One of the first people I came to know in politics is Miami-Dade GOP State Committeewoman Liliana Ros.  Though I first met her during the Dole campaign in 1996, she did not become someone I came to know well until a few years later when I became more active in the local Republican Party down in my home county of Miami-Dade.

Besides longtime chairman and movement conservative activist Mary Ellen Miller, Liliana Ros–often referred to as the “Godmother of the Miami-Dade GOP”–has always been the go-to person for anything related with the local GOP in Miami-Dade. If an up-and-coming solid, conservative candidate didn’t enjoy the connections to, or financial support of bigwig establishment types, Liliana Ros would offer to help the candidate by throwing him a fundraiser or introducing him to the right people.

In fact, it was Liliana Ros who first introduced a young Republican activist and volunteer to the mayor of West Miami when he wanted to run for that small town’s council.  That introduction eventually earned him that mayor’s support, which helped him win that first race. That young councilman then ran for and won a seat in the State House, and in his last year as a legislator went on to serve as Florida’s first Hispanic Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.  This story can be verified in Senator Marco Rubio’s recently-released memoir, “An American Son.”

Since then, Liliana Ros has tapped the countless relationships she has fostered over the years to raise money for the party, convince supporters to donate goods and services to the party, and help Republican candidates across the board. For every year that I have known her, she has taken the lead role in planning the local GOP’s main annual fundraising event, including selling tables, kindly badgering supporters for in-kind contributions, and negotiating with venues to get the best bang for the party’s buck, among other things.

Due to her proven committment to the party, she was tapped to co-chair various campaigns over the years, including Jeb Bush’s, George W. Bush’s, John McCain’s, and others.

Those are all great reasons to retain Liliana Ros as Miami-Dade County’s GOP State Committeewoman, but there is one more very important reason: she passes the Reaganista Florida Conservative Litmust Test with special honors: This distinction is reserved only for those who not only refused to support the backstabber Crist in 2010, but also in the 2006 primary!

If that doesn’t make Miami-Dade State Committeewoman Liliana Ros #ReaganistaCertified, I don’t know what does!  Asi que, vaya.