A.G. Gancarski
For those wanting a localized message from GOP Senate candidate Carlos Beruff at the Duval Republican Executive Committee meeting Monday, they were bound to be disappointed.
Beruff sees a common thread among the Republicans he speaks with.
“Everybody’s frustrated at every politician, period,” the Manatee homebuilder said to FloridaPolitics.com before the meeting.
Northeast Florida is no exception: “everyone feels the same frustration” over “gridlock.”
Beruff has been to Jacksonville before during his campaign, in addition to having hit 28-30 counties already.
By May, he said, he expects to hit all 67 Florida counties. And quite likely, they will hear a version of his improbable, only-in-Florida story.
A story of parents involved, in 1957, in an attack on President Fulgencio Batista‘s palace in Habana. They fled Cuba, and Beruff was born in Miami… but they were back soon enough.
His uncle trained for the Bay of Pigs invasion. However, he died. And his father stayed behind.
Beruff was raised by his grandmother, as his mother worked jobs to put food on the table… such as a hotel housekeeper and whatever else it took.
Still, there was never quite enough. Beruff remembers Saturdays in Liberty City, government food surplus drives that seemed fun at the time. Yet when he grew up, he knew how poor he was.
Beruff’s rags to riches narrative evoked the American dream, which he claims was undermined by Barack Obama, who has “surgically destroyed” America.
Also destroying America: “career politicians,” many of whom “can’t spell public service.”
“People come into office, tell their principles…get in and they forget,” Beruff said, seemingly alluding to opponents: Carlos Lopez-Cantera, David Jolly, and Ron DeSantis, all of whom are running as elected officials.
And they are all young.
While Beruff, at 59 years old, claims that “nobody’s going to blow smoke up [his] skirt,” he can’t say the same for his opponents.
“A 35 year old Congressman,” Beruff said, is catered and kowtowed to, and doesn’t even realize it.
Beruff’s remarks also touched on policy, via a contention that 35 to 50 percent of health care delivery costs is wasted money.
Beruff concluded his speech to the Duval REC to lukewarm applause, asking the crowd if there were questions. But there weren’t any for the candidate.
