Day: December 3, 2008

The Wedding Crashers: Gay Protest Planned for Florida Gov. Crist’s Nuptials

Trish

Bride-to-Be Carole Rome and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist

Florida newspapers are breathlessly covering the minutiae of the Dec. 12 “marriage” of Gov. Charlie Crist and socialite-divorcee-Halloween costume designer Carole Rome. It’s the second time around for both of them, she having been married to Bluestar Jets CEO Todd Rome, and Charlie spending seven months during 1979 in some type of legal entanglement. Crist is widely rumored to be gay.

Which brings us to the matter at hand. Until a few days ago, all that press coverage concerned who was (hardly anybody) and was not (most members of the legislature) invited to the 200-person ceremony, what the invitations looked like (cream and pale pink with a note reminding guests that by Florida law, no gifts can be accepted), where the wedding will be held (First United Methodist Church of St. Petersburg) and the reception (Renaissance Vinoy Resort), and what the bride and her two young daughters will wear (bride: silk, ruched bodice gown by a Spanish designer and three-inch heels; flower girls: cream-colored, floor-length dresses).

But here’s an element the happy couple can’t select: the ensembles for the protestors outside. Impact Florida is organizing a celebration of Crist’s so-called marriage, followed by a candlelight vigil for the thousands of gay people who don’t have the same opportunity to wed in Florida as do the governor and his fiancee.

We will be joining together in Pink Tee Shirts and bluejeans to congratulate Governor Crist on his wedding. The wedding is set to take place at the First Methodist Church in Downtown St. Pete.

After the positive Congratulatory observance. There will be a candlelight Vigil close to the Venoy in Downtown St. Pete to mourn the loss of Gays right to get married.

We ask people from all over Florida to join in at these events and that it is kept peaceful and respectful event.

Crist seemed to find the anti gay marriage amendment distasteful and claimed he had bigger fish to fry during the campaign, such as auditioning for the role of Sarah Palin before John McCain picked a running mate. That didn’t keep the governor from doing the mandatory Republican thing of supporting it.

“I’ll support it, I’ll vote for it, move on,” the governor said of the Amendment 2 gay-marriage ban in an interview during a trip to tour flood-damaged areas in Central Florida. “It’s not top-tier for me, put it that way.”

I wouldn’t think so. But Crist should get used to the idea that his personal life, which makes no sense no matter how hard he tries to live as a straight man, is relevant here. Impact Florida certainly thinks so.

“Our goal is to celebrate the governor’s and every Floridian’s fundamental right to marry,” said [spokeswoman Lorna] Bracewell, a singer and songwriter from St. Petersburg. “Our theme is going to be, Congratulations Governor – When I Can Get Married?”

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

As I’m chatting with Obama, the moderator says, ‘Governor Richardson, what do you think of that?’ And I look at him like a deer in the headlights. I was about to say that I hadn’t heard, when Obama puts his hand over his mouth and says, ‘Katrina.’ So I gave my four-point plan on Katrina. When I was done and the debate moved on, I looked over and said, ‘Thanks, you’re okay.’ He said, ‘Nothing to it, brother.’

— Commerce Secretary-designate Bill Richardson, to Esquire magazine on how his new boss saved him during a Democratic primary debate

Report: California Election Turnout Highest Since 1972

Jon Ponder

It’s interesting that voter turnout in California last month topped the numbers for both of former Gov. Ronald Reagan’s presidential elections, as well as all other elections going back to 1972 when Richard Nixon, another Californian, trounced George McGovern:

More than 60 percent of Californians who were eligible to vote cast ballots in the Nov. 4 presidential election, the highest turnout since Richard Nixon and George McGovern competed for the office in 1972, elections officials reported Tuesday.

The total includes all qualified citizens, including those who had not registered to vote. The percentage of registered voters who cast ballots statewide was 80.6 percentage — 81.9 percentage in Los Angeles County…

The high turnout in Los Angeles County, not seen since 1968, was a result of several factors, including strong voter interest in the presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain, according to Dean Logan, the county’s Registrar-Recorder.

