Showing posts with label FL-17. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FL-17. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Cowardly cipher and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (new FL-24) is a deliberate no-show at Channel 10's 'This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney.' Did her hats refuse to let her go and throw themselves in front of her door because they knew no-bargain-himself Rudy Moise WOULD show-up? Another South Florida mystery that will have an unhappy ending!

My screenshot of U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, new FL-24, on the July 31, 2011 episode of WPLG-TV/Channel 10 Miami's This Week in South Florida, with host Michael Putney. She was a no-show this past Sunday morning when she was supposed to meet at the Pembroke Park TV studio with her Democratic Party primary opponent. Surprise! Photo by South Beach Hoosier.

Cowardly cipher and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (new FL-24) is a deliberate no-show at Channel 10's 'This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney.' Did her hats refuse to let her go and throw themselves in front of her door because they knew no-bargain-himself Rudy Moise WOULD show-up? Another South Florida mystery that will have an unhappy ending! 
The poverty of Wilson's ideas and her ideals shows themselves once again -absent!
Curious observers, South Florida bloggers and regular voters were left to wonder if perhaps her large collection of hats banded together and refused to let her go, and literally threw themselves in front of her door at home to keep her there once they heard that no-bargain-himself Rudy Moise WOULD show-up?

Rudy Moise?
Seriously?
This isn't "Who's afraid of Virgina Woolf?"

No, the real question is whoever is afraid of debating Rudy Moise, whom I rightly bashed four years ago in this space during the 2008 Democratic Party primary that was full of jokers and no aces -or whatever you'd call what actually happens on Sunday morning public policy TV shows- is seriously lacking in both smarts and moxie.

And yet, Wilson was a no-show, echoing recent public remarks of hers that she wasn't being treated fairly by the South Florida news media.

Fairly? 
OMG!

That's rich considering the extent to which the South Florida news media, esp. female reporters, indulge her and treat Wilson, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen like Easter Eggs made of 24-carat gold -with kid gloves.
Yet even that sort of deferential treatment is NOT up to the standards that Wilson thinks she's entitled to -what a delusional woman!

And just as delusional are her Democratic Party allies and acolytes scattered around South Florida who for reasons that are hard to figure, have swallowed the Kool-Aid and never seem to tire of making excuses for her odd words and actions, and her even more frequent absences from the job she was elected to, where Wilson has one of THE highest absentee rates in the entire current Congress, almost four times higher than average.



(For the record, I've never lived in an area of the United States before where the female reporters were so consistently deferential to elected officials, esp. to women officials. Sometimes, if you didn't know better, it's almost like they're auditioning to be press secretary. Jonetta Rose Barras, whom I read and listened to on WAMU-FM's "D.C. Politics Hour" for all 15 years I was in D.C. 1988-2003, would positively lacerate the current crop of pols, male and female, and eat the current wimpy female reporters down here for breakfast -or a late morning snack. Especially at the Herald! Sadly, there's nobody even remotely like her down here, cause boy could we ever use about two dozen of her clones scattered around the area to change the current sleepwalking news ethos down here.)


In the 19 months that she has been in office, Wilson's said nothing and done nothing of substance, and if she had health problems again, her staff would function just as well and hardly anyone would be the wiser.

To me, having grown-up down here and having been intimately involved with the Democratic Party in Dade County starting in 1976, and having lived and worked in the Washington, D.C,. area for 15 years and having come to know many congressman and their staffs very well, practically knowing the House and Senate buildings like the palm of my hand, Wilson, sadly, is, in part, the logical result of years of declining news standards and so many experiences reporters leaving.

People with institutional knowledge of people, places and things who wouldn't put up with BS from anyone, much less, elected officials like her who think they can skate.
In short, the old-fashioned reporters who would do many stories in a day, even if you only saw one actually air on the local evening newscast.

Compared to many other large cities where TV reporters and their investigative mind-set literally infuse a station's DNA despite the normal staff turnover that occurs, because, for better or worse, this has been a launching pad for careers, we have a very small number of reporters who don't need to be asked to set people straight on the facts and the history of the area when someone starts dissembling.

