Every year the South Florida Cystic Fibrosis Foundation holds a charity gala, at which they nominate couples to for South Florida's Finest Couple. This year Ltc Allen West and his wife Angela were given the honor to be nominated, that is until politics apparently started to play a hand. The executive director of the foundation called him and asked him to withdraw due to pressure he was receiving. The pressure apparently is coming from political opponents families, most notably the wife of Ron Klein, his democratic challenger for the congressional seat they are both running for, as well close friends of the Klein family.
Andrea Levy, a close enough friend of the Klein's that she was invited to see Obama speak during the health care debate, released a statement that says in part:
I have cystic fibrosis and my family has been supporting the foundation for 20 years now. We are dedicated to foundation in their efforts to improve my quality of life and the lives of 30,000 others. … Allen West is speaking lies about my family and it hurts me deeply. As someone who is directly dealing with the disease, my family would NEVER I repeat NEVER withdraw their support for (the foundation) for any reason EVER. The truth is (the foundation) asked that he step down from being honored since he is a political candidate and the election is 6 weeks after the event. As a nonprofit organization, they are not suppose to involve themselves in politics and it gives the impression that the foundation is endorsing a candidate. Don't believe everything you read! My family and Congressman Klein have done nothing wrong. The foundation simply asked Allen West to kindly step down and this is the maturity that he shows!Another statement released:
"Let me be clear, no threats, financial or otherwise, were made by me, or my friend Dori Klein, against the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. None. What I did do was express my concern about an upcoming event that I felt had been unnecessarily politicized. As a mother, I have zero patience for anyone attempting to make a political issue out of what is, quite simply, a life-and-death matter. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a nonprofit, not a political organization, and it is my strong feeling that no current candidates for office should be honored at Foundation events."
The problem with the above statement is that in the recent past the following people have been honored:
Governor Charlie Crist
Angel Gomez - Weston City Commissioner
Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp
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6 comments:
It's all fine if the charities are honoring Democrats.
That's their message, and that is terrible.
Blatent socialist politicing and I might add obvious racism.
Ah, me detects a few sour grapes ...
If the situation were reversed, and the other side was Republican, it would be derided as yet another example of our racism.
I am not going to get into the raaaacist thing, but it certainly seems political.
In the last five years, 22 of the finest couples candidates were politicans. 17 of those 22 were Democrats. When Mayor Stacey Ritter was honored one year and chaired the event the following year during a re-election campaign, no one cried and complained.
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