BY STEVE ROTHAUS, SROTHAUS@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Two of Miami-Dade County’s best-known conservative groups have launched an alliance to elect like-minded candidates this fall.
“If any candidate wants to get elected to public office in Miami-Dade County and all of South Florida, then they need to work with fair-minded, pro-life, pro-family citizens of this community,” said Anthony Verdugo, executive director of the Christian Family Coalition, which has united with the Catholic Cultural Fund for the 2012 election cycle.
Flanked by a half-dozen endorsed candidates, Verdugo and Eladio José Armesto of the Catholic Cultural Fund announced the pact at a news conference on Friday.
The coalition came together “through tedious planning and hard work,” Armesto told The Miami Herald. “There’s a great need to share with the electorate the fact that their right to vote is more than a right. It’s an obligation. It’s a duty. It’s a responsibility to our community and to future generations.”
Armesto, also director of the conservative Florida Democratic League, said the Christian Family Coalition and Catholic Cultural Fund “are going to be mobilizing churches and parishes and organizations within the county to ensure the widest participation possible.”
Verdugo says his group represents 100,000 voters and that 29 percent of CFC members say they voted in the 2011 elections.
On Friday, the alliance announced endorsements for the Miami-Dade commission, county and circuit court. In following weeks, they will recommend candidates for Miami-Dade mayor, school board and legislature. It’s uncertain whether an endorsement will be made in the state attorney’s race, Verdugo said.
Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson, running to unseat Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan, accepted the alliance’s endorsement and said she would seek a cost review of Miami-Dade County’s human rights ordinance, which protects gays and lesbians from discrimination in work and housing, and also provides health benefits for same-sex and opposite-sex partners.
Gibson said she “wouldn’t initiate” a repeal of the ordinance, passed in 1998.
“My personal opinion is, if we’re looking at the fact that Dade County already has it, then I’m not going to go take it away,” Gibson said.
Verdugo said not all endorsed candidates “agree 100 percent” with the conservative Christian groups.
“We don’t have a litmus test,” he said. “Our litmus test is qualifications.”
ENDORSEMENTS
County Court
• Enrique “Rick” Yabor
• John M. Rodriguez
• Lourdes T. Cambó
Circuit Court
• Maria Elena Verde
• Victor De Yurre
Miami-Dade Commission
• District 1 - Shirley Gibson
I am so glad that are announcing their endorsements. I will vote the opposite for those hate mongers. Conservative Christian equals hatred and the devil.
Posted by: Lori Shelby | July 06, 2012 at 06:25 PM
niagara falls canada kidnappers, forcible confiners increase their death and id theft tolls, mostly americans, weekly and, think it is fair they accrue kidnap charges this same way, as long as the victim is in captivity (as Davis Is) , one increment charge as long as the victim is a victim, some have thousands of life terms, that is CDN law, and we persist assigning the law, Do The Crime That Is The Time. But the child,Davis, is right for him , It aint right and they know it… tampas must have a foot in niagara falls…selling ..playing with just about any body's life, accruing sentences Christ Jesus has said you will repay, Every Penny. Some Resurrected From The Deads, If you are Christians you know this is, are bewildered coming out of paying their sentence but, like you, they knew. Every one involved with the Davis injustice is going to repay much, robbing Him of His Life With Almighty God Out There. You will be seamlessly pulled out, by Christ Jesus, and as you see one another note how your color and food prefs are changing as proofs k. See the power of the Righteous Judge thru your friends for you start now, somewhere else. Guaranteed on that. You are blaspheming His Name . Tempting Him by this bad behaviour you' judges'. He IS Swift and Sure.THis Davis Has Come To Mind, He Is Mindful of Him.