(It's the news version of the unfortunate phenomenon we've seen in sports coverage and sports radio in the Miami area the past twenty years, where there are simply far too many people from New York and New Jersey running things and getting air-time who came down here after Hurricane Andrew, and whose knowledge of South Florida sports history comes almost entirely second-hand thru ESPN or Sunday or Monday Night NFL telecasts. Not that this wasn't always a second-tier sports town, though, because it was, but the Herald's sports section decline for the past 15 years sure hasn't helped things, and is just one of the more tangible signs of the decline. So much technology to make things better for readers, yet so much backwardness and lack of feel for the area. And the four English language local TV sports coverage for a typical week, collectively, is worse than what the old WTVJ-TV Channel 4 of sports director Bernie Rosen would produce on a single 6 p.m. Friday night telecast before a big Dolphins game, when the tension and excitement around town was palpable. Now, well, no thanks! It's worse than awful!)

If this no-show by Wilson were actually surprising news, I'd have posted this Sunday afternoon after the show aired and her craven refusal to show-up and be subjected to some scrutiny would get the good once-over it deserves.
But it was no surprise that she was a no-show, since she's one of the biggest no-shows in Congress when it comes to votes, as I've mentioned here previously, as well as in the Herald.

It's really a damn shame that the City of Aventura in Northeast Miami-County isn't part of her new FL-24/old FL-17 Congressional District like it ought to be, and is instead, like before the recent redistricting, part of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's.

Then we could see what happens when some of the many, many people in Aventura who have the smarts, political savvy and financial means to put their money where their mouth is -and then some!- could blitz the area with deadly precise commercials detailing Wilson's many failures and deconstruct the fact that in Washington, she is a nobody with no influence and no knowledge that anybody else in Congress respects or admires.

She's a walking, talking cliche and seemingly afraid of having smart people ask hard questions where she can't weasel her way out with preposterous statements.
Very sad.



IF she had shown-up, and I never thought she would once I heard Michael Putney say on Saturday night's telecast -or was it Friday's?- that he'd have Wilson and Moise in studio for his Sunday show, I'd have posted screen grabs and given you the link to watch the show yourself, wherever you are in the world.

Citizens in the new FL-24 with low social mobility and with bleak economic prospects deserve better than Wilson in Congress, and at least deserved an opponent who could bring home the fact how unsuccessful and unpersuasive Frederica Wilson is in Washington, D.C. 
Chronicle her career arc in Washington this far as Congresswoman as circus clown...
If only...

Now, after her win Tuesday night, they are stuck with one of the least-effective members of Congress for another two years.
My condolences,

I used to be you, but now that I'm in the new FL-23, I can vote against DWS for the first time in 83 days, and vote against her I will.
With enthusiasm.
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Some recent -but not all- past posts about Rep. Frederica Wilson are here:


TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2011
NOT Breaking News: Rep. Frederica Wilson still holds common sense, FL-17 constituents & taxpayers 'hostage': Spend, spend, spend and MORE TAXES!




FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011



Sunday, July 29, 2012

By any reasonable measure, FL-17's Frederica Wilson is ineffective in Washington, D.C. -except for drawing negative attention to herself for her silly hat fixation, which renders her a cartoon. Why does the South Florida news media continue to give Wilson a "hall pass" and never PRESS her to answer serious questions? Mutuality of interests! Wilson doesn't want to be asked tough questions and the press corps DOESN'T want to ask them!

By any reasonable measure, FL-17's Frederica Wilson is ineffective in Washington, D.C. -except for drawing negative attention to herself for her silly hat fixation, which renders her a cartoon. Why does the South Florida news media continue to give Wilson a "hall pass" and never PRESS her to answer serious questions? Mutuality of interests! Wilson doesn't want to be asked tough questions and the press corps DOESN'T want to ask them!
As of just a few days ago, according to THOMAS, the legislative database maintained by The Library of Congresshttp://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php the following are the 14 attempts at legislation sponsored by FL-17-Representative Frederica Wilson, who is my rep, since January of 2011, when she first took office.

Among the things you'll notice right away is that of the 14 bills -only two in 20127 of the 14 have 2 co-sponsors or less, 5 of the 14 have NONE.
None!.

