Two prominent
Democratic Party women from Central Florida are asking the national party to investigate what they contend were Alan Grayson-paid protesters at Darren Soto rallies.
Two prominent Democratic Party women from Central Florida are asking the national party to investigate what they contend were Alan Grayson-paid protesters at Darren Soto rallies, including one who carryied a sign that called U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel “senile.”
Grayson, a former congressman running against U.S. Rep. Soto, DKissimmee, in the Democratic primary for his old seat, denied any knowledge of the incident and called the allegations “irresponsible.”
In a letter to the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, former Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin and former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder said they were “astonished and horrified” to see protesters with offensive signs at a Soto rally in Orlando on Saturday that featured Frankel.
“The worst was directed at Rep. Frankel: ‘Lois Frankel, Still Senile’,” the women wrote. “When asked why they were there, one of the sign holders replied that they had been paid by Alan Grayson,” Chapin and Schroeder wrote.
“If true, this shocking action on Grayson’s part is an insult to all of us who have been part of that fight for so many years,” they wrote. “We ask that you investigate this story … rebuke Mr. Grayson, and endorse Congressman Soto in the Democratic primary for Florida’s Ninth District.”
They called Frankel, a former minority leader in the Florida House from Boca Raton, “an icon in the fight for women’s equality in Florida and the nation.”
Frankel could not be immediately reached for comment.
On Wednesday, Chapin said that if Grayson was in any way responsible for the signs, “it’s outrageous for a Democratic candidate who claims to respect women of all ages, and certainly for someone who served in Congress with Lois Frankel.”
Schroeder, who served in Congress for Colorado for 24 years before moving to Celebration in Osceola County, said she would be horrified “whether he paid them or not.”
“As I remember House rules ... one was not to attack a colleague,” she said. “She was his former colleague and he wants to be her future colleague. … She is not his opponent and I have never seen anything like that in my career.”
Protesters holding anti-Soto signs were also at Soto’s kickoff event in Kissimmee in early May. One held a sign calling Soto an “NRA sellout” for his past gun stances as a state representative.
When asked about the signs, Grayson said, “I don’t know anything about it.”
“If I were paying people like that, there would be campaign [filings],” he said, referring to federal documents filed by campaigns required to list any expenditures. “It’s irresponsible to make allegations like that without any evidence.”
Grayson’s latest campaign filings include spending as of March 31 and were filed April 15.
In a statement, Soto said, “I’m honored to have the support of distinguished women leaders like Rep. Frankel, Rep. Schroeder, and Mayor Chapin, and stand by them in condemning this attack against Frankel, a Florida feminist hero.”