M. Mandy Dawson ( Muriel Mandy Dawson; July 18, 1956) was a Democratic member of the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

, representing the 29th District from 1999 to 2008. Previously she was a member of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

from 1993 through 1998.

Early life and education

Dawson was born in

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

and moved to Daytona Beach when she was six years old. She attended

Florida A&M University Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

from 1975 to 1980 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in social work from

Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is located within the Archdiocese of Miami. Th ...

Career

She was the first African-American female elected to the Florida Legislature from

Broward County Broward County ( ) is a County (United States), county in Florida, United States, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the List of the most ...

. During her time in the legislature, she worked on bills restoring civil rights for ex-offenders, penalties for leaving children in locked cars, and keeping Black physicians on managed care panels to address health care inequalities. Since leaving office, she has worked as a political campaign manager.

Personal life

She married Hobson Bethune, a retired Marine and longtime youth athletics coach, in 2010. Bethune died in 2017. Mandy Dawson suffered from chronic back pain requiring hospitalization and surgery. She later became addicted to prescription drugs. In 2002, Dawson was arrested and charged with felony prescription drug fraud for altering a painkiller prescription from 60 pills to 160. In return for dismissal of the charges, she entered a pretrial intervention program. On July 20, 2011, Dawson was charged with federal income tax evasion and failure to file tax returns. In court papers filed in early February 2012, Dawson signaled her intention to plead guilty to the tax evasion charges."Ex-Fla. lawmaker Mandy Dawson sentenced to 6 months for tax evasion"
miamiherald.com. July 20, 2012.

References

External links

Project Vote Smart - Senator Muriel Mandy Dawson (FL)
profile , - , - Democratic Party Florida state senators Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives 1956 births Politicians from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Living people Women state legislators in Florida Florida politicians convicted of crimes African-American state legislators in Florida 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women politicians 20th-century African-American women politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the Florida Legislature 20th-century members of the Florida Legislature {{Florida-FLSenate-stub