Does it seem strange to anyone else that in the new year one of the Florida Democratic Party's most prominent outcasts is doing more to promote the party's current and long-term interests than the FDP leadership is?
Leslie Wimes is raising money, planning programs, gathering literally thousands of members in the Democratic African-American Women's Caucus (DAAWC) -- more than 4,000 at last count.
It's an organization the FDP didn't ask for, apparently didn't want and said last year it wouldn't charter. And itstill hasn't.
Wimes told Sunshine State News on Sunday, "We have work to do. A higher percentage of Florida African-American women voted Democratic in 2010 than they did in 2014."
While other Democrats are still licking their wounds and clawing to survive before the critical leadership meeting at the end of January, Wimes is producing perhaps the only positive energy, the only real leadership, that many of us can see in or around the FDP. Her DAAWC has collected impressive contributions from the Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Teachers, Progressive Choice Florida and more than $15,000 from private individuals. On top of that, the organization is hustling candy bars and T-shirts.
"Funny thing is," Wimes said, "before the election (FDP Chairwoman) Allison Tant went to Virgie Rollins, chair of the Democratic National Committee Black Caucus,to try to shut us down, and guess what? Virgie has become one of our caucus' biggest supporters. Allison goes to one black woman to shut another black woman down, can you believe it? I can tell you, it didn't go over well with our members."
The DAAWC is sponsoring a leadership training event to include a number of celebrity leaders includingJennie Blackton, an experienced political communications consultant for candidates, state parties, and progressive organizations. The event is set forApril 25 at the W Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
On top of that, Wimes and the DAAWC are getting ready to launch "A Political Moment with the DAAWC" -- a daily radio show featuring elected officials, particularly legislators, who can keep Floridians abreast of current events and their political significance.
She is trying to arrange a meeting with Gov. Rick Scott, too. "For now, he's our governor," Wimes says. "It's in our interest to understand what his plans are on some of the issues important to us, and I'm hoping maybe he will take a few minutes to meet with me."
It just strikes me that Leslie Wimes is energized by the Democrats' rebuilding task ahead, not gutted by it -- that she, in fact, could teach other party leaders something about real leadership.
While Allison Tant has failed to galvanize the party's grassroots, particularly its African-American women, here comes Wimes -- she who must not be forgiven -- the woman who committed the cardinal sin of loudly backing Democratic former state Sen. Nan Rich for governor all the way through primary day and roundly criticizing Tant's leadership -- and she's like a rushing freight train. It's charismatic. No leader of any other Democratic organization in Florida is doing as much right now to prepare for a Hillary Clinton victory in the Sunshine State.
Seems to me Dem leaders need to get over themselves. Wimes isn't competition and she isn't their enemy. She's an asset. A huge one at that. Time to pull her back into the fold and capitalize on what she's got.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
