Majority leader Marco Rubio has criticized Nancy Argenziano for her comments on two GOP members.
By STEVE BOUSQUET and COLLEEN JENKINS
Published July 16, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - State Sen. Nancy Argenziano's outspoken criticism of House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and Rep. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, brought equally harsh denunciations Tuesday from the House majority leader.
Rep. Marco Rubio, R-Coral Gables, called Argenziano's published remarks "distasteful," "abhorrent," "inaccurate" and "unfair," and asked the Crystal River senator to retract them. Rubio's criticism came a day after Byrd announced plans to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate next year.
Speaking to the Citrus County Chronicle last week, Argenziano called Byrd "the biggest lunatic this state has ever seen."
She also suggested to the Chronicle and the Times that Dean, a first-term lawmaker and former Citrus sheriff, and other House members didn't know enough about medical malpractice to cast an intelligent vote.
All four lawmakers are Republicans. The exchange comes at a time when the Senate, House and Gov. Jeb Bush are struggling to agree on a fix for Florida's malpractice problem.
Argenziano told the newspaper that House members are "drinking the Kool-Aid," which some took as a reference to followers of Jim Jones who took his advice, drank poison and died in Guyana in 1978.
"I have never seen the House as bad as it is now," Argenziano, who served three terms in the House, told the newspaper. "The House members need to get some guts and stop drinking the damn Kool-Aid."
In response, Rubio, the lead political strategist for the 81 House Republicans, released a letter he sent to Argenziano on Tuesday.
"To compare the democratically elected leader of the Florida House to a lunatic like Jim Jones who was responsible for the murder of hundreds of people, including women and children, is simply abhorrent," Rubio wrote.
Although House and Senate leaders have at times sharply disagreed on policy, Rubio added, "Neither I nor any member of the House, Republican or Democrat, has ever compared (Senate) President (Jim) King to a mass killer."
On Tuesday, however, Argenziano told the Times that "stop drinking the Kool-Aid" has become a popular political phrase used by many sparring Senate and House members during this session. She never mentioned Jim Jones when speaking to the Chronicle, she said, and some of her comments were mischaracterized by that newspaper.
She told the Times that she would not retract any of her statements, nor would she apologize. She will write a letter back to Rubio, she said.
In it, she said she'll object to Rubio's depiction of her comments as a "public flogging" of Dean.
"It wasn't a flogging of any kind," Argenziano said. "Those were comments. This is America. You're allowed to have free speech.
"My statements are very true," she said. "(Dean) does not have the information. None of those (House) members have the information the Senate members have been digging up. It's not his fault personally."
This is not the first time Argenziano's blunt-spoken ways have gotten her in trouble. She often clashed with her party's leadership in the House and once had a 25-pound sack of cow manure delivered to a lobbyist.
It's not even the first time Argenziano has used the "Kool-Aid" reference.
In a speech to the Capital Tiger Bay Club shortly after the 2002 election, she described the House as "a tough place" where members are willing "to line up and drink the Jim Jones Kool-Aid."
Though some local GOP members weren't surprised by Argenziano's tactics, they didn't necessarily approve. County Commissioner Gary Bartell, a Republican, said Tuesday that he's concerned the senator's remarks could put Citrus in jeopardy when it comes time to get legislation passed in Tallahassee.
"I believe it's inappropriate to personally attack any elected official," Bartell said. "It's counterproductive."
Others, like many members of Argenziano's hometown North Suncoast Republican Club, don't see any harm in her approach.
"I don't think it's hurting the party at all," said President John Kolley. "It doesn't bother us because the senator and the representative are each going to have their own opinions on issues. The more debate they have, the better we feel."
Argenziano said the criticism won't quiet her.
"You don't have to agree with me ever, and that's fine," she said. "But I still have the right to turn around and say what I see is happening.
"I may say it in colorful terms, but it's because it's such an atmosphere up here that you can't imagine what it's like sitting back in Citrus County."