Posted by: rty | July 06, 2012 at 07:29 PM
Nice move but local elected candidates will have to follow the insane/corrupt laws of an admitted criminal Governor and Senator Rubio does what ever Mitt Romney says. 7/6/2012 Mitt Romney answered the question on the election as follows:
Romney turned to the man seated on his left and seemingly forgetting the ten plus reporters in the room said, “Well between you and me, we have to think about the reality of the situation. Obama is a popular guy and his supporters are hell-bent in getting him reelected. There is one thing that his campaign seems to keep forgetting over and over, and that is how many Americans can’t stand the guy for an obvious reason. Of course I’ll win, I’m the white guy.”
Most voters will be denied the right as it was done when Gov. Jeb Bush promised the State to his brother. Gov. Rick Scott has promised Mitt the State and he already knows he has the State of Florida.
Posted by: Jacke | July 06, 2012 at 07:48 PM
They can isolate themselves all they want, with their anti-human, hate monger agenda. I am going to run for County Mayor and hope to get the support of the LGBT community. You guys make Miami-County a very beautiful and appealing place to live and work with restaurants, clubs, art galleries, Brickell, South Beach, Coconut Grove, upper East Side. 20 years ago, this place was unlivable. Miami-Dade County owes the LGBT community a big thanks, and I am ready to extend it to you guys. THANKS! AND GOD BLESS
Posted by: Remy Martini | July 06, 2012 at 09:39 PM
Shirley Gibson will not unseat Barbara Jordan. Listen, we tollerated Shirley out here because she wanted this city and we got tired of having to deal with her. But, she has overstepped her bounds. First she ran up on Fredrica Wilson and got her butt trounced. Now she's messing with Barbara Jordan. Norman Braman has put her up to this. I hope she learns her lesson this time and goes into retirement, or find a spot where someone is retiring. She is attempting to devide the community.
Posted by: Thetittyman | July 06, 2012 at 09:47 PM
how low the mighty church has fallen; hiding behind second billing with a hate group
Posted by: mike burke | July 07, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Doesn't everyones GAYDAR go beserk when you see Eladio Jose Armesto and Anthony Verdugo? Just sayin'.
Posted by: Mari Cone | July 08, 2012 at 03:47 AM
Evangelical Christians who believe abortion waste should be buried and DETEST profit making from Abortion IN ANY FORM...now hug, embrace and jump into bed with Mitt Romney.
Obama is not a "Christian" so they pour millions of dollars into the campaign of a Mormon who profits out of abortion waste. Just think how they would respond, had it been Obama! They'd be calling him: Baby what?
Nicholas Shaxson/Vanity Fair uncovered WHY Romney fought so hard NOT to disclose his taxes.
"Romney was not only hiding assets in Bermuda, he was also hiding the fact his Bermuda company Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. and Romney made millions investing in Stericycle a medical waste company that disposed of “abortion waste” from clinics and hospitals".
Hypocrisy? What would Jesus say?
http://conlibe.wordpress.com
The Book of Romney
Posted by: conlibe | July 09, 2012 at 09:54 AM
I will vote for all their opponents. These people are very backward, intolerant, and anti-gay. I urge others to do the same.
Posted by: Pedro | July 09, 2012 at 04:52 PM
It's amazing how evil often masks itself as Christian. This is the real tragedy of our times.
Posted by: Kirk Noland | July 11, 2012 at 04:46 PM
Thank you, Steve. They sure as hell don't pass my litmus test. Let's see. Shirley Gibson would NOT repeal the Human Rights Ordinance; How nice of her. She would just check to see if some of its basic underpinnings should be removed?! Due to cost of course. A kinder, gentler Anita Bryant.
NO! to her and all the rest of those "fair-minded" candidates!
Posted by: Ginger | July 11, 2012 at 05:03 PM
Just wondering if Verdugo's group still is tax exempt?
Posted by: Ginger | July 11, 2012 at 05:06 PM
In 1977 there was a Eladio Armesto associated in the medical field, if its the same person there is information about this person that will end his career. how do we find out?
Posted by: Mercedes Gonzalez | August 27, 2013 at 07:48 PM