Florida Democrat appointed ambassador to Portugal

By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune
Published: November 30, 2009
Updated: November 30, 2009 - 6:58 PM

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Allan Katz of Tallahassee, a Democratic Party activist and early supporter of President Barack Obama, has been nominated ambassador to Portugal.

Katz, a former Tallahassee City Council member and a lawyer, was one of a handful of prominent Florida Democrats who allied with Obama early in the Democratic presidential primary of 2008.

Katz was a fundraiser for Obama, but probably even more important, as a member of the Democratic National Committee, he argued for the Obama campaign's position on the controversy over the Florida and Michigan presidential primaries.

Both states jumped the gun by scheduling primaries earlier than either major political party had agreed to. Katz, as a member of the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, helped insure that party sanctions against both states in the primaries would be upheld.

The nomination requires Senate approval.

Katz would not comment today.

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.