Just days after a trial court judge dismissed his suit challenging his razor-thin August primary election defeat, sources close to Democratic Rep. John Patrick Julien tell Sunshine State News the legislator is considering a party switch.
Julien, of North Miami, is one of Floridas three Haitian state legislators, each of whom are Democrats but have come under fire from their party leadership for their stances in favor of businesses, school choice and the right to life of the unborn.
Weeks ago, a political consultant from one of Floridas major bipartisan consulting firms suggested to the News that the Sunshine State's Haitian-born state legislators were the victims of a political ethnic cleansing" by state Democratic Party officials in retaliation for their voting records.
I am insulted, an indignant Julien tells Sunshine State News in a sit-down interview. My party leadership expects that I, as a black person and someone whose family fled a dictatorship, came to this land of democracy and freedom so I could be a slave to them? Im insulted that they would expect that of me.
Though both he and his five children are public-educated, Julien tells the News that not everyone is as fortunate to live in the neighborhoods in which his children have been raised, and he sees school choice as the only vehicle for some poor students to obtain the same quality education their wealthier peers have at their disposal. And he insists his commitment to school choice is consistent with what he believes to be the core principles of his own Democratic Party.
One hundred percent of the children who benefit from these so-called vouchers are poor. There isnt a single rich kid who benefits from them, he says. Im a black person, an immigrant, in the Democratic Party, and were supposed to be the ones who care about the poor and the downtrodden. Youve got a program that benefits only the poor, and youre opposed to it? Why? Give me a logical explanation why I should oppose it.
Sixty percent of those who benefit from these types of programs are blacks and Hispanics, he continues. Its been proven with hard facts that for every dollar we spend on vouchers, it would cost the public school system $1.49 [to educate the same child]. If you relieve the burden on the public schools, youre helping the public schools. And what is wrong with educating a poor child?
He says his dedication to the sanctity of unborn life is informed by the same spirit that motivates his partys claimed commitment to civil rights, especially because a disproportionate number of abortion victims are unborn blacks.
I believe theres a very Machiavellian reason behind the abortion-rights movement, he says. I happen to be one of those people who love history. I understand what the maafa was, maafa is a Swahili word used by some historians to refer to historic persecution of black people by whites I also understand what eugenics is all about. And I understand where Planned Parenthood got its origins in all of that. So to me, when I look at abortions, I put all those things in their proper context, and I see that the very same reasons why we should say that the Holocaust should never have occurred are the same reasons we should say abortion should not occur: its genocide.
Julien lost his House seat in one of the states most hotly contested primaries by 13 votes to Rep. Barbara Watson of Miami Gardens. Both Julien and Watson were incumbents fighting for the same seat, where they both ended up from recent legislative redistricting.
Julien alleged that Watson made use of boleteros, or ballot-brokers, to collect fraudulent or manipulated absentee ballots from at least 16 senior citizens. Julien won most of the Election Day and early voting ballots, but Watson pulled in a majority of the absentees.
On Wednesday Chief Judge Charles Francis of the Second Judicial Circuit Court of Florida upheld Watsons victory, finding that [t]here was not any evidence of payment for a vote.
On Thursday Juliens attorney, former Republican state Rep. J.C. Planas, told Sunshine State News his client would probably be appealing his case to the Florida House of Representatives. To prevail, Planas says he will have to prove that Watson not only profited from electoral fraud, but did so knowingly.
Julien says Watson paid one Carline Paul $1,000 to collect ballots on her behalf; he also says she paid another $5,000 to one Noucelie Josna, whose own business card identifies her as The Queen of Absentee Ballots.
Watsons attorney, Christopher Benjamin, told Sunshine State News that Paul was only paid to run a campaign ad during her Haitian-creole radio show. This while, according to the Miami Herald, Paul was being paid $14,000 by Miami-Dade County to explain to Haitian voters how they can cast ballots, either in person or through absentee ballots.
As for Josna, Benjamin says Watson did not pay her to collect absentee ballots on her behalf, but only to canvass, i.e., to go door-to-door handing out campaign fliers. He says his client did not know that Josna calls herself the Queen of Absentee Ballots, and says that, to the best of his knowledge, the work Josna has done to earn the title is perfectly legal.
Planas had told Sunshine State News Tuesday, I have several people from two nursing homes [in Juliens district] who have said to me they didnt vote, even though their vote is being counted; however, he did not produce any witnesses to that effect during Wednesdays trial.
On Friday an appeals court upheld the primary election defeat of another of Planass clients, Democrat Mack Bernard of West Palm Beach. Bernard decided not to appeal his case and conceded the win to opponent Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth.
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews or at (954) 235-9116.
