Above, my screen grab of FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson appearing on WPLG-TV/Channel 10's "This Week in South Florida," July 21, 2011, with host Michael Putney. Wilson was only Florida House member to vote YES to increase the U.S. debt limit.
Fair Districts here: Surprise! NAACP's proposed 2012 map keeps Hallandale Beach & Hollywood divided: Blacks given to Frederica Wilson, Jews to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz; told ya!
The
Central Florida Political Pulse blog of the
Orlando Sentinel, which has been doing an infinitely better job of covering the Florida 2012 redistricting issue than any South Florida newspaper or blog, had the unhappy news yesterday that we were anticipating -despite their previous lip-service, the
Florida NAACP was and is the object of the ruling status quo society.
They have zero interest in having this state actually have legislative districts that encourage competitive elections that are based on ideas and public policies.
Here's a question for the NACCP.
Florida is the fourth-largest state in the United States.
Yet the state's Black Democratic politicians are currently so unappealing and ineffective and so lacking in common sense on the issues that most concern Floridians, that in my opinion, not a single one could be elected state-wide.
Not one.
Even while Republican Jennifer Carroll, mother of Dolphin defensive back Nolan Carroll, was elected Lt. Governor as part of Rick Scott's ticket last November.
Compare that to California, Texas, or NY, the three states larger than Florida.
Each one has had African-American Democratic candidates successfully earn the nomination for governor or U.S. Senate based on primary campaigns dealing with ideas and the state's future, and DIDN'T have state Democratic elected officials abandon them and bail in droves like Florida's White Democrats did to Kendrick Meek last year in his third-place U.S. Senate race against Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, supporting Crist.
In Florida, though, like a caricature of a cartoon, most of the Black Dems who are best-known to the public throughout the state are known more for negative things than their particular legislative accomplishments or in-depth knowledge of a subject of public policy importance, and the troubling thing is that most reporters and Democratic voters don't seem to care how this looks. Perception becomes reality.
Instead, they just shrug their shoulders.
That means that to the extent they are known at all, they're known and usually reported upon in the state's MSM because of their fashion sense, continuing questions about whether they are STILL breaking state rules on residency, and their unwillingness to engage in a public discussion of ideas other than ones of their own choosing: Frederica Wilson, Joe Gibbons, Corrine Brown.
And there's more where that comes from, like princely State Senator Gary Siplin of Orlando, who, judging from his history, seems to prefer that Florida legislators have as much leeway and as little adult supervision as possible.
See for yourself:
Central Florida Political Pulse blog
Siplin blasts ethics bill, defends Sansom, and Senate committee shoots it down
posted by aaron deslatte on March, 29 2011 5:30 PM
Palm Beach Post
Florida ethics panel drops $200,000 in fines owed by 168 officials after time limit passes
By John Kennedy, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:57 p.m. Friday, June 17, 2011
There's your dose of reality, Florida and Florida reporters.
Breaking News! Not!
Rep.
Corrine Brown,
FL-3, is someone who is literally her own worst enemy, often placing a verbal noose around her own neck, again-and-again, to defend the indefensible:
"Look at the South. Nothing has changed.'' Really?
The evidence to the contrary of that is all around us, starting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but then how do you argue with somone who has made clear for so long that facts have little to do with what she says or does?
See where that quote comes from at the bottom of this post, and see the back story on this perpetually embarrassing woman in the June 12th, 2010 Buzz blog post in the St. Pete Times by Adam C. Smith titled, Corrine Brown and Mr. Gerry Mandering,
To take a look at
Rep. Brown's current joke of a congressional district -CD- the Jacksonville-to-Orlando 200-mile absurdity which was highlighted here on my blog and in print ads and TV commercials last year, which helped lead to overwhelming public support among Florida voters for
Amendments 5 & 6 last November, see
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=3
To see a great video on Corrine Brown's embarrassing CD, see my post of October 25, 2010, titled, New TV ad from FairDistrictsFlorida.org; FL-17 and Corrine Brown's FL-3 are embarrassing embodiment of what unchecked gerrymandering gets you:
Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell spelled it all out very nicely in his Taking Names column of November 8th, saying about her,
If Florida ever stops gerrymandering, Brown's Democrat-loaded district is toast.
