Day: September 23, 2012
In Florida, A Felony Conviction is Forever When It Comes to Voting
78
Number of felons who have completed their sentences or been paroled and had their voting rights restored in Florida under Gov. Rick Scott (R/Tea) in 2011. By contrast, in 2007 when Charlie Crist (R/NPA) was governor, 38,871 former felons were allowed to vote again. The Florida Parole Commission has a current backlog of 21,197 applications even as a study by FPC showed that ex-felons whose civil rights are restored are less likely to re-offend.
Why CEOs Are Not Presidential Material
After living through two years of bumbling attempts by a former CEO to run state government like a business, I had a flash of recognition when I heard Mitt Romney’s take on the Israeli/Palestinian problem.
Tea Party Republican and former HCA Columbia Chair Rick Scott, who spent $75 million of his own money on his campaign, took over the Florida governorship confident he would use his business skills to root out waste, slash the state payroll, get rid of regulations that hold back business, and create jobs. One of his first moves was to turn down millions in federal assistance to build a high-speed rail line that would have employed Floridians, taken cars off the eight-lane parking lots that serve as commuter roads, and made the state a leader in the transportation technology of the future.
When Romney says there is no hope for peace in the Middle East, he’s really telling us he doesn’t have what it takes to be president
From there, he rolled out a series of privatization proposals, such as turning over prisons to corporate managers and allowing developers to build golf courses in state parks. Within weeks of taking office, Scott’s approval ratings hit record lows, along with Florida’s employment numbers, which under Scott’s leadership have remained worse than the nation as a whole.
