Peter Schorsch
As the Florida Senate considers what to do next as the imbroglio surrounding Republican Frank Artilles continues unabated, it’s important to remember that The Process has been here before.
As has been noted by many others in Florida’s political media, Republican Ralph Arza resigned after leaving a message filled with obscenities and racial slur on a colleague’s voicemail.
“I do not want to be the story,” Arza said at the time.
Well, Artilles will be the story for the rest of the 2017 Legislative Session unless Senate President Joe Negron takes a page from Marco Rubio, who, as House Speaker, pressed Arza to step down.
A former legislative leader who was by Rubio’s side when he made Arza resign recounted to me today what Rubio said at the time.
“In politics, there are only two things that are pretty impossible to recover from: one is anything involving sex with minors; the other is overtly racists statement.”
This begs the question: Will Artiles survive the Rubio Test?
