Democratic Underground - Alex Villalobos, Florida State Representative from Miami

He has been bashing heads with Jeb for years. A true stand-up guy.

From a 2003 Miami Herald article about how Jeb Bush was against an ERA Amendment for women's rights.

Bush poked fun at the ERA movement, deriding it as ''kind of a retro subject'' during a question-and-answer session with reporters.

''It's like going back and wearing bell bottoms,'' chuckled Bush, a Republican, going on to say that the quarter-century-old ERA debate is ''in the category'' of the movement by California businessman Ward Connerly to ban affirmative action through voter referendums -- a move Bush has called ``divisive.''

Sen. Alex Villalobos, the Miami Republican who heads the state Senate Judiciary Committee, has scheduled the measure for a vote Tuesday, which would mark the first such movement in the state Legislature on the ERA since 1982.

Villalobos said Wednesday that he wants to pass the ERA as a gift to his wife, Barbara, and his 12-year-old daughter Katie. ''How can someone oppose this?'' Villalobos asked. ``Why should my daughter not have the same opportunity as everybody else? Why should she be paid less someday?''

http://www.la.utexas.edu/~seant/govbush.html

From a 2006 Miami Herald article about how Jeb vetoed a record $448 million for public spending:

One Republican who broke with Bush was Sen. Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican. After Villalobos blocked the governor's plans last year, Bush vetoed a spinal cord research project at the University of Miami backed by Villalobos. Villalobos said it was ''inexplicable'' because Bush initially had supported the measure as well.

This year, the spinal cord project made it, but new money Villalobos backed for Jackson Memorial Hospital lost out. Bush cut a $20 million line-item, which the hospital says it needs to help take care of the indigent. Jackson is the largest provider of charity care in Florida and is one of the largest in the nation.

''I know that you're searching: Where's the Villalobos projects? This is not about politics,'' Bush said, chiding reporters before he was asked about it. ''This isn't about retribution at all. This is not my money. If it was my money, then it would be appropriate for retribution, perhaps.'' Bush, however, admitted he rewarded some supporters in the budget, and that his vetoes could have been higher still.

''I don't know what to tell a parent whose child has diabetes that the governor has vetoed research money. I don't know what to tell Jackson, that their hospital doesn't deserve more state help for helping the state,'' Villalobos said.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14670936.htm

From a 2006 Miami Herald article about Jeb Bush watching his school voucher plan fail by one vote, thanks to Villalobos:

TALLAHASSEE - In a stinging loss for Gov. Jeb Bush's education legacy, the state Senate narrowly defeated a plan to ask voters to protect and expand his voucher program that sends public money to private schools.

The Republican-controlled Senate killed the proposed constitutional amendment by a single vote, with four Republicans -- including Majority Leader Alex Villalobos of Miami -- rejecting a hard sell from the governor that the measure was needed to reverse a recent state Supreme Court decision that ruled his 1999 voucher program unconstitutional.

Villalobos, whose wife is a schoolteacher, paid a steep price: Senate President Tom Lee stripped him of his post as majority leader minutes after the vote, saying he no longer viewed the Miami senator as a team player.

Villalobos defended what he said was a vote of conscience intended to do what was best for his district.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14476811.htm

And just a few hours ago about how he is one of six South Florida republicans who came out against another republican for making racist remarks against the Miami-Dade superintendent, who is black.

Gus Barreiro, one of the six republicans that are taking a stand, is also someone I respect because he was the one that raised hell over that video of that 14-year-old black kid getting beat to death in a North Florida boot camp. The republicans wanted to keep it under wraps and he said bullshit, and went to the media and spilled his guts and now there is an investigation.

http://www.local10.com/news/9426799/detail.html

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