Annie Betancourt, who ran against Mario Diaz-Balart in 2002, has written a column reminding national leaders that the strength of our local representatives doesn’t come from the Cuba issue. Keep in mind that Mario gerrymandered District 25 during his time in the state legislature to give himself an 8-point advantage.  Their strength comes from the same place as any other incumbent’s strength: the incumbency.

Betancourt is urging national leaders to reform Cuba policy and ignore the threats and fevered shouting of the local ultra-right representatives. There is no bite to their bark, according to Betancourt. We agree.

Here is her column in its entirety:

How long are we going to believe that babies are brought from Paris by a stork? Or that our first baby tooth is taken away by a little mouse in exchange for a coin?

Those were tales our parents told us when we were little, to conceal the truth of life by blindfolding us and thus prolong our childhood. How innocent we were as children!

I ask myself the same questions in connection with the argument that the best barometer to gauge U.S. policy toward Cuba is the reelection last November of the three South Florida Republican legislators.

Dear reader, this argument is nothing more than a myth, like the ones of the stork and the little mouse. How long will we allow ourselves to be deceived by this fable? Enough!

The reality is that the easiest way to gain access to the U.S. Congress is when the chair is empty, the result of either “reapportionment” — the creation of a new chair — or the death or retirement of a member of Congress.

Let’s look at some examples and analyze how some of our Congresspeople came to occupy their prominent posts:

• District 18, today represented by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, was previously represented by Claude Pepper. When he died, the seat was left vacant. The quest for the seat was a true campaign, which Ros-Lehtinen won thanks to excellent credentials in Tallahassee, first in the state House and later in the Senate.

• District 21, represented by Lincoln Díaz-Balart since 1992, was created as a result of the population growth after the 1990 census.

• The same happened with District 25, represented by Lincoln’s brother, Mario, since 2002. This was a district created as a result of the 2000 census.

• District 17, currently represented by Kendrick Meek, was practically ceded to him by his mother, when she retired in 2002.

• District 20 has been represented by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz since 2004, when Peter Deutch withdrew from the House to run for senator.

• The District 11 seat, occupied by Cathy Castro of Tampa, was left vacant by Jim Davis when he ran for governor in 2006.

• Connie Mack holds the District 14 seat because Porter Goss left it vacant when he was appointed to a federal post.

And so on and so on. To topple an incumbent is truly a heroic feat that few can achieve. Only two candidates in recent elections have been able to do it: Ron Klein, who defeated Clay Shaw in District 22, and Suzanne Kosmas, who beat Tom Feeney in District 24.

At the end, of the 25 members of Congress who represent Florida in Washington, only five have beaten incumbents, the rest have taken the seat when it was vacated. Of these, 17 have been state legislators before achieving power at the federal level.

The federal Congresspeople are invincible and it is practically impossible to oust them because power lies in occupying the post, in having links to special interests and previously established contacts in Washington. And that has nothing to do with U.S. policy toward Cuba.

That’s nothing but a myth, like those of the stork and the little mouse.