The Jennifer Carroll era ends badly in Florida
theGRIO REPORT - When then gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott selected Jennifer Carroll as his running-mate in 2010, it seemed like a stroke of genius...
And while many black Republicans in the state hoped she would be a bridge to the governor’s office on issues like state funding for historically black colleges and minority small business loans, the governor has done little in either area, even proposing to slash funding for HBCUs in the state in his proposed budgets.
Carroll’s resignation has also brought back previous allegations of scandal to the fore.
In 2010, she was accused of falsifying the address of her firm — the same one that consulted to Allied Veterans of the World — in order to qualify for a Jacksonville-based minority business grant. And there had been whispers that one of her degrees was from a diploma-mill.
And yet, her rise through the ranks of state government to its highest levels made her an historic figure — the first black Republican elected to the Florida legislature, and the state’s first black lieutenant governor. She had the distinction of being able to navigate two worlds that rarely come together in Florida politics, described this way by the Miami Herald in 2009, when she was on the short-list for then-Gov. Charlie Crist’s picks to replace retiring U.S. Senator Mel Martinez: “How many people do you know that belong to both the National Rifle Association and the NAACP, who belong to the black Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority as well as the American Legion?”
Carroll ran twice, unsuccessfully, for Congress, challenging long-serving Democrat Corinne Brown. And though she lost those races, she was consistently promoted by a small cadre of influential black Republicans around the state for higher office, who pitched her first to Crist, and then to 2010 gubernatorial candidates, then-Attorney General Bill McCollum and Scott, who eventually gave her the nod.
As Florida’s lieutenant governor, Carroll was one of just a handful of African-Americans holding statewide office in the country — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and California Attorney General Kamala Harris being two of the others, prior to the appointment of Tim Scott and Mo Cowan as U.S. Senators from South Carolina and Massachusetts, respectively. As such, and as a black Republican, that meant instant national stature for Carroll, who was among the supporters then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney took with him to the NAACP convention in Houston, Texas, where he addressed the organization last July.
And Carroll placed Romney’s name into nomination from Florida during the 2012 Republican National Convention.
Now, her future is unclear. And her departure has left Scott without a running-mate in 2014, and with the difficult task of maintaining her diverse appeal on the ticket.
“Lt. Gov. Carroll has been an inspiration to thousands, including women and many from different cultures and nationalities; her resignation saddens us but we wish her all the best,” said Levi Williams, an attorney and longtime Carroll backer who was tapped to head Scott’s campaign in Broward County, Florida in 2010.
Williams, who like Carroll has a Caribbean background, said Carroll’s example continues to be inspiring, despite her present difficulties. And he called her resignation a “sacrifice” she’s made for her party that was in everyone’s best interests.
Asked if he is disappointed in a woman he was central to promoting as a potential running-mate for Scott, Williams said he was not. “I have not read anything to be disappointed about,” he told theGrio. “Many of us in the professional and consulting realms can relate to the fact that clients sometimes may make decisions that are questionable. By the grace of God go I,” adding, “her sacrifice for all is commendable.”
Clarence McKee, a longtime black Republican activist who along with Williams was key to pushing Scott to choose Carroll in 2010, did not respond to requests for comment.
Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @TheReidReport.
