State (FL) Republican leaders want Arza to resign

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Ever since 4 p.m., the man who is to lead Florida's House of Representatives has been meeting at the Miami Lakes home of state Rep. Ralph Arza to ask him to resign for making racially insensitive comments."

<snip>

"Arza on Friday left multiple voice messages on the cell phone of state Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, in which Arza allegedly used the N-word in response to reports that Barreiro had filed a complaint with the House Rules committee over Arza's racially disparaging comments in describing Miami-Dade's black schools superintendent, Rudy Crew.

Barreiro said an as-yet-unidentified man also left threatening messages about the same time Arza called. Arza referred the matter to Miami police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Florida's black legislative leaders are calling for Arza's removal from office.

"If we let this go, are we saying this is what Cuban Americans think about us? This is what we think about ourselves: that we are niggers?" asked Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, D-Miami. "That's his definition of me, that I'm a nigger. If you say that about one black person, you say that about us all. How dare he."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15839127.htm



Rep. Rafael Arza, R-Hialeah, left.

[demo dutch]

1. What an ass!

[MadMaddie]

2. Republicans of all stripes feel they are priviledged

even if they are at the back of the bus in their political party.....

[Scurrilous]

3. Arza won't heed calls to resign

<snip>

"What began as a state lawmaker's alcohol-fueled racial tirade on a colleague's cell phone exploded onto Florida's political scene Tuesday, as state Rep. Ralph Arza refused entreaties from friends and higher-ups to leave office and found himself increasingly isolated and under investigation from authorities and his own colleagues.

One of Arza's close friends and political allies, incoming House Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami, deserted him: Rubio denied the Hialeah Republican a future leadership post and called on current House leaders to investigate immediately.

Rubio, who spent much of Tuesday trying to persuade Arza to leave office, asked House legal experts to review the process for removing a sitting member of the Legislature.

But Rubio's actions weren't enough for black lawmakers, who said it was too little too late. Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, a Miami Democrat, said she and her colleagues won't even sit in the same room with Arza after his racial slurs against Miami-Dade's African American schools chief."

<snip>

"Democrats say the Arza case -- right down to his plea that alcohol led to inappropriate behavior -- echoes the way congressional leaders dealt with the Mark Foley Internet sex scandal. Though Arza's incident involved racial profanities and potential threats of violence rather than sex, Democrats say that in this case as well, Republican legislative leaders long knew Arza had troubles but neglected to act."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15840458.htm

[badgerpup]

4. I KNEW they were to take that pitcher to the well once too often...

...the one about being drunk at the time, or being an alcoholic.
Now anyone who truly DOES have a problem isn't going to be taken seriously unless they go in for treatment BEFORE they screw up...
and with the way alcoholism affects the mind and behavior and perception, what are the chances of that?

[Judi Lynn]

5. Jeb Bush adds his two cents: Gov. Bush: Arza should resign

Gov. Bush: Arza should resign
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS AND CAROL MARBIN MILLER
[e-mail]
Audio | Messages left by Arza
Audio | Message left by second caller
Audio | Bush comments on Arza
Arza's call is an obscene tirade

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush, who has remained in the background this week while other leaders of the state Republican Party struggled to put out a political fire over a tape recorded, profanity-laced tirade by state Rep. Ralph Arza, today called on the Hialeah lawmaker to resign.

Though Bush had condemned Arza's attacks on colleague Gus Barreiro -- and his use of a racially charged epithet -- he had refrained until today from asking for Arza's resignation.

''I think he should resign, because he's going to be expelled, for starters,'' Bush told reporters. `You might as well do it gracefully.''

Earlier this week, the state House of Representatives' Democratic caucus, which includes 35 members, demanded that Arza step down and issued a resolution stating the minority party would refuse to sit in the same chamber as Arza, who was expected to take a leadership post in next year's Legislature.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15866298.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted on Fri, Oct. 27, 2006email thisprint this
FLORIDA LEGISLATURE
Arza's call is an obscene tiradeThe messages left by legislator Ralph Arza on a colleague's cellphone cursed him and used a racial epithet. A second caller made explicit threats.
Warning: The story and the accompanying audio contain objectionable language that some may find offensive.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND MARC CAPUTO
[e-mail]

a calm voice that betrayed just a hint of inebriation and anger, state Rep. Ralph Arza left a 20-second message on the cellphone of his colleague Gus Barreiro some time after 8 last Saturday night.

''Hey, bitch,'' said Arza, who Barreiro had just accused of using racial slurs in a formal complaint. ``You're nothing but a bitch. You're a bitch. You're nothing but a bitch. God bless you, bitch.''

Sometime later, in a voice just a little less calm, Arza left a second message: ``Hey, bitch. You ain't nothing but a bitch. You ain't nothing but a bitch, brother, my nigger.''

Then the messages got scary.

An as-yet-unidentified man soon left three more recordings in English and Spanish that mixed a string of graphic compound expletives and threats that troubled Barreiro, a Republican like Arza. Barreiro is from Miami Beach. Arza lives in Miami Lakes.

''What you are is a big snitch,'' the second caller, his voice growling and rising in intensity, said. ``I'm gonna get you.''
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15859512.htm



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~snip~
Saavedra and Servilio Perez, who heads the small Cumbre Patriotica Del Presidio Politico Cubano, said they are also planning to launch a recall campaign against School Superintendent Rudy Crew because they feel he has disrespected the exile community. Crew has recently faced off against State Rep. Ralph Arza, a Cuban exile with a reputation for aggressive backdoor political wrangling. Arza recently issued a mea culpa for using racial epithets when talking about Crew, who is black. Crew, who was criticized by some exiles on Spanish language radio when he was hired from New York because of his high salary and status as an outsider, is clearly the target of a political attack by Saavedra and Perez, who pledged their support for Arza, and his state rep. political ally, David Rivera. Rivera has taken heat from some exiles recently for ‘‘demagoguery'' because they say he is paying more attention to Cuban exile issues than state ones.
(snip)

http://blogs.herald.com/cuban_connection/2006/week24/index.html



Arza, right, with Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, left, school board opponent, and Frank Bolaños, middle.