Miami Herald - Monday, August 19, 2002
Nicole White, nwhite@herald.com

Motivational speaker M. Tina Dupree, 54, and state Rep. Frederica Wilson, 59, were opponents in the 1992 school board election. In that race, Wilson beat Dupree, whose name was then Warfield. Wilson went on to serve six years on the school board and was elected to the House in 1998.

This time around, Wilson is considered the strong favorite in the Sept. 10 Democratic primary -- but Dupree, who says Wilson has lost touch with the grass roots, promises a vigorous contest.

They and a third candidate, John Pace Jr., are competing for the seat now held by Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami. The district, redrawn by the Legislature earlier this year, is a mostly black, overwhelmingly Democratic area that stretches from State Road 836 to the Broward County line. Meek is leaving the seat to run for Congress.

The Democratic primary winner faces only two write-in opponents in November. No Republican filed to run.

Pace, a lieutenant with the Miami-Dade Police Department, could not be reached.

Wilson, ever impeccably dressed with her trademark hat to polish off her look, is a former school principal, four-year House member and founder of the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project for young men across the county.

She was the sponsor of the recently passed law requiring inmates to get tested for HIV before they leave prison and is now drawing national media attention for her criticism of the way Gov. Jeb Bush has handled the case of Rilya Wilson, the 5-year-old in state custody missing for 18 months.

Supporters who attended a fundraiser Friday on SeaEscape's night cruise called Wilson an advocate for the downtrodden. "We love her because she's Freddy. She doesn't mind sticking her neck out for the cause," said her cousin, Maud Newbold.

'CHICKEN LADY'

Dupree, known to many as the "Chicken Lady" from her days as an executive with Church's Chicken, is a pastor, business owner and radio show host. She's barely five feet tall, but is not easily intimidated. During a campaign stop outside a local Winn-Dixie, she trailed a woman across a parking lot, stopping only when the woman, visibly exasperated, accepted her red and white campaign flier.

"She's persistent," said supporter Linda Holloway, wife of Rep. Wilbert "Tee" Holloway, D-Miami. "I believe God has placed her in this race to be a public servant, not a politician. This is what God prepared her to do."

However, most political observers consider Wilson the likely winner. Her campaign chest of $30,340 -- which may have doubled after the SeaEscape "cruise to nowhere" -- dwarfs the others. Dupree has raised $3,000 to date, while Pace has raised $1,200, of which $500 is in-kind contributions.

"We have someone in Wilson who is experienced, who is tested," said attorney and civic leader H.T. Smith, a supporter. "She's mature, extremely bright, doggedly determined and an outstanding advocate."

But Dupree's campaign manager, the Rev. Richard Bennett, says Dupree is no pushover. "This is a new district; no one can claim hold to this seat," Bennett said.

Still, Bennett acknowledged that the race is going to be tough. "We're ready for a fight. We don't care about any name recognition," he said.

Dupree, a pastor at the United Christian Church of Christ in Coconut Grove who peppers her campaign message with words from the gospel, says she's undaunted.

"I can hang with the best of them," she said. "I'm just as smart, just as knowledgeable. Sometimes you don't need somebody who's so political they don't know when to stop being political."

The two women disagree on a key issue that will appear on the ballot next month. Wilson is among several black leaders fighting the repeal of the county's gay rights amendment; Dupree says she'll follow the word of God in Leviticus 18:22 and vote "yes" in favor of repeal.

SCHOOLS A PRIORITY

But Dupree says that has nothing to do with the goals she'll pursue if elected. Those include economic development initiatives focused on small businesses and improvements in the public school system, including legislation that would offer teachers financial incentives if they improve test scores.

Dupree's office walls in Miami Shores are filled with plaques chronicling her rise from maid to an executive with Church's Chicken to motivational speaker. She says that unlike her much more high-profile opponent, she's running a campaign for and by the people.

Wilson says the notion that she doesn't represent the grass roots is outrageous.

'VOICE FOR VOICELESS'

"That's all I do; I am the voice for the voiceless," said Wilson.

"I have the track record to prove it."

She rattles off her work with young black men in 5000 Role Models, a program that teaches teens that a college education is a better alternative to crime and and violence; her work as a freshman in the House, that resulted in the opening of a woman's prison in South Miami-Dade so inmates from the Miami area, who would usually serve their sentences farther north, could see their children on a regular basis; her effort on behalf of detained Haitian immigrants 20 years ago; and the recent bill to test prisoners for HIV.

'FOR POOR PEOPLE'

"No one wanted to deal with HIV and the black community. I did. No one wanted to deal with prisons. I did," said Wilson. "I didn't just start this; I've been doing this nonstop. Everything I've ever done has been for poor people."

Wilson said she plans to continue to pursue those issues in the Senate, as well as push to change the juvenile justice system and to do away with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test system of grading public schools, which she argues is a failure.

She is also strongly opposed to the voucher system, which she says threatens to "detonate" the only system of equality in America -- public schools. Dupree supports vouchers.

For now, Wilson remains driven to shine attention on the missing Rilya.

JUGGLING INTERVIEWS

When news hit last week that Department of Children & Families Secretary Kathleen Kearney had resigned, Wilson, a vocal critic of the agency and its leadership since Rilya's disappearance was discovered in April, juggled dozens of interviews with local and national media, including back-to-back appearances on Fox Network's Bill O'Reilly and Greta Van Susteren shows.

Is she worried that with an election just three weeks away, the Rilya Wilson case has come to define her campaign?

'NO CHOICE'

"I didn't ask for this to happen," said Wilson, hurriedly getting dressed for yet another interview one day last week at her home in unincorporated Miami-Dade.

"But it has happened; Rilya is a little black girl who just disappeared from the face of the earth and nobody was saying anything. I had no choice," she said.

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