Of course, every Member has their relative strengths and weaknesses and as I learned from being there for 15 years, at one point, living five blocks from the U.S. Capitol, not all are cut out to be or are even interested in being writers of legislation, the THOMAS Jefferson.

That being the case, and her clearly not being of them, given the objective facts below, perhaps her strength is in persuading others.
I've heard that from her apologists.
Where's the evidence?

Can you name anyone in Congress who looks to Wilson to decide how they'll vote.
No, first because she has proven to be a very liberal Rubber Stamp, and secondly because last year she was one of THE most frequently absent Members in the whole country.
Again, not one of the worst for the Florida delegation, one of THE worst for the entire U.S. House of Representatives.

When did you ever hear this fact mentioned on a local newscast on Channel 4, 6, 7 or 10?

And where was the Miami Herald?

Well, as has been their tried-and-true template for the past few years, their go-to strategy for how they've dealt with members of Congress that it doesn't want to offend, as was the case recently when the Herald completely ignored New England reporters calling-out Debbie Wasserman-Schultz self-evident hypocrisy to her face re her tax returns, not wanting to say anything negative about her, the Herald said nothing and printed nothing.

They just played the waiting game. 

So, rather than note the hypocrisy when it actually happens -you know, reporting?- the powers-that-be just say let's wait a bit.
It was the same with Kendrick Meek dozens of times, and even supporters of his knew this.

Again, when his successor, Frederica Wilson, wound-up with one of THE worst attendance records in the entire U.S. Congress last year, the Herald waited forever to mention it -this year!
About her 2011 attendance!

Nothing about it when it was actually happening!
Why?

Yes, Wilson had surgery in November, but what about the first ten months of 2011?
Again, not among the worst attendance records for Florida, among THE very worst for the entire 435-person Congress.

That's a question that the Herald/McClatchy reporters and columnists in DC and Miami never asked Wilson to explain.
So where was she?

Yes, it seems that no matter where your faithful blogger looks or turns, whether at Hallandale Beach City Hall, the State Capitol in far-off Tallahassee, with carpet-bagger state Rep. Joe Gibbons and state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, or with U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson in Washington, D.C., he is over-represented by ineffective Rubber Stamps with no history of being serious and thoughtful statesmen, where being effective and right on public policy is more important than party.
*Reminder: as a result of congressional redistricting, a subject of so much discussion on this blog the past 18 months, FL-17 is morphing into the new FL-23, as my new Voters's Registration card from the Supervisor of Elections reminded me when it came in the mail a week ago.
1. H.R.2574 : Jobs Now Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 7/18/2011)      Cosponsors (None) 
Committees: House Education and the Workforce 
Latest Major Action: 9/8/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. 
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training.

2. H.R.2575 : Drive to Stay Alive Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 7/18/2011)      Cosponsors (2) 
Committees: House Transportation and Infrastructure 
Latest Major Action: 7/19/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. 
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

3. H.R.2582 : Homeowners' Defense Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 7/19/2011)      Cosponsors (None) 
Committees: House Financial Services 
Latest Major Action: 8/22/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. 
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity.

4. H.R.2723 : Social Security Protection Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 8/1/2011)      Cosponsors (15) 
Committees: House Rules 
Latest Major Action: 8/1/2011 Referred to House committee. 
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Rules.

5. H.R.2724 : Medicaid Protection Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 8/1/2011)      Cosponsors (10) 
Committees: House Rules 
Latest Major Action: 8/1/2011 Referred to House committee. 
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Rules.

6. H.R.2725 : Medicare Protection Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 8/1/2011)      Cosponsors (10) 
Committees: House Rules; House Budget 
Latest Major Action: 8/1/2011 Referred to House committee. 
Status: Referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

7. H.R.2726 : Education Protection Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 8/1/2011)      Cosponsors (10) 
Committees: House Rules; House Budget 
Latest Major Action: 8/1/2011 Referred to House committee. 
Status: Referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

8. H.R.2727 : People's Act of 2011
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 8/1/2011)      Cosponsors (10) 
Committees: House Rules; House Budget 
Latest Major Action: 8/1/2011 Referred to House committee. 
Status: Referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

9. H.R.3507 : Cease Haitian Deportations Act
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 11/22/2011)      Cosponsors (None) 
Committees: House Judiciary; House Foreign Affairs 
Latest Major Action: 12/2/2011 Referred to House subcommittee. 
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.

