Email insights: Duval GOP claims “Alvin Brown reaches out to the radical left”

Alvin Corrine Gutierrez

“To the left, to the left,” went the Beyonce lyric, and so too goes the claim from the Republican Party of Duval County toward Mayor Alvin Brown, the self-styled conservative Democrat whom they accuse of “reaching out to the radical left” in a “desperate act to save his faltering campaign.”

Specifically, the email says, by inviting “super liberal” U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois to speak at a GOTV rally targeting Hispanic voters this past week, an event co-headlined by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown.

The Duval Republicans assert that “Gutierrez is one of the most radical members of the Congress,” and to that end, they have compiled several past statements the congressman tendered about Republicans, who “despise and hate all of our children” and who “want to punish our community, and that punishment will be met with an electoral punishment.”

Beyond their alleged penchant for despising and hating all of the children, Gutierrez homes in on the “real, fundamental problem” the Republicans face, which is “how do we get nastier with immigrants, so that we can take a smaller group.”

The GOP provides a list of what they contend are questionable votes made by the Illinois Democrat.

Voted NO on maintaining the work requirement for welfare recipients. (Mar 2013)
Voted to increase the federal government debt limit from $14.3 trillion to $16.7 trillion. (Jul 2011)
Voted YES on additional $825 billion for economic recovery stimulus package. (Jan 2009)
Voted NO on requiring a photo ID for voting in federal elections. (Sep 2006)
Voted NO on protecting the Pledge of Allegiance. (Sep 2004)
Rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record. (Dec 2003)
Voted NO on making the Bush tax cuts permanent. (Apr 2002)
Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
Voted NO on vouchers for private & parochial schools. (Nov 1997)
In what is clearly an email to the base, the Republican Party aims to tie Gutierrez’s record with the new populist rhetoric from Brown. Brown has not taken any of the positions himself, and it is hard to imagine a scenario in which he would.
That said, Gutierrez has already recorded robocalls for the campaign that   obviously be targeted to Hispanic voters. It’s doubtful the script or the messaging for these robocalls will find their way into general circulation, however.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski



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