First Lady Michelle Obama was in Orlando on the campus of UCF rallying the Democratic base on behalf of her husband, President Barack Obama. However, inside the Venue prior to her speech, two prominent Orange County Democratic Party Executive Board Members were overheard putting down current party members and precinct leaders.
Carlos Smith, Communications Chair, and Jenna Tosh, Finance Chair, were overheard numerous times speaking loudly in a crowded waiting area hours before the First Lady’s speech. Tosh also serves as President/CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando in addition to her role helping raise money for the local Democratic County Party.
The negative comments continued during the wait, raising the question if the local party leaders were doing the opposite of what the First Lady hoped to do: unify and rally the party. This emphasizes the lingering questions about how strong and unified the local Democratic Party really is right now, as these comments were said in a crowded public place, not a private meeting or backroom. With less than 100 members in a county of 273,981 registered Democratic voters, this behavior could be what is preventing the party from growing during a critical Presidential year.
As reported earlier by West Orlando News, several key Hispanic and Latino leaders have grown very frustrated with the current local party and recruitment of new members in the African-American precincts was severely low, if not non-existent ahead of the August 14th primary, where new precinct leaders will be elected for both parties.
However, there was also some mix ups with ticketing and the lines. Several Democratic Party supporters, volunteers and activists waited in line for over 2 1/2 hours standing and were never told the event was overbooked. Key Obama Florida staff waited until many began leaving and then had to tell others standing in line that the event was indeed overbooked. This left senior citizens and loyal supporters frustrated in the heat, even causing at least one group with a senior to leave the event completely in sheer anger over the lack of communication and support from staff, after waiting for hours in the heat.
It seems the First Lady may have more of a challenge on her hands in Central Florida then she may have thought.
This is the dumbest article I’ve ever read. People in politics like to gossip?!?! STOP THE PRESSES!
This article is wrong. The Democratic Party is unified and strong and a couple of people talking loudly at an event does not change that. We all have opinions about people we know, but at the end we are all Democrats together and we all oppose Rick Scott and we want to see our county go blue. Whoever wrote this doesn’t know the first thing about our party.
Well, it’s official. I will now not vote for anyone who is affiliated with this news source. Take this Pine Hills person off your list!
Let’s see… an article written by “Sources” where conversations were “overheard” – this is the crappiest reporting I’ve ever seen. Oh wait, but this isn’t the first time West Orlando News has posted anonymous articles about rumors and hearsay is it… You write slanted, hateful garbage, not news.
I believe the discussion was about democratic leaders who create strife instead of unifying the party, which would be entirely agreeable to the First Lady’s hopes. I agree with Carlos and Jenna that we do need to stop strife in the party and unite to win this election. I’m not sure if Carlos and/or Jenna would agree with me in saying this, but I have a feeling that if Mike Cantone left, a lot of this strife would cease to exist. That’s just me, though. I could be wrong.
This is petty gossip disguised as journalism. The Democratic party has a problem indeed: attention seeking “news” sources feel compelled to write stories like this. Really pathetic.