There's no way her snake-like district, which covers 200 miles and stretches from Jacksonville to Gainesville and then down to Sanford and Orlando, could survive.
Orlando Sentinel
Corrine Brown, secret interests fight your vote
November 08, 2011
Scott Maxwell, TAKING NAMES
And locally, congrats Hallandale Beach, Liberty City, Overtown and Hollywood!
Like it or not, it's been decided that you voters in FL-17 have an awful lot in common and that you've drawn the short straw and won't be having an actual congressional campaign next year.
Your representative has already been selected for you: globetrotting, do-nothing Frederica Wilson and her far-flung and over-the-top hats. The woman whom, as I've previously written here, repeatedly said she supported Obama's ill-conceived jobs bill, but who never quite ever managed to find the time to formally sign-up to be a House sponsor herself, behavior that matched FL-20's DWS. Nope, she was always too busy.
What a hypocrite!
And who locally is laughing about the NAACP's congressional maps?
Residents of Aventura, the Miami-Dade County city south of me by a few blocks, as the NAACP takes the position that Aventura will continue be repped by someone in Washington from Broward County who lives northwest of me, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, while here in the part of Hallandale Beach west of U.S.-1, we get to continue to be represented by someone from Miami-Dade whose district is based far SE from here in Liberty City, Overtown and Opa-Locka.
So whatever happened to the important notion of "compactness'?
Yes, the NAACP will do anything to keep the frequently-absent Frederica Wilson in office, even if it violates the intent and spirit of the two state constitutional Amendments that were overwhelmingly passed last year.
Surprise!
And if that means Wilson never has to have a competitive general election and can take her job for granted...
Right, it's not THEIR problem.
As for FL State House Rep. Joe Gibbons, well as everyone who comes to this blog knows by now, that former HB city commissioner represents a district here in SE Broward County, but it's not where his own wife and children live.
I know, I know, you really thought "home is where the heart is," right?
Not in his case.
Gibbons is an old-fashioned political opportunist and carpet-bagger, and as has been mentioned here numerous times, with the links to articles and post to prove it, Gibbons even tried to claim a Homestead exemption for his so so-called HB home, but the city rejected it because he failed the residency requirements most basic rule -he didn't live there.
Yet what has happened to him?
What has Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz done to show that nobody is above the law, even the low threshold that the Florida Legislature maintains for itself?
Nothing.
When did the august editorial boards of the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel ever write anything about it?
They never have.
When you consider who is on their Editorial Board, it's little wonder -not exactly mental giants!
Some of the folks above are the same people responsible for the endorsement of Anthony A. Sanders for HB City Commission in 2008, despite his disconnectedness from the larger community, a fact which is just as self-evident three years later.
Was it because he was Black and they were suffering pangs of Liberal White Guilt that earned him the nod, when facts seem not to have mattered to the editorial board?
Not that the Herald has ever written a single thing about any of Sanders' actions involving ethics, or the city rushing to purchase his home for more than it was worth, but then renting it out for a dollar a month with no plausible explanation for what the property is intended to be used for. That's still the case.
So why did the city buy it?
No explanation and the Herald doesn't ask.
Meanwhile, his completely unsatisfactory performance as commissioner now enters its fourth year.
Yes, there's your freedom of the press in the year 2011 in South Florida -sleepwalking.
And he talks about running for Congress?
From what state?
And I would know since I've had a Google Alert for Joe Gibbons for years.
Last year I finally subscribed to the Central Florida Political Pulse via my Blogger Reading List, after formally having them Bookmarked for years, since it allows me to receive their posts within seconds of them being posted online, which is fantastic.
NAACP redistricting maps have familiar look
Redistricting NAACP plan with comparison to the current Congressional districts in Central Florida
By Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau Chief
10:47 p.m. EST, November 20, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — Republican lawmakers say voters who last year endorsed the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts constitutional reforms may be in for a rude awakening when the first drafts of congressional and legislative maps are released in the coming weeks.
Something akin to: Meet the new maps, same as the old maps.
Read the rest of the article at:
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Roll Call
Democrats Betting Big on Florida Redistricting
New Fair Districts Law Will Prevent Major GOP Gerrymander, but Huge Gains Are Not Likely
By Joshua Miller, Roll Call Staff
Nov. 8, 2011, Midnight
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WTVY-TV News (Dothan, Alabama) video: Fla. Redistricting Process Getting Heated. Posted: 9:18 PM Nov 21, 2011, Reporter: Troy Kinsey. Updated: 9:21 PM Nov 21, 2011,
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Meanwhile, at Steve Schale's blog...
