Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist’s running mate paid a visit to The Villages Saturday morning.
At a meeting of the Villages Democratic Club at Colony Cottage Recreation Center, club president Bob Janson introduced Colombian-born American, Annette Taddeo, proprietor of ‘Language Speak,’ a company which provides translations in 240 languages. Until recently, Taddeo, who is married to Dr. Robert Goldstein and has an eight-year-old daughter, was chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.
A theme in Taddeo’s talk was unity,and “coming together for the good of America.” I am a Latina and a Jew, and my husband is a real ‘mensch.’ My father is American, my mother is Colombian, so I was born as an American citizen via ‘parental rights’ in Colombia, South America. “That is the only thing I have in common with Ted Cruz,” she quipped. “But it doesn’t matter where we come from — we are a diverse country — we may be Hispanic, African -American, White, even Asian — we all have something to give to our country.
“This is not an ‘off year,'” Taddeo emphasized. “No election year is an ‘off year.’ They are all important. We cannot lose ground. We must all get out and vote, and encourage our friends and neighbors to vote for Democratic candidates also. Neighbor-to-neighbor, face-to-face, we can convince others their vote is important. We moved the needle in Miami-Dade,” Taddeo continued. “We overwhelmingly won the Hispanic vote in Miami-Dade — people who want government for the middle class — not from the top down.”
Taddeo has known Crist a long time, since she became involved in the Chamber of Commerce as a business owner. “Even when Charlie was a Republican, he thought like a Democrat,” she asserted. “He didn’t realize it at the time, but he really was a Democrat at heart,” she said. “When we had horribly long lines in 2008, when people in Miami-Dade had to wait hours to vote, Charlie went against his [Republican] party and extended the voting hours…and Charlie has always supported teachers. Education is one of our top issues.”
“We are in a ‘test’ environment — where teachers must ‘teach to a test,’ Taddeo continued. “I am not a good test taker, and neither is Charlie,” she revealed. Taddeo had to take two years of remedial courses in order to qualify for the University of Northern Alabama because of her language deficit. Despite a slight , charming , Spanish accent, she had the crowd laughing when she mimicked the  ‘y-all drawl’ she learned in Alabama. “If we lose good students because they can’t keep up with English classes, we are losing the benefits that can come from a lot of smart citizens,” she said. “We are leaving good people behind.”
“Charlie has so many good ideas. If he is in the Governor’s mansion again, he will move us forward into new energies — like solar energy, and get us away from the electric and coal monopolies. The special interests in Tallahassee work with the big corporations — we need to have regular people sitting at the decision-making table s . I have had to meet a payroll and worry about my employees and the well-being of their families — it is not easy. But we need to change direction.”
“Charlie is for women’s rights. Many of us remember when businesswomen couldn’t get a bank loan without their husbands’ signatures. We have come a long way.” Taddeo drew loud applause when she said: “Charlie has his own personal views based on his religion, but he believes it is very important the government stay out of decisions that should be made between a woman and her doctor.”
“I know this is a Democratic meeting, but I want us all to unite, regardless of party, for the good of the people and the good of America — this is a new century, with new technology, new thinking — we need to care for the people and the children.”
When asked in a Q&A session whether Florida should expand Medicaid, Taddeo’s answer was “Absolutely ‘yes.’ If he has to call aspecial session to expand Medicaid, Charlie will do it. It is unbelievable Governor Scott turned down $51 billion of our money — money Floridians paid to Washington . It was a cruel decision, because approximately one million Flori d ians are without health care insurance. California got our money. California got the Federal funds, which Floridians paid to the Federal government, instead of Florida.”
“Rick Scott also turned down the high-speed bullet train,” Taddeo continued. “We want to pass that. That will create hundreds of new jobs. We don’t want the slow train. We want to work with the scientists to advance in scientific areas, and we need better gun safety and ‘stand your ground’ laws.” The audience applauded when Taddeo said: “The NRA runs the gun bills in the House now, and that is not right. They need to be fixed.”
The last question asked about the Crist/Taddeo position on immigration. “We are running against a guy [Scott] who likes the Arizona immigration law,” Taddeo said. “We need a comprehensive immigration law. The legislators in Washington have been so busy suing our president, they haven’t moved ahead with immigration reform. This is an issue which has to be looked at with sensitivity because these are human beings and children involved. These children have been through so much — they need to be treated humanely. There has been so much ugly, hatred expressed by extremists. We Americans are so much better than that,” she declared with emotion . “But I can tell you what happens to children like that that go through rough times. They come through it with more resolve — they become stronger, more determined adults.”
The candidate for lieutenant governor impressed many in the crowd.
“I like her. I really really like her. No notes, all heart. She’s real, she’s genuine. She’s very in touch with the people and with Florida — she knows what Florida needs,” said Gayle Marra of the Village of Fernandina.
