It comes every single legislative session: the last minute midnight attacks on the will of the people as expressed by one piece or another of legislation. What the GOP leadership does, with routine nonchalance, is to pass new laws to weaken existing ones protecting the public interest or to knee-cap a proposed citizen referendum. That's happening right now with an attempted end-run by GOP leaders in Tallahassee on the Fair Districts referenda scheduled for the state-wide ballot in November; Amendment 5 and Amendment 6.
To show just how beholden the Florida GOP is to the status quo, the last minute bill is sponsored by the incoming president of the Senate, Mike Haridopolos. Howard Troxler, of the St. Pete Times, sums it up succinctly: "I suppose there is no point in saying that the Legislature is doing something stinky. It sort of goes without saying." It also goes without saying that some of the GOP pit bulls in Miami-Dade are pushing this junk. Why? They don't want fair districts.
The fact is that Florida can't move forward until Amendment 5 and Amendment 6 are passed, and that's exactly what the Neanderthals in the Legislature want to prevent. Oh, did I mention Amendment 4, Florida Hometown Democracy?
Tea Party activists in Florida who want to return government to the people should be embracing all three of these citizen petitions to amend the Florida Constitution. Let's have a level playing field in Florida. Pay close attention to those in your ranks who support the way things are.
ST. Petersburg Times
A 'poison pill' meant to nullify petitions
By Howard Troxler, Times Columnist
Published Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I suppose there is no point in saying that the Legislature is doing something stinky. It sort of goes without saying.
But this is really clever. You have to admire it, in a weird way.
Remember that the citizens of Florida, by petition, have put the idea of "fair districts" on November's ballot.
Amendments 5 and 6 say that voting districts for the Legislature and Congress cannot be drawn "to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party."
It is fair to say that the Legislature hates the fair-districts idea, just as it hates the amendment known as Hometown Democracy — and for that matter, as it dislikes citizen petitions in general.
But what to do?
Ah.
The trick that the Legislature is considering is to put its own, rival amendment on the ballot this November.
And here is the best part:
It says that even if Amendments 5 and 6 pass this November — they won't count.
This is in the proposed wording of Senate Joint Resolution 2288:
The amendment says that the Legislature must have leeway in drawing voting districts so it can protect "racial and language minorities" (although that is a fake excuse, since federal law already does that).
Next, the amendment says that the Legislature must be allowed to consider "communities of interest" in drawing voting maps (a loophole allowing it to lump anybody it chooses into a district).
Next, the amendment declares that any map drawn by the Legislature is valid as long as it is "rationally related" to these rules.
("Rationally related" is a legal term that basically means that all they have to do is claim they had a reason for doing what they did.)
And lastly — this is the best part — the amendment declares that these things must be done … … without subordination to any other provision of this article.
In other words: Amendments 5 and 6 would be trumped, even if they passed.
This is the idea of Mike Haridopolos, a state senator from Indiatlantic, who is scheduled to be the next president of the Florida Senate. The idea is pending in a Senate committee.
Haridopolos says he simply wants to "clarify" what the citizen petitions say. The "clarification" guts them, of course.
Listen:
A lot of people in politics do not like Amendments 5 and 6.
Some say that the standards in them are impossible and that every map will be thrown into the courts.
Some say that fewer minority candidates will be elected.
And these are exactly the kinds of things that should be debated in a campaign.
6 comments:
Gimspierre its not about "returning government to the people" that's a scary thought. I have walked amongst the Anti-War protesters of the Bush years and saw all the "Impeach Bush" signs and heard explanations of why Wallmart was the devil and I have walked amongst the Tea Party crowd and what have I seen "Inpeach Obama" signs and bumper stickers and heard explanations as to why Medicare is more worthy than Obamacare.
"The People" on either side are a scary and lost bunch. The U.S. was originally founded on this premise thats why the constitution limits the power of government precisely becuase the founders knew that no man or mob was to be trusted with too much power.
Today after trampling on the constitution for 200+ years we find ourselves in a bind because we believed in men and mobs which is what you are asking us to do more of.
The People are Revolting
I'm sick of political party's. Both the Democrats and Republicans are so out of touch with the rest of the world. Whichever side of an issue one falls on or if you don't follow their every ideology, one is some how deemed to be an adjective of the day.
Sorry Anon above - this statement is not true "Democrats and Republicans are so out of touch with the rest of the world" - it's clear, that after a short 14/15 months in power, the triple majority of Dems in the WH,Congress and Senate have steered the US back to the middle from the far right swing it had made. There are differences - the SEC has just charged Goldman Sachs with FRAUD. Now, is that a headline you would have seen a few years ago when the Repubs controlled everything? No. The President yesterday ordered HHS to direct hospitals to change their policies on what constitutes a "family member" visiting a patient. Take the time to see the differences, there is a "there there".
miaexile some of that stuff is all fine and good but not when accompanied by a 1 Trillion + deficit and stimulidity.
Why can't government be like Burger King's 70s jingle "Hold the pickles hold the lettuce.......Have it your way...."
Did I just date myself?
First anon There's no distinction
the people are just plain revolting.
sorry CATO I don't buy that line either - the ever growing deficit will still be there, waiting to be solved, once we have moved safely further back from the edge of abyss the economy almost tumbled into. I personally did not live thru the Great Depression and agree with almost all of the economists who agreed there only way to escape another "great depression" was to get the government to spend some money. Yes, there will need to be some strong stomachs and minds to deal with the aftermath, in the meantime, I'm just glad that most Americans escaped reliving an awful part of American history.
Trust me it will get worse we will have fits and starts just like in the depression but thanks to deficits which inevitably bring inflation and higher taxes we will be in this malaise for some time to come, FDR used the same Keynesian vodoo that in the end prolonged the great depression.
the stimulus just saved public sector jobs at the expense of more productive private sector ones.
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