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The Villages
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Charlie Crist’s running mate visits Villages, makes light of ‘fangate’

Annette Taddeo took a moment to make light about the "fangate" episode that dominated discussion after a recent gubernatorial debate.
Annette Taddeo took a moment to make light about the “fangate” episode that dominated discussion after a recent gubernatorial debate.

The Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor in a not-to-be-missed yellow dress, Annette Taddeo, made her second appearance in The Villages on Friday afternoon in the Barnes and Noble parking lot. Former Governor Charlie Crist’s running mate on the November election ballot, Taddeo came to Central Florida for a special meeting with volunteers from the Tri-County Unified Progressives and members of The Villages Democratic Club.

A Colombian-born American, Taddeo is married to psychologist, Dr. Robert Goldstein, and has a four-year-old daughter. She owns ‘Language Speak,’ a company which provides its clients with translation services in 240 languages. She is Chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party and in 2008 was the Democratic nominee for Congress in South Florida’s 18th District.

Taddeo began her talk by saying: “I am one of Charlie Crist’s biggest fans. We are about to turn Florida blue — that’s ‘Azul’ in Spanish — this state is going to be Azul / blue after November 4. And as you notice, I brought my own fan with me. It’s purple, because I couldn’t find a blue one, but we’re going to turn it blue. I can’t forget Governor Scotts ‘FANtrum’ during the second debate. Scott wanted to fight about a little fan, but he won’t fight for the people of Florida — for seniors, for education, for scientists who tell us about climate change. Instead, Scott goes hunting in Texas with his cronies from the sugar industry, and comes back and puts them on his board to clean up the sugar industry.

Annette Taddeo with Julian Timoner, left, and David Koller.
Annette Taddeo with Julian Timoner, left, and David Koller.

“Last time,” Taddeo continued, “Scott bought the election with $75 million of his own money — and we all know how he got that money. This time, he said he wasn’t going to do that — but he just wrote a big check — so I guess he feels worried. There are only eleven days to go — so there’s more to come. This is the tail-end of the campaign trail, and I’m here because we need your help to get out the Democratic vote.

“If you remember last time, the election was decided by only 61,000 votes,” Taddeo emphasized. “So we are looking under every rock, finding anyone who agrees with Charlie Crist, to vote Democratic. And we want each of you to ask five friends who are Democrats, who weren’t going to vote, to go with you to the polls. The Republicans tend to do better with absentee ballots, and we tend to do better during early voting — so the best is yet to come.”

“We want to turn Florida back to the people,” Taddeo said to cheers from the nearly one hundred assembled listeners from The Villages, from Wildwood, from Marion and Lake counties. “That’s why Charlie Crist was nicknamed ‘the people’s governor — because he listens to the people. He fought the big insurance companies who wanted to cheat the people with their hurricane claims. He goes against the special interests on the people’s behalf.”

 Sumter County Deputies stationed themselves at the perimeter of the parking lot for what was a very peaceful rally.
Sumter County Deputies stationed themselves at the perimeter of the parking lot for what was a very peaceful rally.

She accused Scott of cutting college aid for 50,000 students and called for equal pay for women.

“We will declare ‘First Day Fairness’ on November 6 in Tallahassee,” Taddeo said proudly. “From day one, we will raise the minimum wage to $10.10. We will be an open government — open to the media — not like Governor Scott, who likes to hide. We’re going to bring Florida government back into the sunshine where it belongs. We will keep Florida tax dollars in Florida to benefit Florida.”

In reply to an audience question about refinancing student loans, Taddeo promised to bring back Bright Futures scholarships — and we need to work with students so they don’t worry about getting into debt before they even graduate.”

Another questioner asked about ‘non-violence.’ “We will have a governor that believes in helping people get better and become productive citizens,” Taddeo replied. “If our citizens need help, we will give them the help they need — and Charlie supports immigration reform,” Taddeo answered another questioner — “Charlie will move forward with this. We can’t pretend we don’t have a bunch of people living in the shadows in this country — because we do. Scott is a governor who wants Arizona-style immigration laws. But Charlie believes in creating a path toward citizenship.”

“Governor Scott turned down $51 billion in federal funds for Florida Medicaid — now, that’s more like $64 billion we have left on the table. It doesn’t make any sense. That money came from Florida taxpayers — it’s your money — and it belongs back in Florida helping needy people. We sent that money to Washington, DC, and we want it back.”

Taddeo closed her talk with the assertion: “The Republicans have been taken over by the Tea Party agenda. Floridians without insurance is not OK, because we all pay when people go to the hospital and can’t pay their bills. We want to close the ‘donut hole’ in Medicare — this is our top priority to help seniors — so they don’t have to pay more than they can afford for prescription drug coverage. We need to curb the special utility interests too — so they don’t keep raising our electric bills.”

“I’m excited about Charlie Crist becoming Florida Governor again,” Bob Janson, president of The Villages Democratic Club, said, “and I think Annette Taddeo will make a very active Lieutenant Governor. Please come out to vote and encourage your Democratic neighbors to vote also. I also think David Koller will be a very positive change from Rep. Rich Nugent in our Congress.”

 

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