Senator Bennett is against people and he is against Florida. The citizen movement and civic activists who tried to move a constitutional ballot referendum called Florida Hometown Democracy in 2010 know Bennett also fiercely opposed their attempt to return local control of land use decisions to voters.
Apparently, this subtext of the GOP strategy in Florida doesn't make it to the editorial pages or commentary where people might understand that the GOP, through its leaders like Bennett, want local control so long as it is their local control. Voter registrations? Suppress them. Voter control of land use? Throttle them. Environmental regulations to prevent Floridians from swimming in a toxic sea of pollutants? Let them eat cake.
The net result of his leadership: disarray in state authority -- assisted by an incurious, insensitive governor, Rick Scott -- that empowers the worst of local county leadership. The effect is like a neutron bomb: everything in government appears to be functioning, but nothing works.
If you wanted to put in place a bloodless coup, you couldn't find anyone better than Florida Senator Michael Bennett to do it.
Now it turns out, that he was neck-deep in voter suppression efforts in Florida; efforts just struck down by a federal court.
A St. Pete Times editorial recently observed that it took "... federal courts and the U.S. Justice Department to defend democracy and protect Floridians from their governor and Legislature who are determined to suppress the vote. Now it should be clear even to Gov. Rick Scott that barriers to voter registration drives and the state's heavy-handed purge of the voter rolls are unconstitutional.
“I want the people in the state of Florida to want to vote as badly as that person in Africa who is willing to walk 200 miles for that opportunity he’s never had before in his life. This should not be easy,” Sen. Michael Bennett, a Republican from Bradenton, had said during the 2011 legislative session." Thanks to Herald editorial writer Fred Grimm for pointing it out. "Not be easy" is a euphemism for turning government into a fortress against the people. Count Michael Bennett as one of the Great Destroyers. Damning, but do voters in Florida know or care?
5 comments:
Another GOP scumbag al la Bell and Scott
Susan Cerulean: Whom do DEP and our state serve?
Written by Susan Cerulean
My View
Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing
There is a field
I'll meet you there.
Thirteenth-century poet Rumi laid out exactly what we need in these contentious times: a place where we can talk together and find common ground, regardless of our political or religious affiliations.
But we cannot meet in that field if it has been paved.
I am profoundly disturbed by the suspension of Florida wetlands expert Connie Bersok from her post at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Bersok is not allowed to discuss why she thinks she has been suspended from her post, and the DEP won't talk. In early May, when she was ordered to stay at home, Bersok was immersed in working on permit conditions for Highlands Ranch, one of 40 or more wetlands mitigation banks in Florida.
Florida's wetlands are precious, from panhandle savannas of pitcher plants to spiring cypress swamps. I love our state's uplands, too. But never could I imagine that one landscape could replace the other, in either form or function. Yet that is the underlying assumption of the mitigation park — just one of the fatal flaws in the lucrative world of this "banking" program.
Here's a quick overview: Developers are required to replace any wetland they destroy. Why? Partly because we know we have allowed the annihilation of more than 9 million acres of Florida's wetlands, and suddenly we realize we need them. Wetlands filter out pollutants and soak up rain. When you wipe out one of those wetlands — which are home to swallow-tailed kites, lacy white egrets and prothonotary warblers — all that dirty floodwater has to go somewhere. It seems like a win-win situation: we replace wetlands, and mitigation bankers say it's a great way to make a lot of money.
(cont.)
In theory, the mitigation banker buys land that used to be a swamp, but was drained for some other use, and restores it. That might work, or it might not. But in my book, a 1,575-acre upland pine plantation never can be re-made into the diverse and sparkling wetland it once was.
Regulators at DEP calculate how many "credits" the banker can sell to developers. Each credit — which can be sold for thousands of dollars — is supposed to be equivalent to an acre of pristine wetlands that the developers are about to bulldoze.
As I recall, Connie Bersok began her career as a state employee at DEP about the same time I did, in the 1980s (although I soon transferred to the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission). It was a heady time for a young person who wanted to work and advocate for the protection of wetlands and wildlife. We believed in good science and a stewardship ethic, and our chains of command did not muzzle us. Gov. Bob Graham listened intently to the great conservation leaders of the time, and in successive sessions, the Legislature (Democrats and Republicans working together!) set water quality standards, addressed wetlands protection, required local governments to start planning how to handle Florida's explosive growth, and set in motion what for many years was the nation's most successful land acquisition program.
Our current leaders are mostly dedicated to the service of the corporations. They rush to undo the good works of the last 40 years, the policies and programs that made Florida such a sweet and hopeful place to live and work. Our fresh water, our minerals, our Gulf of Mexico — all of this and more is viewed as a collection of resources open for the business of exploitation without regard for the common good, or for its own infinitely subtle and beautiful functioning.
