Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By ALICIA CALDWELL
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000
This was the renowned "hate tour?"
Ten people sat in a conference room on a steamy Monday night listening to two Democratic legislators, Sen. Kendrick Meek of Miami and Rep. Tony Hill of Jacksonville. With them was Barbara DeVane-Gilberg, a National Organization for Women member and all-purpose activist.
The sum total of the hour-long stump at the Pinellas County Urban League headquarters in St. Petersburg: Get out and vote on Election Day and bring five of your friends.
This was the effort to "spread fear and anger" throughout the state?
It makes you wonder what Florida Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas was thinking when he took a nasty swipe, not once but twice, at the efforts of the Save Florida: Arrive with Five tour.
The June news releases still are posted on the Republican Party Web site. Check them out for yourself at http://www.rpof.org/, under "Latest news."
The vitriol is incongruous with the reality of what happened in the meeting room. And it only serves as traction for the Arrive with Five folks, who are only too willing to use it.
There were several references Monday night to Cardenas' comments. And DeVane-Gilberg was wearing a button with the word "hate" covered with a red slash.
These three, particularly Meek and Hill, have developed something of a folk hero reputation following their sit-in over affirmative action earlier this year at the lieutenant governor's office.
You could hear the reverence in their voices when they talked about the power of the events of that day, and the march a couple of months later in which 11,000 people gathered to object to the way Gov. Jeb Bush proposed to overhaul affirmative action in university admissions.
This tour is an attempt to revive the spirit of those days.
"You all marched and yelled and then you all just went home with your mad self," Hill said.
Meek told the people in the room to ask friends in Pinellas to take the day off work and take people to the polls. They're encouraging people to consider voting absentee if they cannot get to the polls. They're hoping to bring out more women, African-American and Hispanic voters than ever on Nov. 7.
Though the issues they favored -- equal pay for women and affirmative action -- have been the traditional territory of Democrats, they made a point of not talking partisan politics.
"On any given day the Democrats will screw you just the same as the Republicans," Hill said.
Cardenas apparently sees the Meek-Hill road show, which had made 20 previous stops throughout the state, as a real threat: one that is designed to "bash Republicans and conceal soft money donations."
It makes you wonder what Cardenas is so concerned about. Republicans control the governor's office and both houses of the Legislature.
His comments also make one wonder how other Republicans are looking at him these days. The governor's administration has refused to comment on Cardenas' statements.
And it would appear that his lobs at Meek and Hill, who are African-American, are out of step with Republicans nationally.
Earlier this week, George W. Bush appeared at the NAACP annual convention in Baltimore to court the minority vote and express concerns about redlining by banks and racial profiling.
It was a notable visit given that other Republican candidates in recent years have chosen not to appear before the group.
In Florida, the state chapter of the NAACP has called for Cardenas' resignation in recent weeks, citing his comments.
Cardenas was out of town last week and could not be reached for comment.
Meek was left to speculate on what it was all about.
"It's puzzling to me," Meek said. "I just never would have guessed that he would have called this a hate tour. There are a lot of bonafide hate groups in Florida, and we certainly are not one of them."