Billionaire political donor Mike Fernandez rips ‘bully’ Speaker Richard Corcoran’s DACA stance

Billionaire Miami businessman Mike Fernandez this morning criticized House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s hardline on DACA.

“We currently have a Speaker of the House in Florida in which the consensus among his peers can be best defined as a bully,” Fernandez said in an email to the Tampa Bay Times. “This may be the case, but in my humble opinion he truly is an intellectual midget ( or short person to be politically correct). His position on the 32,000 Floridian attending our universities is discriminatory at the very least. It may be legal, but so was slavery and that did not make it right. “

Corcoran praised President Donald Trump’s move to phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, saying “anything less would have been a tacit acceptance of President Obama’s backdoor amnesty plan for illegal immigrants.”

It was a break from the stances of two potential GOP rivals for governor, Adam Putnam and Jack Latvala, who said the children of immigrants brought to the country illegally should be protected.

“While Congress has shown little ability to get anything done (think repeal and replace of Obamacare), I just hope they don’t turn the opportunity the president has given them to deal with this illegal immigration problem into their own backdoor amnesty plan.”

Fernandez, who left the GOP over Trump, called Corcoran’s position “horrendous to our economy. President Trump’s action sidestep the issue by passing it off to Congress, but there are real consequences for our nation and the state of Florida if the this giant in his own mind gets his way, as this is not a platform on which Republicans can stand.”

The Times has asked Corcoran for a response.

His full email is below:

A former Head of the Israeli Army, Prime Minister, President and World’s Statesman Shimon Peres once told former Florida Speaker Will Weatherford and I in a private meeting... “Great Leaders Serve, they don’t rule”. On another occasion, part of my annual trip to the Israeli capital he also spoke with the wisdom of a warrior/visionary. I quote...” with as many Palestinians as we have living as our neighbors, the future for our continued prosperity and safety is dependent on a single act, A Respectful handshake”.

As a non politician I have the good fortune to speak my mind without a filter.

We currently have a Speaker of the House in Florida in which the consensus among his peers can be best defined as a bully. This may be the case, but in my humble opinion he truly is an intellectual midget ( or short person to be politically correct). His position on the 32,000 Floridian attending our universities is discriminatory at the very least. It may be legal, but so was slavery and that did not make it right.

Corcoran’s position is horrendous to our economy. ​President Trump’s action sidestep the issue by passing it off to Congress, but there are real consequences for our nation and the state of Florida if the this giant in his own mind gets his way, as this is not a platform on which Republicans can stand.

We can’t remain silent on an anti-economic position, which will increase the price of products and services, eliminates jobs while not creating new ones and position 32,000 Floridian (students in higher education) on the path to deportation. These young people are our future high wage earners and tax payers.

We all know key economic facts:

Every single Dreamer registered with DACA will be subject to deportation, 32,800 of the more than 800,000 Dreamers live in Florida.

In losing so many talented young people from the workforce and academia, Florida’s GDP will experience a loss of $1.5 billion annually.

The United States will lose $460.3 billion in GDP over the next decade as a result of repealing DACA without a legislative solution.

We can find headlines like these in just about most major newspapers,

Wall Street Journal today’s headline:

End of DACA Moves Labor Force in Wrong Direction, Big Employers Say.

Wall Street Journal today’s headline:

Paul Ryan Urges Trump to Keep ‘Dreamers’ Program.

This is the opinion of a former undocumented person who arrived in the great Nation (not in the smoke filled halls of the Capitol but with an M16 in his arms). An immigrant that created over 50,000 jobs in our State and has contributed over $30 million to the Republican causes over the last 15 years. Fir the sake of transparency, I also contributed $3million in the last election in an attempt to stop Trump. I never met Mrs. Clinton and I thought she could wound our Nation but I feared that Trump could mortally wound it.

Republicans, look back and re-evaluate our path. It is not a Republican thesis which we are following, it’s a Trumpist mistake.

Mike