One of the first acts of Gov. Rick Scott was to replace Secretary Tom Pelham with a former senior executive at St. Joe Development. Secretary Pelham's outstanding team of growth-management planners and lawyers at the Department of Community Affairs was swept away. Just a few months later, the agency whose mission was to oversee the common good was gone, "merged" into the new Department of Economic Opportunity. At the same time, the growth-management laws of Florida — often lauded as a national model — were gutted.
These actions appear to dovetail neatly with the very real concern of most citizens for jobs.
But don't be deceived. The intent of our leadership is to purge the state agencies of science-based experts of integrity and replace them with people who have little training in ecology and less commitment to our unique peninsula. They are expected to treat developers as "customers," and citizens as suspect. With this history, I am dubious when the so-called Department of Environmental Protection posts a statement on its website denying that Connie Bersok's suspension has anything to do with her attempt to do right by her job.
In Rumi's field, all of us would meet among the pitcher plants and the cypress trees to hash out how to care for what is left of the commons — the Earth — that sustains us. I imagine such a field would resemble something as diverse as the original Florida. I imagine it would resemble a true democracy. In Rumi's landscape, everyone would have a voice. The state employee and the governor. The silvery springs and the manatee. The impoverished child and the migrant worker. I don't picture a special place in this field for a strong army of lobbyists and out-of-state investors and wealthy mitigation bankers. Especially not for them.
In theory, the mitigation banker buys land that used to be a swamp, but was drained for some other use, and restores it. That might work, or it might not. But in my book, a 1,575-acre upland pine plantation never can be re-made into the diverse and sparkling wetland it once was.
Regulators at DEP calculate how many "credits" the banker can sell to developers. Each credit — which can be sold for thousands of dollars — is supposed to be equivalent to an acre of pristine wetlands that the developers are about to bulldoze.
As I recall, Connie Bersok began her career as a state employee at DEP about the same time I did, in the 1980s (although I soon transferred to the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission). It was a heady time for a young person who wanted to work and advocate for the protection of wetlands and wildlife. We believed in good science and a stewardship ethic, and our chains of command did not muzzle us. Gov. Bob Graham listened intently to the great conservation leaders of the time, and in successive sessions, the Legislature (Democrats and Republicans working together!) set water quality standards, addressed wetlands protection, required local governments to start planning how to handle Florida's explosive growth, and set in motion what for many years was the nation's most successful land acquisition program.
Our current leaders are mostly dedicated to the service of the corporations. They rush to undo the good works of the last 40 years, the policies and programs that made Florida such a sweet and hopeful place to live and work. Our fresh water, our minerals, our Gulf of Mexico — all of this and more is viewed as a collection of resources open for the business of exploitation without regard for the common good, or for its own infinitely subtle and beautiful functioning.
One of the first acts of Gov. Rick Scott was to replace Secretary Tom Pelham with a former senior executive at St. Joe Development. Secretary Pelham's outstanding team of growth-management planners and lawyers at the Department of Community Affairs was swept away. Just a few months later, the agency whose mission was to oversee the common good was gone, "merged" into the new Department of Economic Opportunity. At the same time, the growth-management laws of Florida — often lauded as a national model — were gutted.
These actions appear to dovetail neatly with the very real concern of most citizens for jobs.
But don't be deceived. The intent of our leadership is to purge the state agencies of science-based experts of integrity and replace them with people who have little training in ecology and less commitment to our unique peninsula. They are expected to treat developers as "customers," and citizens as suspect. With this history, I am dubious when the so-called Department of Environmental Protection posts a statement on its website denying that Connie Bersok's suspension has anything to do with her attempt to do right by her job.
In Rumi's field, all of us would meet among the pitcher plants and the cypress trees to hash out how to care for what is left of the commons — the Earth — that sustains us. I imagine such a field would resemble something as diverse as the original Florida. I imagine it would resemble a true democracy. In Rumi's landscape, everyone would have a voice. The state employee and the governor. The silvery springs and the manatee. The impoverished child and the migrant worker. I don't picture a special place in this field for a strong army of lobbyists and out-of-state investors and wealthy mitigation bankers. Especially not for them.
Let me ask a candid question? Why should the people who wish to comment be moderate? And why should Republicans be allowed to be so damn immoderate? In the name of “being immoderate,” I believe time is fast approaching for a lot “of the people” to begin hoping they can start lynching Republicans!!! Oh, yeah, and that includes Marquito Rubio!
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