Cerabino: Attacking U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel as a "carpetbagger" is way too late

As a freelance watchdog of the English language, I would like to report some fresh abuse of the word “carpetbagger.”

You hear that word a lot in Florida, a state that has long been a haven for travelers looking for a fresh start, a new direction, or to outrun their troubles.

You could argue that carpetbagging in Florida has gone on since the days of Ponce de León, the explorer who finally gave up on his Florida dreams after warriors from the local Calusa tribe sunk a souvenir arrow in his posterior as a parting gesture.

Here’s a pretty good definition of the word from History.com:

“In general, the term ‘carpetbagger’ refers to a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel (or carpetbag) of possessions, and who attempts to profit from or gain control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants.”

The historical references of the word date back to the time Northerners flocked to the South during the period of Reconstruction. But the word still holds some meaning.

Today, the word “carpetbagger” is getting a real workout from an aspiring political candidate, Deborah Adeimy, a 54-year-old financial adviser in Palm Beach County, who is running for a local seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Adeimy is running as a Republican, hoping to win a four-way party primary in August and then a general election three months later against the Democratic incumbent, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel.

At stake is a Congressional seat that stretches from West Palm Beach to Delray Beach and west to Wellington.

It’s a seat that Frankel, 75, has held for six consecutive terms.

Adeimy’s campaign strategy seems to be to call Frankel a carpetbagger.

Adeimy, who highlights her born-in-Florida, multi-generational roots in the state, claims on her website to be “the only non-carpetbagger running.”

Frankel was born in New York City, and received her undergraduate education at Boston University in 1970, and her law degree at Georgetown University, in Washington D.C. three years later.

In 1974, a year after graduating law school, Frankel became a West Palm Beach resident.

That was 50 years ago. Since then, she has not only remained a Florida resident, but she served 14 years in the Florida House of Representatives, and another eight years before that as the mayor of West Palm Beach.

So it seems tardy to start characterizing her as a grasping newcomer trying to gain control of her new surroundings by duping the locals.

If you do the math, Frankel has been a Floridian since Adeimy was a 4-year-old preschooler.

It’s hard to imagine that the first few years of Adeimy’s life in Florida make the difference here. If that were the case, you'd have to imagine somebody saying something like this:

“I was considering voting for Frankel but I couldn’t help but think that when Frankel was out of state getting her law degree at Georgetown, Adeimy was already on the ground here in Florida – literally on the ground – playing with blocks and stuffed animals and going down playground slides. It’s that kind of Florida experience I can’t ignore.”

I don’t know what the cut-off should be in terms of losing carpetbagger status. But 50 years seems too long of an incubation period before making that attack.

If Adeimy’s looking to find a harmful carpetbagger in the state, she ought to single out the Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.

Ladapo arrived from California less than three years ago, despite warnings from his former supervisor not to hire him. The gist was that Ladapo was a dangerous guy who was more interested in his own political opinions than the do-no-harm credo of doctors.

It turned out to be prophetic advice. Since being in Florida, Ladapo has advocated reckless anti-vax public health policies on COVID-19 and most recently, on a measles outbreak in South Florida.

All the while, he has been pulling down two six-figure salaries from the state, which helped him buy a $1.7 million home in Pinellas County, nowhere near the University of Florida, where he is allegedly employed as a professor.

Considering Ladapo’s role in life-and-death public health policies, you could make the case that he isn’t only a “carpetbagger” but also a “body-bagger.”

There’s another problem with Adeimy’s carpetbagger campaign strategy. A whole lot of other elected officials in Florida were born elsewhere.

Sure, governors Ron DeSantis, Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles were born in Florida, but Rick Scott only lived in Florida for eight years before he was elected as the state’s governor.

Charlie Crist was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and Jeb Bush was born in Midland, Texas.

Not only that but most of the voters in Florida were born elsewhere. The state is full of people who ended up here. Only one-third of the people living in Florida were born here.

So, it matters how long people stick around. If we had to pick leaders among those who were born here, that would be a terrible restriction.

We’d eventually end up with Senator Pitbull.

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I moved here in 1984. I don’t feel like a carpetbagger. My three children were born here.

I remember when I-95 ended in Palm Beach Gardens, and when Military Trail was a western boundary for development in Boynton Beach. I remember when Joe Robbie Stadium was Joe Robbie Stadium, Woolworth’s was on Clematis Street, and the county code enforcers were in a legal battle with a topless donut shop.

I’m sure Lois Frankel remembers those things too. So, while I don’t usually offer political advice to candidates, I will suggest to Adeimy that this “carpetbagger” line of attack is late.

About 49 years too late.

Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, which is part of the Gannett Newspapers chain.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Republican candidate calls Lois Frankel carpetbagger