10. H.R.3595 : Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation Act
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 12/7/2011)      Cosponsors (1) 
Committees: House Financial Services 
Latest Major Action: 1/12/2012 Referred to House subcommittee. 
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity.

11. H.R.3741 : Rilya Wilson Act
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 12/20/2011)      Cosponsors (109) 
Committees: House Ways and Means; House Judiciary 
Latest Major Action: 1/6/2012 Referred to House subcommittee. 
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

12. H.RES.371 : Expressing support for designation of a "Hear My Cry Day" in schools across the United States.
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 7/25/2011)      Cosponsors (None) 
Committees: House Education and the Workforce 
Latest Major Action: 7/25/2011 Referred to House committee. 
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

13. H.RES.521 : Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should work with the Government of Haiti to address gender-based violence against women and children.
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 1/23/2012)      Cosponsors (55) 
Committees: House Foreign Affairs 
Latest Major Action: 2/3/2012 Referred to House subcommittee. 
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

14. H.RES.581 : Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the continued deployment of United States military support personnel advising regional forces working toward the apprehension of Joseph Kony is both necessary and appropriate.
Sponsor: Rep Wilson, Frederica [FL-17] (introduced 3/9/2012)      Cosponsors (None) 
Committees: House Foreign Affairs 
Latest Major Action: 3/9/2012 Referred to House committee. 
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

No Fair Districts here: Surprise! NAACP's proposed 2012 map keeps HB & Hollywood divided: Blacks given to Frederica Wilson, Jews to DWS; told ya!


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.html

Congressional 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.''

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Obama Isn't Working: Florida; When is FL-17's Wilson signing-on as a sponsor of Obama's doomed jobs bill to at least be consistent in her bad choices?

Mitt Romney campaign video: Obama Isn't Working: Florida
http://youtu.be/m1V5-tPoubE


Question for the South Florida news media:
When is FL-17's Rep. Frederica Wilson actually signing-on as a sponsor of President Obama's doomed jobs bill to at least be consistent in her bad choices?
Today makes two weeks since his speech.

She was the CBC sponsor of that meeting in Miami, depicted above in Mitt Romney's ad, so why won't you ask her that simple question?

-----



Sunday, September 18, 2011

Ten days after Obama's speech, no Florida Democrat in U.S. House has sponsored Obama Jobs Bill -Wilson, DWS, Deutsch, Hastings, Castor...

Ten days after President Obama's speech -"pass this bill now"- no South Florida Democrat in U.S. House has sponsored his American Jobs Act -Wilson, DWS, Hastings, Deutsch, Castor...
In fact, not a single Democratic House member from Florida has done that.

Though I'm against it, you'd think the fact that some of South Florida's biggest big-mouths are playing coy thus far might be something that someone at the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel might've noticed, or maybe someone at one of the local TV stations.

FL-17's Frederica Wilson, who, unfortunately, is my rep in Washington, says she supports it,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/08/congresswoman-frederica-wilson-supports-american-jobs-act yet despite all her bombast about wanting jobs at those Congressional Black Caucus sponsored events that got so much attention, even while she did NOT, she STILL hasn't bothered to sign up as a sponsor.
Hmm-m... guess she's too busy.
Or something.

But while Rep. Wilson and her local pro-Big Government pals in Congress were doing whatever they were doing -NFL Fantasy Drafts?- since nobody else was using it, Texas Republican Louis Gohmert decided to fill the vacuum and is using use the title American Jobs Act of 2011 for his own bill, HR 2911.

Yes, the early bird does indeed get the worm.

But then this lack of enterprise journalism is hardly surprising, given where we live.
Weeks after the fact, NONE of those same news entities have yet seen fit to mention publicly that Wilson's trip to Israel a month ago came courtesy of AIPAC.