Story Lines - Florida Congressional Redistricting
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011 AT 5:54PM
As we near the unveiling of the first official Congressional redistricting maps, here are some of the interesting story lines to keep an eye out for. This list isn't meant to be exhaustive, but more the things that I am watching out for as the reapportionment and redistricting process begins in earnest in early December.
Read the rest of his post at:
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Here's a question: Why is it that all this time after former City of Miami City Manager Tony Crapp, Jr. resigned, that we still don't know for whom -or what group- in the redistricting battle he's working on behalf of?
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*Reminder: Broward County Commission will vote on their own redistricting maps in three weeks on December 13th. More on that as the date approaches.
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Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/20/1834230/congressional-vets-align-with.htmlCongressional vets align with business groups to challenge redistricting proposals
By Mary Ellen Klas, Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
September 20, 2010
As the high stakes battle over drawing political boundaries goes to the November ballot, two veteran Florida congressmen joined with business groups Monday to launch a campaign to defeat the proposals that would upend the way their districts are drawn.
Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville and Republican Rep. Mario Diaz Balart of Miami, both elected to Congress in 1992, said they will work to defeat Amendments 5 and 6 because they believe the standards will lead to less minority representation, not more.
"These amendments will have the effect of bleaching the state of Florida as it was before 1992 when minorities did not have the ability to elect candidates of their choice,'' said Diaz Balart.
"It's unworkable. It will have a devastating effect on minorities across the state.''
The amendments, pushed by Fair Districts Florida, create new standards that would make it harder for legislators to gerrymander political districts. Proponents say the standards will strengthen the rights of minorities under the 1965 Voting Rights Act by chiseling them into the constitution, not weakening them.
"Rep.'s Diaz Balart and Brown are sadly mistaken about Amendments 5 & 6,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "These constitutional amendments are the most important changes that voters can make right now that will strengthen minority voting rights and protect the right of minorities to elect representatives of their choice.''
The anti-amendment effort, known as the Protect Your Vote campaign, has enlisted the help of former Secretary of State Kurt Browning and the public relations firm of Ron Sachs Communications.
The committee is ready to raise and spend "at least $4 [million] maybe more'' to defeat Amendments 5 and 6, Browning said, and will place ads on television. Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce have lined up in support.
Browning warned the amendments would effectively "give the courts more influence in that process, which is unnecessary.''
Brown and Diaz Balart had hoped that a legislative counter measure would also be on the ballot, but the Florida Supreme Court threw it out two weeks ago. They have also filed their own lawsuit seeking to keep the measure off the ballot, but have lost at every stop.
Florida's once-a-decade redistricting process has been riddled with court fights since 1992, when the court-drawn districts ushered in maps that concentrated minority voters into minority-majority districts. Since then, the state has had three black members and three Hispanics elected to Congress.
That year, the new maps resulted in diluting Democratic congressional districts and the Florida Legislature. It also gradually allowed Republicans to control to the Legislature and assume the majority in Florida's congressional delegation by the mid-1990s.
Supporters of the Fair Districts campaign argue that the amendment will impose new standards that will allow for more geographically compact districts, increase competition for elected office and ensure that minorities are represented when districts are redrawn.
The group has raised $4.2 million to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot and defend the legal challenges. Much of the group's money came from trial lawyers, teachers, unions and out-of-state advocacy organizations.
The amendments are also supported by the NAACP and all but two of Florida's legislative black caucus members, who argued that in the two decades since the 1992 court-drawn districts, minorities have been elected from districts that aren't concentrated and that Florida voters are now more color-blind.
But Brown said Monday she disagrees. "Look at the South. Nothing has changed,'' she said. "You can't take politics out of politics.'' Brad Ashwell of Florida Public Interest Research Group called Brown and Diaz Balart's opposition a self-serving attempt to scare minority voters.
"It's inherently political,'' Ashwell said. ``Reforming the redistricting process is an aggressive assault on whatever party is in power. It's going to radically affect their ability to retain their power. What we want is more competitive elections, more accountability.''
