The finance co-chair of Florida Governor Rick Scott’s reelection campaign, billionaire Latino Mike Fernandez, has resigned from the campaign because Scott’s staffers just can’t keep their racist innuendo to themselves.
Tensions between Scott’s campaign staff and Fernandez had been building for weeks. And the last straw, according to people within the campaign who spoke with the Miami Herald this weekend, was an incident in which several of Scott’s campaign staffers allegedly began joking around in a cartoonish, over-the-top Mexican accent while on the way to a Mexican restaurant.
This is a big problem for the Republican party.
The problem is even if their star candidate can mind his/her mouth; whether it’s the governor, a senator, or a presidential nominee; there’s a very high chance that their campaign staff won’t be able to.
This should be a major concern to 2016 hopefuls as they build their campaigns. Immigration, gay rights, and women’s rights will undoubtedly be areas of tension. What could go wrong?
I have a hunch that the next presidential election cycle and its accompanying down-ticket races will be even uglier than the last.