Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Hillary Clinton Has A Sugar Problem And She Can Solve It Right Here, Right Now: Sign The Now or Neverglades Declaration ... by gimleteye

Hillary Clinton didn't help her case with the public, by attending a fundraiser in Miami last night hosted by Alfie Fanjul, one of the Big Sugar billionaires. At $50,000 per, ordinary voters might wonder what influence the Fanjuls want to exert with a Clinton presidency. Wait. We already know.

Last month I wrote:
Hillary supporters are hoovering campaign cash from South Florida. This strange election cycle issues have taken back seat to the cult of personality. That will change once the party conventions are over, and when it does change, there is one issue where Hillary will have to take a stand. Hopefully, Hillary won't screw it up like Al Gore did with Homestead Air Force Base.

The Bill Clinton affair with Big Sugar is a strong enough factor to sway a significant part of the Florida electorate: taxpayers outraged how Big Sugar uses corporate welfare to buy off Congress and the state legislature while dominating water management practices and policies and enforcement in the state.

In Florida, Big Sugar -- the Fanjul billionaires and U.S. Sugar Corporation, controlled by the Charles Stuart Mott Foundation based in Flint, Michigan -- gets what it wants, when it wants it. Coastal real estate property owners, tourism-related businesses, and anyone who treasures the state's estuaries, rivers, Everglades and bays, are Big Sugar's sacrifice zone.

Last week, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson called for agencies to start eminent domain proceedings to legally take significant acreage in sugarcane production for the purpose of storage and treatment marshes that would eventually stop the toxic discharges from Lake Okeechobee and deliver clean, fresh water south. Nelson's statement was extraordinary. It was the first time a senior Florida politician had uttered the words. Nelson's 2018 reelection campaign is likely to include a challenger -- Gov. Rick Scott -- who is fully bought and paid for by Big Sugar.

Where does Senator Nelson's support for eminent domain in the EAA leave Hillary in Florida this November? We don't know. What we do know is that the Fanjuls have courted the Clintons over many decades.

Yesterday, Senate President Joe Negron -- under merciless attack from Republican voters in his district for failing to adequately address major toxic algae blooms -- announced his support for buying lands now in sugarcane production south of Lake Okeechobee; a major about-face for a political status quo that has sheltered Big Sugar while turning millions of voters into the industry's sacrifice zone. What the news reports made clear, however, is that little can happen without Gov. Rick Scott and the legislature's support. In other words, AFTER the November elections.

It is critical for groups like Bullsugar.org, SWFL Citizens for Clean Water, Captains for Clean Water and others to keep a full-court press on every point of contact with candidates who have been so deep in Big Sugar's pocket, you can't see the tops of their heads.

What advocates can expect in the coming months: the Fanjuls and US Sugar Corporation, whose campaign cash litters the Florida electoral landscape, will continue to try to control the narrative to turn public attention away from their culpability in Florida's toxic water quality catastrophe.

Hillary Clinton can do better. Take the money and run, but not before signing the Now or Neverglades Declaration right here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sign it and take the money??? Really?