Miami Herald, The (FL) - May 29, 2008
Author: LAURA FIGUEROA, lfigueroa@MiamiHerald.com
No powder-puff questions here.
Presented with an opportunity to meet with Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, a group of Mater Academy Charter High students came prepared with hard policy questions.
"Now that we know the impact of the euro, what impact does that have on the future of our economy... and how will it affect trade?" 12th-grader Reyna Saco asked.
Fielding questions on global climate change, renewable energy sources and trade with China, Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, spent an hour Friday morning with the group of Advanced Placement government and history students.
Urging them to get involved in the political process, Diaz-Balart told the gathering of about 60 students, "hopefully one day you will all run for Congress."
"I'm a Democrat," Ania Sutuyo, 18, a senior, loudly responded. "I know you're running for Congress."
Sutuyo was referring to the current congressional race between Diaz-Balart and Democratic challenger Joe Garcia, former director of the Cuban American National Foundation.
Many of the students recently reached the voting age -- 18 -- and are eligible to vote in Diaz-Balart's district stretching across western Miami-Dade and over to Naples. But the lawmaker said he wasn't looking to sway them in any particular direction.
"I want students to realize that democracy works if the people get involved," Diaz-Balart said in an interview after the presentation. "This is a model school, one of the best schools in the nation, and it shows that it doesn't take living in a wealthy community to have a first-class education."
Concerned over increasing prices at the gas pump and the effects of global warming, several students asked Diaz-Balart, who was first elected to the U.S. House District 25 seat in 2002, what were his thoughts on drilling for oil in Alaska.
"There's a consensus in Alaska that you can build," Diaz-Balart said.
'Who are we from Florida, or from our air-conditioned suites in Washington, D.C., to say, 'No, we know better than you.' "
He said he was in favor of "looking at all the options," such as increasing funding for research on renewable energy sources.
'The U.S. has to treat it like we did the space program. We have to say, 'We're going to focus on this and lead the way,' " Diaz-Balart said.
Also in attendance for the crash course on civics was Hialeah Gardens Mayor Yioset De La Cruz, who told the students about his frustration with the structure of the Miami-Dade County Commission.
"Our county is being run like a city, when they should be focusing on major issues like transportation. . . . You have the county competing with the cities," De La Cruz said.
After a 60-minute question-and-answer session, several students still had their their hands in the air, waiting to ask questions.
Diaz-Balart's parting words: "If there's one thing I hope you take away from this is to get involved. Democracy does not work through osmosis."
Presented with an opportunity to meet with Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, a group of Mater Academy Charter High students came prepared with hard policy questions.
"Now that we know the impact of the euro, what impact does that have on the future of our economy... and how will it affect trade?" 12th-grader Reyna Saco asked.
Fielding questions on global climate change, renewable energy sources and trade with China, Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, spent an hour Friday morning with the group of Advanced Placement government and history students.
Urging them to get involved in the political process, Diaz-Balart told the gathering of about 60 students, "hopefully one day you will all run for Congress."
"I'm a Democrat," Ania Sutuyo, 18, a senior, loudly responded. "I know you're running for Congress."
Sutuyo was referring to the current congressional race between Diaz-Balart and Democratic challenger Joe Garcia, former director of the Cuban American National Foundation.
Many of the students recently reached the voting age -- 18 -- and are eligible to vote in Diaz-Balart's district stretching across western Miami-Dade and over to Naples. But the lawmaker said he wasn't looking to sway them in any particular direction.
"I want students to realize that democracy works if the people get involved," Diaz-Balart said in an interview after the presentation. "This is a model school, one of the best schools in the nation, and it shows that it doesn't take living in a wealthy community to have a first-class education."
Concerned over increasing prices at the gas pump and the effects of global warming, several students asked Diaz-Balart, who was first elected to the U.S. House District 25 seat in 2002, what were his thoughts on drilling for oil in Alaska.
"There's a consensus in Alaska that you can build," Diaz-Balart said.
'Who are we from Florida, or from our air-conditioned suites in Washington, D.C., to say, 'No, we know better than you.' "
He said he was in favor of "looking at all the options," such as increasing funding for research on renewable energy sources.
'The U.S. has to treat it like we did the space program. We have to say, 'We're going to focus on this and lead the way,' " Diaz-Balart said.
Also in attendance for the crash course on civics was Hialeah Gardens Mayor Yioset De La Cruz, who told the students about his frustration with the structure of the Miami-Dade County Commission.
"Our county is being run like a city, when they should be focusing on major issues like transportation. . . . You have the county competing with the cities," De La Cruz said.
After a 60-minute question-and-answer session, several students still had their their hands in the air, waiting to ask questions.
Diaz-Balart's parting words: "If there's one thing I hope you take away from this is to get involved. Democracy does not work through osmosis."