I didn't want to quit the Senate race."
Progressive activist Leslie Wimes isn't surprised at Tant's "shabby treatment" of Pam Keith. Miffed over Wimes' steady and vocal support of Nan Rich over Charlie Crist in last year's gubernatorial primary, Tant retaliated by denying a charter to Wimes' thousands-strong Democratic African-American Women's Caucus.
"Of course, she's a racist," Wimes said of Tant. "She had a chance last year to galvanize the base by being inclusive of African-American women, but she doesn't care. She doesn't think we're important. But, hey, she is what she is, she victimized Pam with shabby treatment, what else is new?
"African-American women are going to rally behind Pam," Wimes said. "All they have to do is listen to what she has to say."
Keith, whose specialty in legal practice is workplace law, describes herself as a centrist, pro-business Democrat. She said she's wanted to be a senator ever since she realized she had more solutions than the officeholder has.
"I guess it was about two years ago, I was listening to Marco Rubio give a response to the president's State of the Union address and he was anemic, pointless, sweaty and just uncomfortable to look at, and I thought, 'I've got a better message than that and I could have done a better job than he just did. Way better. So I started to get my game together."
Keith's campaign website, including a video of the candidate, is fully up and running.
Though she has never run for office, in fact never held office, lacks the political connections of her primary opponent, lacks his money machine, she isn't scared off. "I don't want to overstate the intentions of the Democratic Party, or how they work. I know there are a lot of people clearing the decks for Patrick Murphy, and I understand it. He's a nice guy. I supported him in a lot of different ways last time out," she explained.
"But I was in this race first. I am not running against Patrick Murphy, Patrick Murphy is running against me."
Where everybody is convinced Murphy is the better candidate because of how much money he can raise, Keith said, "they have never ever seen me in action. They have no idea what I bring to the table. It may not be dollars, but it's not 'nothing'."
She said, "Polls tell us voters are tired of political operatives who polish every word out of their mouths yet say nothing. There are so many things I'm learning as I go. I think people just want someone who comes from their own experience, who can recognize what they deal with and find a way to make their life better."
Said Wimes, "It's fantastic Pam Keith is running. She brings a fresh perspective -- it's blacker, it's browner, it's younger and it's smarter. I think, if she gets to meet and talk to enough people, she can rally the same spirit that elected President Obama, and I have no doubt the Florida Democratic African- American Women's Caucus will lead the charge."
Allison Tant did not return my call Thursday either to her cellphone or her office.
"I am in this because I am committed," Keith told me. "I am not here to burn bridges with the Democrats or anybody else. But I am asking to be given a chance and I don't understand, why are they so eager to shut me up?I think the decision of who should represent the Democrats should be made by Democrats, not just certain Democrats.
"What they don't know about me is, I'm a bad-ass," she said. "I'm a warrior, I'm tough. If somebody's taking the battle to me, I'll fight back, because I believe in what I'm doing here. I'm all in."
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
