Broward’s six congressmen have a diverse look: All are black, Latino or Jewish

Fort Lauderdale – The new face of South Florida political power was on display Monday at a ceremonial swearing-in for several of Broward County’s members of Congress. And the power in 2007 looked a lot different than just five years ago.

     The representatives Broward voters have sent to Washington, D.C., are different demographically, generationally and politically from most of Florida and much of the nation. The six are either black, Latino or Jewish.

     “We’re a tremendous team,” said U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar.

     The youngest two, representing both Broward and Miami-Dade counties, are junior members who are rapidly ascending. U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, and Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, have responsibilities far greater than many more senior legislators.

     Credit a combination of their work for the Democratic Party, their party’s takeover from Republicans in last year’s elections, and their ties to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

     That’s led to high visibility — Meek and Wasserman Schultz were summoned to Washington to play central on-stage roles on Election Night as Democratic leaders celebrated the results in November — and top committee assignments.

     Meek is the only Florida member on the Ways and Means Committee, the most important congressional panel with jurisdiction over taxes, Social Security, Medicare and trade. Wasserman Schultz is the only South Floridian on the Appropriations Committee, and is one of 12 subcommittee appropriations chairmen. That means when the committee carves up the federal budget, she’s among the dozen people in the room making decisions.

     “It is very important to be in the room during the decision-making process,” Wasserman Schultz said.

     She said she and Meek are in a good position to help influence national policy and aid the region.

     “It’s not like they’re going to be able to bring in billions and billions of dollars. But they’re going to have influence, and they have the ear of the leadership,” said Kevin Hill, associate professor of political science at Florida International University.

     It often takes years for members to get appointments to the appropriations or ways and means committees. The two are lucky to come from safe districts, which allowed them to devote lots of energy to promote the Democratic Party cause as leaders of the “30-Something Working Group” of younger Democratic members of Congress.

     Robert Watson, associate professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University, said Wasserman Schultz “has just skyrocketed from obscurity to positions of power, and she’s all over the news — much more than in proportion to the number of years she’s been in office.”

     Democrats control the House, but representatives from both parties said South Florida’s delegation is unusually cohesive. U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, said one reason is that seven of the eight members of Congress from Broward and Miami-Dade served overlapping terms in the Florida Senate.

     “In the state Legislature, the tradition is nowhere near as partisan. People socialize in the state Legislature across the aisle, which is something that doesn’t happen up [in Washington],” Diaz-Balart said.

Copyright 2007