Something I told you here back on August 11th in my post titled , "Next year in Jerusalem" is right now for FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson, courtesy of AIPAC. But that's bad news for Americans, esp. her constituents,

Yes, that's where we live... the outer edge of the news universe: South Florida.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Biggest journalistic scandal re Rep. Andre Carson's comments in Miami is So. FL reporters snoozing while news 'breaks' right in front of them!; Rep. Frederica Wilson, outlier at her own meeting, lets jobs meeting degenerate

WISH-TV News, Indianapolis video: Andre Carson's remarks create tea party stir

Since I know that nobody else will mention it to you, the biggest journalism scandal involving Rep. Andre Carson's ridiculous comments about Tea Party supporters at a Congressional Black Caucus Job Fair/Town Hall meeting last week in Miami, is that there was not a single representative of a South Florida news organization that was there who reported on it the day it happened.
Or the next day.
Or the day after that.
Or...
And neither did any other reporter or columnist or editor who wasn't actually there, but heard about it later.
Until Wednesday, nine days later, it was like it NEVER happened.
The Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Channel 4 (WFOR-TV) - a CBS O&O, Channel 6 (WTVJ-TV) -an NBC O&O, Channel 7 (WSVN-TV) -Fox affiliate, and Channel 10 (WPLG-TV) -ABC affiliate (Post-Newsweek) ALL ignored it or never knew about it.
Which is worse?
As I write this:
Channel 4 still has ZERO.
Channel 6 still has ZERO.
Channel 7 posted an AP story out of Indy at 10:45 p.m. Thursday
articles/politics/21005253405445/
Channel 10 posted a story by Deirdre Walsh of CNN on Wednesday morning.
29038364/detail.html
Later on Wednesday they posted a wire service video of Herman Cain responding to Carson's remarks
29039774/index.html
On Wednesday morning they also posted another CNN video of Rick Perry, updated Thursday
morning -that doesn't work.
politics/29044236/detail.html
That's it for Channel 10.
The Miami Herald's first mention of the controversy -at events they had one of their own reporters at!- was Wednesday around Noon when they posted an AP story out of Indy.
2011/08/31/2383788/fla-lawmaker-carson-comments-reprehensible.html
Six hours later they ran an eight-sentence AP story out of Indy.
2011/08/31/2384346/ind-lawmakers-lynching-reference.html
That's it for the Miami Herald.

The Sun-Sentinel's first mention of the controversy was in a Broward Politics blog post Wednesday morning that focused on Rep. Allen West, who represents part of Broward.
com/news/politics/broward/blog/2011/08/congressman_allen_west_may_quit_congressional_black_caucus.html
Later Wednesday, they posted a 7:52 p.m. AP story.
news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-congressman-lynching-comment,0,497192.story
That's it for the Sun-Sentinel.
It's not for nothing that I have joked here in the past that if Fidel Castro dies overnight, esp. a Friday night/Saturday morning, the Miami Herald will be completely scooped and be the last media organization in South Florida to report it.
Like they were on the Japanese tsunmai...
And the 2010 Polish air disaster in Belarus...
And the Moscow Metro bombings...
And...
Rather incredibly, nobody down here among South Florida's largely sleep-walking professional press corps seems the least bit chagrined that they got totally scooped on what has turned out to be a a national news story, nor do they seem to be the least bit interested in asking any questions of Rep. Frederica Wilson, whose FL-17 CD this all happened in, and who hosted the events last week that have echoed across the country this week, no thanks to the local press corps.
Apparently, there's no extant videotape or audio of Wilson's demeanor or comments during or after Carson's heated uncivil rhetoric.
Pity!
But then again, consider the lack of an appropriate follow-up story about Wilson's recent trip to Israel -along with dozens of her colleagues- that was paid for by AIPAC, as I mentioned here on the blog recently when it happened, a congressional gravy train which was first reported by the Washington Post, whom I cited.
Yet not a single South Florida-based news organization, of the less-than-a handfu who even mentioned the trip, felt the need to mention that salient fact, in their mentions of the trip tells you plenty about how dreadful serious news coverage in South Florida in the year 2011 is.
(Oh, in case you forgot, I live in FL-17.)
Weeks later, that fact is, in fact, still missing: no postscripts.
Down here, they just don't believe in them.
Context may be king elsewhere, but not in South Florida.