Day: May 29, 2011

Update: Scott Aide Who Barred Dems from Event Is Identified

Jon Ponder

art-assault-floridaPart of the series, Assault on Florida.

On Friday, we asked who ordered Sumter County, Fla., deputies to bar Democrats from a town square where Florida Gov. Rick Scott was holding a bill-signing event.

Now, via Jonathan Turley, we know:

Apparently, it was all the work of a poor misguided staffer, Russ Abrams, a $60,000.00 a year special assistant to the Governor who has a serious First Amendment mental block. Despite newspaper notices that the meeting in the conservative retirement community was open to the public, Abrams told Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies that the event was private and that Democrats and liberals were not required. A reluctant deputy informed the banned folks that he was instructed to remove them.

“Not so” says Scott spokesperson, Lane Wright: “This was a public event. It was brought to our attention that the local authorities had removed some. We don’t know first-hand who was removed or why.”

But wait. Was it a public event? A more reliable source said the “public square” at the Villages is private property and that it was leased for the event by the Florida Republican Party:

[…]

Your Honor, Are You Straight or Gay?

Trish

So the question is, “Should only straight judges be allowed to rule on gay rights issues?”

…ethicists disagree on whether retired federal judge Vaughn R. Walker, 67, should have disclosed his 10-year relationship with his partner before presiding over the challenge to Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot measure that reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage. Walker ruled in August that the ban was unconstitutional, and his decision is now before an appeals court…

A federal district judge in San Francisco has scheduled a June 13 hearing to decide whether Walker’s ruling should be wiped from the legal record as a result of his personal situation.

Does this mean only gay judges can preside over straight divorces in states that outlaw same-sex marriage? Read the whole mess in the L.A. Times and then discuss amongst yourselves.