Tag: Democrats

Florida Mayor’s Race Could Be Early Indicator of Tea Party Decline

Trish

brownclinton
Former Pres. Bill Clinton campaigns for Jacksonville's possible next mayor, Alvin Brown
Update: After a day of counting absentee and provisional ballots produced a 1,648 vote lead for Brown, Hogan conceded. Jacksonville has its first black mayor and first Democrat in the job since 1995.

Jacksonville Republicans are reeling because the nightmare they were having when they went to bed last night didn’t slip away as they hoped at today’s dawn. No, Democrat Alvin Brown, a former Clinton administration and Al Gore advisor, African-American, and pro-education candidate (not to be confused with bizarre nobody Alvin Greene of South Carolina) was still 603 votes ahead in the mayor’s race, just like he was last night.

As we speak, absentee and provisional ballots are being counted, so anything could happen in what the elections supervisor is calling the closest mayor’s race in Jacksonville history. Anything could happen, that is, except reinstating the conventional wisdom that a Democrat can’t win in Jacksonville – or in Northeast Florida. Apparently he can.

Brown was one of six candidates in the elimination round in March that was expected to easily pick Republican Audrey Moran, who passes for moderate in these parts, and fellow Republican and incumbent Tax Collector Mike Hogan to face off in the final race. Had that played out, Duval County voters would have the familiar Republican Thing One and Republican Thing Two from which to choose, and First Baptist Church (a Jacksonville institution that pulls most of the power strings), the Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, and a few others could resume running things for another four years.

And then something strange happened.
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Florida Republicans Send Tab to Fight Fair Districts to State’s Taxpayers

Trish

$20 – $40 million

Amount Florida lawmakers stashed in the state budget to defend anticipated lawsuits as they attempt to maintain rigged voting districts in the reapportionment process that follows the 2010 Census. Stakes are high in the upcoming battles, but Republicans saw to it that taxpayers will fund most of them. Republican lawmakers began picking their voters after the 2000 Census, allowing them to win most elections despite more residents statewide being registered Democrats.

Clinton Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Trish

Our nation’s permanent mission is to form a ‘more perfect union’ – deepening the meaning of freedom, broadening the reach of opportunity, strengthening the bonds of community. That mission has inspired and empowered us to extend rights to people previously denied them. Every time we have done that, it has strengthened our nation. Now we should do it again, in New York, with marriage equality.

— Former Pres. Bill Clinton, supporting same-sex marriage. Both the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy were codified under Clinton.

Really Republicans, That’s All You’ve Got?

Trish

The Ryan budget is a dramatic picture of where the government would go under Republicans…but it doesn’t begin to address real problems. The only problem it addresses is the debt. It creates ten problems for every problem it solves…The fact that for Republicans, taxes are an absolute no-go issue — it’s as if Democrats were to say, “Spending is a no-go issue, we will not cut spending anywhere.” What would be the impression of the robustness and vitality of Democratic party thinking if that was the position of the party? But that is the position of the Republican party.

George Packer, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Interesting Times: Writings from a Turbulent Decade

Seriously MoveOn? You Want Us to Do What?

Trish

TaxDay

I like MoveOn.org, I really do. I agree with them in almost every area. But their idea for protesting corporate tax deadbeats, aka large employers, in local communities has to be one of the worst ideas they’ve ever had.

In one fell swoop, we come out against employers and in favor of taxes. What kind of awful news soundbites and images will this produce?

Mind you, there are plenty of reasons to hate, say, FedEx, not the least of which is that their poor drivers are “contract workers” who own their own trucks so the company can avoid maintenance costs, unions, and health care and retirement benefits. But going to the local FedEx office to protest the source of your neighbor’s livelihood seems like a photo op dreamed up by James O’Keefe himself.

Others on the target list are GE, Boeing, BP, Google, Citigroup, Amazon, Chase, Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, WellsFargo, and Bank of America.

Here’s the email I got from MoveOn, explaining the concept.

Dear MoveOn member,

Nobody knows the details of Friday night’s budget agreement to keep the government from shutting down.

But here’s one thing we can be pretty sure of: the pain will fall mainly on poor and middle-class Americans, while billions in tax breaks, loopholes, and handouts for corporations will remain untouched.

Those same billions could keep food in the mouths of hungry women and children, fund critical medical research, and do the actual work of reducing our deficit.

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Do Tax Cuts Work? Former Sen. Bob Graham Shows That in Florida They Didn’t

Trish

art-assault-florida1“We’re broke” is the meme Republicans and tea baggers cite when they claim tight budgets force us to reshape social policies, such as collective bargaining agreements, or to siphon public funds and redirect resources to corporations only too happy to pocket the largesse.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott, with full support of the Republican legislature, is using “we’re broke” to justify everything from deregulating nail salons to defunding services that save taxpayers money, like group homes for the developmentally disabled.

To Rick Scott and the Republicans, government is a weapon best used to punish enemies and intimidate friends. The only goal is to protect and shore up their interests.

Former Democratic Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham knows whether the emperor has clothes. He shows that tax cuts, rather than improving the business climate, are moving Florida away from its goals.

Before you read further, please note that Florida has no state income tax for its residents, and that Jeb Bush was governor from 1999 to 2007, followed by Republican Charlie Crist, and now Republican/Tea Bagger Rick Scott. Republicans have held a majority of both chambers of the Florida legislature since 1994.

…Since 1999 there has been a stream of tax reductions to make the state more attractive for investment. Absent these cuts, state revenue in 2011 would be $4 billion greater. This would have avoided the need for the deep cuts now being considered by the Legislature.

The stunning truth is that on virtually all fronts — the Legislature, the executive budget office, academics — there has been a failure to subject these cuts to the basic question: Did they work?

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Obama Makes the Case for Clean Energy

Trish

There are many things I love about this video, but the best part is that it shows something we all know. Obama is one of us, a normal person, who understands you might have to go pick up a package if you miss the delivery driver, or that Armour-All can do wonders for your dash. It’s hard not to remember the first Pres. Bush’s discovery of supermarket scanners, or the privileged cluelessness of his son in almost every area except aimless brush-clearing.

Oh yeah, and saving energy is a good thing too.