(Florida Republican) Legislature considers a 'poison pill' to nullify citizen petitions

[seafan]

Every waking moment, these government-hijacking Republican screwballs in the Florida Legislature wage another new obscenity against everyday people.

Now, it's a scam Republican amendment especially crafted to nullify the rights of citizens to place issues on the ballot by petition.



Howard Troxler at the St. Petersburg Times is shaking his head:


April 15, 2010

I suppose there is no point in saying that the Legislature is doing something stinky. It sort of goes without saying.

.....

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.

.....

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:


.....


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.

.....

This is a "poison pill" amendment designed to fool voters into sabotaging their own petitions.

Remember that the petition-hating Legislature already is likely this year to ask voters to weaken the class-size amendment that they passed in 2002.

So why stop there?

Why not another amendment that tricks voters into saying that Amendment 4 (Hometown Democracy) doesn't count even if it passes?

Why not, every time the voters put something on the ballot by petition, have an automatic rival amendment that wipes out the first one?

I guess I should shut up — just givin' them more ideas.

Ah, yes, this is the brainchild of our *incoming Senate President*, Mike Haridopolos.

This guy:

Loser
of the week

Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos.

At a time when the Florida GOP is reeling in criminal investigations of party leaders and top donors and every week brings new accounts of obscene party spending, Haridopolos thought the timing was perfect to start allowing fundraising slush funds for legislative leaders. He was so mad about Crist's veto, you'd have thought his taxpayer-funded university job had been cut from the budget.

Good Lord, deliver Florida from these thieves, scoundrels and self-appointed kings.

[ixion]

1. The Florida "Bubba" network in action.

:argh:

It's one of the things that I really dislike about living here. :(

[Dappleganger]

2. I think that Tallahasee is due for a

meteor shower of its own. Time to clean out that place and ever little republican roach who's screwing over this state.

Dear Lord, we need another Lawton Chiles to deal with these charlatans!

[atreides1]

3. It's up to the voters of Florida

If they are too stupid to see these wannabe tyrants for who they really arer then they deserve what crappy government they get.

That goes for any state where the voters are so lazy that they would rather vote against their own interests.

[zipplewrath]

5. It's hard to describe

I never quite know how to explain Florida Politics. "Good ole boy" doesn't really describe it, considering how many non-natives live here, including a fairly healthy Cuban/hispanic population, not to mention some significant homosexual concentrations. But there is a real sense of disconnect between Tallahassee and the voters. They basically don't even bother to vote for local/state elections. They turn out in droves for the presidential, but won't even MARK the stupid ballot for the local races. It's head slapping silly.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. They have been waging this battle for sometime.

Is there any federal law that would supercede this attempt to stifle citizen involvement?

[seafan]

6. The FL Supreme Court might have something to say about this, as it tricks the voters.

This scam Republican amendment to nullify Florida citizens' ballot initiatives even if they pass, would seem to be a prime case for the Court to slap down these overreaching bastards.


One thing that has become shockingly apparent for many people:


This battle over SB6, the teacher merit pay abomination, has laid bare Jeb Bush's shadowy, but primary role in orchestrating this entire rapacious legislative agenda by remote controlled drone.


He is manipulating and micromanaging all the Legislative pieces to accomplish everything he failed to do when there were principled members of the Senate and House to stand up and defy him.




Jeb Bush's food fight in 2010 is for the whole enchilada:


Ramming his school vouchers into the Constitution;

Channeling state money to religious schools and other religious agencies not limited to schools;

Breaking down the more than a century-old wall in the Florida Constitution separating church and state;

Forcing prayer into schools;

Breaking the back of the teachers union;

Gutting the teachers union members' ability to collectively bargain;

Destroy public education by starving its funding;

Forcing teachers to submit to a pay system linked to test scores and obscure politically-appointed panel "findings" about their performance;

Robbing the right of the people to gather petitions to place issues on the ballot;

Defeating Hometown Democracy (the rights of the people to decide local land use policy in their communities);

Making sure his buddies at CSX will take state money and then will never be held liable for train accidents that are the fault of CSX (the taxpayers will pay this tab);

Nullifying attempts to redraw voting districts fairly, as to not favor any one political party;

Privatizing Medicaid and forcing patients into HMOs;

Opening up Florida's shores to oil drilling;

Allowing the viability of the Everglades to become a distant memory;

Revoking the voters' 2002 decision to institute smaller class sizes in our schools;

Further restricting a woman's right to a safe, legal abortion;

Cutting the corporate income tax rate;

Allowing property insurance companies to increase premiums without government approval



And, inserting his late 30's year-old apprentice, Marco Rubio, in the US Senate, to continue the radical right wing conservative assault on the lives of everyday people.



Former Gov. Bush: Still in charge at the Capitol?, WP, April 15, 2010



Well, WaPo, we've been trying to tell you ever since he *left office*.


Do you get it now??