Independent voters: if you don't like the job Brownie did, vote yes! for Amendments 4, 5, and 6... by gimleteye

Jeb Bush opposes Fair Districts. Shocking. Jeb, who helped deliver the White House for W. in 2000, is against something that is fair? Jeb also opposes Amendment 4, Florida Hometown Democracy. This ballot measure to change the Florida Constitition is the only chance Florida voters will have in their lifetime to change the corrupt relationship between builders and developers and local elected officials who rubber stamp changes to community development plans. If Jeb is against, your vote should be 'yes'.

Unless independent voters put their thinking caps on straight, the bad old days are poised to return with a vengeance on November 2nd. Here's the latest example: Florida's bad news Secretary of State Kurt Browning resigned public office to lead the GOP bankrolled anti-Fair Districts group. "Browning was well known as an advocate of electronic touch-screen voting machines, and Pasco was one of 15 Florida counties using the machines. Those machines became steeped in controversy in 2006 because of 18,000 undervotes in a Sarasota congressional election."

But Florida Hometown Democracy has a sharper recollection of Bad Penny Browning who once ran state elections and now opposes fair districts. In 2006, the Chamber and related industry groups watched the arguments for Florida Hometown Democracy build momentum. The 60 percent supermajority was added to the Florida Constitution by these interests, who only needed fifty percent to pass it, just to keep fairness at bay. click, read more:

Throughout 2007, Florida Hometown Democracy plowed ahead. Its organizers had gathered enough petitions and expected the proposed amendment to the Florida constitution-- taking rubber stamp authority from local county and city commissioners for changes to master development plans required by the state-- would be on the 2008 ballot. The challenge in state court by the Chamber of Commerze had been set aside. All that had to happen, was for the signatures to be certified by local supervisors of elections.

The Florida Chamber and real estate industry lobbyists-- who oppose federal bailouts unless they are on the receiving end -- had already mounted a poison pill ballot initiative called "Floridians for Smart Growth" and were paying signature collectors big bucks to harvest petitions from anyone who could hold a pen.

Up to that time, the qualifying date for the state-wide ballot was July 2008. But in 2007, to thwart Hometown Democracy, the Florida legislature changed the date. They pushed up the qualifying to early in the calendar early: February and not July. This, of course, put added pressure on Hometown Democracy (the only controversial amendment aiming for the 2008 election). It was the same year where the legislature also pushed the primary election to late January.

This is where Bad Penny Kurt Browning came in. On New Year's Eve 2007, late in the afternoon, Browning's office faxed a memo to the state's beleagured supervisor of elections. Browning said, in effect, to supervisors struggling to organize the January primary: you have to process petitions for ballot referenda on a first come, first serve basis. Immediately, the Florida Chamber initiative wheeled in more than 750,000 petitions they had collected for their "Smart Growth" amendment, despite the fact that a legal challenge against it was in process (thrown out subsequently by the Florida Supreme Court). By obstructing supervisor of elections from processing the earlier petitions submitted by Florida Hometown Democracy, Bad Penny Browning assured that Florida Hometown Democracy would not appear on the 2008 ballot in a presidential year.

Today Browning is getting paid big bucks to roll out the steam-rollers against Fair Districts. I'm sure Jeb has joked with him, "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie." If you don't like the job Brownie did, vote "yes!" for 4, 5, and 6.