Florida's
Representative Allen opens mouth, inserts foot

Florida state representative Bob Allen, stripped of his committee assignments this week by a house speaker seeking his resignation over a gay sex scandal, made more enemies with an apparent slur against Florida's Latino leadership.

"I would think this leadership more than anyone would think that we don't want to copy totalitarian governments but copy American principles," Allen told the Miami Herald on Wednesday in an apparent reference to house speaker Marco Rubio being Cuban-American.

Allen was forced to backpedal as yet more of his fellow Republicans called for his head.

"The fact that he's comparing the consequences of the allegations of his sexual misconduct to the plight of dissidents trapped in Castro's gulag is at best absurd and at worst insulting. He needs to go," Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera told the Herald, adding that Allen's comments made him "physically irked."

The party leadership wants Allen to resign before his August 23 arraignment on a misdemeanor charge of solicitation to commit prostitution.

Even Gov. Charlie Crist weighed in, telling the Orlando Sentinel that "I have to respect the wishes of the speaker.... It's a house issue."

Allen, a Republican representing Merritt Island, was arrested July 11 outside a Titusville park public restroom after allegedly offering a male undercover officer $20 and oral sex.

The lawmaker, who last year cosponsored legislation to tighten penalties for public sex and indecent exposure, insists he is innocent and said last month that his actions were prompted by fear because the undercover cop and passersby were all black.

Rubio's office issued a statement explaining his actions.

"The house will continue to respect Representative Allen's right to defend himself against the charges which arose when he was arrested," the statement said. "However, we must acknowledge that in addition to being a private citizen, he is a public official. As such, we are judged by a higher standard than procedural innocence.... It is my personal belief that because of the allegations against him, Representative Allen can no longer effectively serve the people of his district in the Florida house."

Allen told the Sentinel that he was "the most misunderstood guy on earth. Never was I trying to ever say Marco is the new Fidel. That's the most insulting thing you can tell anyone in Miami. I would have used North Korea if I thought more." (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)