Martinez announces challenge to Diaz-Balart (R-FL)

Source: The Hill

Former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez announced Tuesday he will challenge longtime GOP Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), setting up a titanic battle in Miami-Dade County likely to focus on U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba.

The long-rumored candidacy of Martinez means Miami-Dade County will see a race between two Cuban émigrés and well-known, colorful politicians. Eight television stations covered Martinez’s announcement Tuesday morning, according to one source who attended the press conference.

In addition to the debate about Cuba, the race should focus on Martinez’s colorful and licentious past.

Florida Republicans immediately attacked Martinez, a Democrat, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). In a release, they predicted a contentious race, “considering Raul Martinez has a history of corruption and indecency.”
Martinez was convicted in 1991 on federal extortion charges. He appealed, and two subsequent trials ended in hung juries.

Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/martinez-announces-challenge-to-diaz-balart-2008-01-22.html

he was a good mayor for hialeah ... the diaz-balart smear machine has already started its smear against martinez.

Former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez will run against one of South Florida's most powerful Cuban-American Republicans.

<snip>

"Raul Martinez, the charismatic but controversial former Hialeah mayor, is returning to politics to challenge one of the most powerful Republicans in the Cuban-American community: U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart.

Martinez's expected announcement Tuesday in front of Hialeah City Hall pits two South Florida political titans -- both admired by large numbers of Cuban Americans.

The campaign will be deeply acrimonious with charges of corruption, and challenges of who's tougher on Fidel Castro's Cuba. Martinez, 58, a Democrat, is the most serious challenger Díaz-Balart, 53, has faced in his 15 years as U.S. congressman.

For Martinez, the campaign will also be a chance to redeem himself -- running a race he has groomed himself for since the late 1980s when his hopes of replacing the legendary Claude Pepper were dashed after federal prosecutors opened a corruption investigation of his dealings with developers."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/388396.html

would have to be the nasty, slimy, unpleasant association of the _Bushes to the Cuban right-wing Congressmen.



Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, and their little pal, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

South Florida could use a change to a Congressman who isn't so caught up in himself. Jesus Christ. What an astonishing a-hole.

Time for change.