Charlie Crist: Necesitamos un gobernador que tenga corazón

El congresista (D-Fl) Charlie Crist hice una parada en el centro de Kissimmee como parte de su campaña de reelección para la gobernación del estado, en una carrera que lo verá enfrentarse a la comisionada de Agricultura de Florida, Nicole “Nikki” Fried en la primaria demócrata, y luego con el actual gobernador Ron DeSantis, quien busca también la reelección.

Crist considera que DeSantis está “en el camino equivocado” en muchos asuntos que afectan a Florida en la actualidad, como “enviar a los niños a la escuela, asegurarse que los electores tengan su derecho a votar, y está aprobando legislación que hace que eso sea casi imposible”.

“Simplemente creo que necesitamos un gobernador que tenga corazón, a quien le importe la Florida, que tenga compasión”, dijo. “Ya sea que se trate de asuntos como educación, el medio ambiente y, lo que es críticamente importante, nuestros niños, y asegurarse que quienquiera que sea el gobernador, o el secretario del condado de la corte, o el Consejo Escolar, que les importe y entiendan que son nuestro futuro”.

Crist hizo estas delcaraciones en un restaurant cuya dueña, Jackie Espinoza, es de origen puertorriqueño y está aspirando a comisionada de la ciudad de Osceola. Aprovechó de hablar de la importancia de respetar los esfuerzos de los inmigrantes, recordando que él es el nieto de inmigrantes de Chipre y Líbano.

“Deberíamos celebrar a la gente que viene a Florida, uno de los estados más diversos del país. Es una fortaleza. La gente que escoge irse de su propio país para venir aquí no está olvidando su tierra, están buscando una mejor oportunidad, un país compasivo y capitalista”.

Volvió a criticar la reciente legislación que considera limitaría derechos para votar, considerándola “terrible”. “Somos una democracia. Somos la ciudad brillante en la colina para tantos alrededor del planeta que miran a los Estados Unidos para buscar liderazgo, un líder para paz, para fuerzas. Y hay aquellos que buscan suprimir derechos de electores, me parte el corazón.”

Also present was Kelvin Soto, Osceola Clerk of the Circuit Court, who emphasized the importance of public education.”[Crist] wants to understand the state of public schools in Florida,” he said. “Many people who are in these positions have to make big decisions, and have to understand the importance of keeping our children updated in our schools.”

“Education is the equal opportunity provider in our country,” Crist added. “And every county should have the opportunity to decide on their own how to handle that education, it’s what they were elected for. Osceola knows what’s best for them, Orange County knows what’s best for them, and DeSantis wants to limit that capacity. It’s disrespectful.”

He reiterated that DeSantis has been “very disappointing, whether it’s dealing with the pandemic, not dealing with masks, not advocating vaccines, Florida deserves better. We now have 60,000 of our fellow Floridians dead, that’s more than what we lost in the Vietnam war. I just can’t believe that in this day and age he would mock a guy like (Dr. Anthony) Fauci (medical adviser for the Biden administration).”

If he wins the primary, Crist would run against his second incumbent, as he faced Rick Scott in 2014. DeSantis won in 2018 against Andrew Gillum by a little over 32,000 votes, less than 0.4%, which for some is an indication of how divided Florida truly is. Crist is aware of that and he considers it important to work with others to overcome the gap.

“Most say ‘we have a Republican governor, a Republican house, so the heck you all, we’re going to do whatever we want.’ That’s no way to bring people together, that’s more divisive. We don’t need more divisiveness. We need to do what in my opinion President (Joe) Biden is doing, which is try to bring the country back together, and in this case bring Florida back together. Florida is a beautiful place and all people want is to have great education for their children, a safe community to raise them in, a good environment to keep tourism strong and our economy strong. We’re not divided in some of the most basic and important issues, and I will work to achieve that.”

And about people that will refuse to work together? “You never give up. There is too much that we are blessed with. Some aren’t going to come along, I’m not that naive. But you can’t give up. The more you try, the more some will come along and want to work together, to make our state strong.”