“It was the combination of an election that has historic significance to both major parties’ tickets, the economic situation and the fact that there was no sitting president or vice president on the ballot,” Logan said.

Controversial ballot measures, including a ban on gay marriage, also attracted Californians to the polls in high numbers.

The secretary of state will not post the voter totals until next week, but a survey of the counties indicates the highest turnout since 64.5 percent of all those eligible to vote cast ballots in 1972.

No word yet on the final tally of the vote for Proposition 8, the anti-gay measure that passed narrowly. There had been speculation that the more than 1 million absentee and provisional ballots from Los Angeles County that were counted after the election might change the outcome.

Parting Shot: Bush Lifts Mining Ban That Protects Mountain Streams

Jon Ponder

George Bush’s trashing of America is not quite complete:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks leftover from mining.

The 1983 rule prohibited dumping the fill from mountaintop removal mining within 100 feet of streams. In practice, the government hadn’t been enforcing the rule. Government figures show that 535 miles of streams were buried or diverted from 2001 to 2005, more than half of them in the mountains of Appalachia. Along with the loss of the streams has been an increase of erosion and flooding.

The 11th hour change before President George W. Bush leaves office would eliminate a tool that citizens groups have used in lawsuits to keep mining waste out of streams. Mining companies had been pushing for the change for years.

It also means that President-elect Barack Obama’s administration will have to decide whether to try to restore and enforce the rule, a process that could take many months of new rulemaking. Obama’s transition team declined to comment on its plans on Tuesday…

For now, however, the EPA’s approval means there are no further obstacles to the Office of Surface Mining’s plans to change the rule. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget approved it on Monday. The Department of Interior, which includes the mining office, plans to make the rule final in December after briefing members of Congress, and it will go into effect 30 days after that, said spokesman Peter Mali.

Hard to see what motivates this behavior other than greed and meanness.

Jeb Bush: Florida’s Next Senator?

Trish
His Jeb-ness

It doesn’t get much worse than this for Florida. Just as we finished the first round of cheers for the news that Republican Sen. Mel Martinez was able to read the handwriting on the wall and announce he will “retire” after his first term expires in 2010 rather than run for re-election, we got a shocker: Jeb Bush might run instead.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed that a mere 36 percent of Florida voters thought Martinez, who spent more time lately chairing the national GOP than serving Floridians, deserved re-election. Democrats weighed in on whether they wanted the job, while Republicans deferred to the incumbent. Now that it’s official Martinez knows he can’t win, all the contestants are surfacing — including Florida’s porcine-faced former governor.

Bush told Politico by e-mail Tuesday night: “I am considering it.”

Were Alex Sink to run against Jeb Bush, it would set up an interesting dynamic

Since Martinez’s announcement Tuesday, Bush has received many phone calls and emails from Floridians and national Republicans urging him to run, the source close to him said Tuesday night.

Bush has kept a low-profile since leaving office in 2007, but he retains a strong following among Florida Republicans and would almost certainly clear the Republican field should he decide to run.

But he’s in no hurry to decide, said a top adviser, and won’t make a decision until after the new year.

On the Democratic side, Florida’s chief financial officer and former Bank of America president Alex Sink had just finished changing her mind about running for the spot (she previously said she would not) when the Bush news broke. Were she to run against him, it would set up an interesting dynamic.

Sink’s husband, Bill McBride, ran against Jeb for governor in 2002. In a contest that foreshadowed the 2008 presidential race, McBride emerged the victor of a grueling primary battle with former Attorney General Janet Reno. But many of Reno’s supporters took their toys and went home, declining to support McBride, who never quite got his mojo back in time for the fight with Jeb. For Sink to have a go at the arrogant and snide former governor — and win — would be sweet indeed.