Boyd Fights for Our Rights!

Just a head's up about one of the good things that our local electeds are doing for us, and in this instance, for the whole country!

This week Congressman Allen Boyd joined Congressman Henry Bonilla (TX) in introducing bipartisan legislation that will penalize eminent domain abuses. This legislation comes in response to a June 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing governments to use eminent domain to take away private property and transfer it to someone else for their private gain. The Strengthening the Ownership of Private Property (STOPP) Act (HR 3405) will prevent governments from taking property from one private party and giving it to another private party.

Paul Hackett - OHIO-2

So why post about a race in Ohio?

Because they understand what it's like to be the bastard state of the union during a crucial election.

But more importantly, because a good Democrat is running to win.

Paul Hackett has the best shot at picking up this seat that any Democrat has had in a long long while.

He is a firm supporter of women's rights and a Iraq vet.

Online donations have raised enough money to make it a very competitive race and they can use any help we can give.

Donate NOW!

Think of the costs of 2 drinks at Drinking Liberally tomorrow night? Couldn't you spare that to help a fellow Dem????

MySpace Bought by the Devil

Spread the word....

That Florida Blog

Another new Blog for your reading enjoyment....

UPDATED: FIXED BROKEN LINK at 2:41 p.m.

Making the National a bit more Local

In the Miami Herald: John G. Roberts, President Bush's nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, played a role in the chaotic, 36-day period following the disputed 2000 presidential election.

And in the LA Times: Roberts' low-profile role as an advisor to Republicans during the 2000 presidential recount fight is likely to be closely scrutinized.

These are both stories about supreme court nominee John G. Roberts, and the role he played in Florida 5 years ago. The stories above argue that Judge Roberts now might appear to partisan and a Highlight of the Miami Herald article is a bit on Congressman Wexler:

"U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Boca Raton Democrat, seized on Roberts' participation in the 2000 recount and suggested it should be grounds for rejecting his nomination. Wexler suggested the nomination ``threw salt on the wounds of the thousands of Floridians whose voting rights were disenfranchised during the 2000 election.
''Judge Roberts worked to ensure that George Bush would become president -- regardless of what the courts might decide,'' Wexler said, relying on news accounts that suggested Roberts gave the governor advice on how the state Legislature could name Bush the winner. ``And now he is being rewarded for that partisan service by being appointed to the nation's highest court.''

There are a lot of organizations discussing why or why not John Roberts should be a Supreme, but this issue, that happened here in Tallahassee, is definitely something to consider.

Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education Inc

Floridians for Youth Tobacco Education Inc, a fun title for a fun new non-profit....

This is an issue that I think might be close to the heart of the LCYDs. Several of our LCYD members cut their teeth in the anti-tobacco world, fighting corporate Big Tobacco. Our local president, Alan Brock, got brought into the world of Democratic Politics as a teen spokesperson for Governor Chiles' anti-tobacco efforts.

The state of Florida gets almost $900 million a year from tobacco revenue between settlement and tax dollars, but our legislature in its infinite wisdom has seen fit to only allocate 1 million dollars to tobacco prevention, cessation and education. After years of lobbying or legislature the Tri-agencies (American Heart, American Lung, and the Cancer Society) working with Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids have decided to take the issue to the people of Florida.

That is right another ballot initiative. The Tobacco Lobby is very strong in our state, Big tobacco spends more money advertising their products in Florida then any other state in the Union, there were several parties this past legislative session sponsored by Altria including the much anticipated annual AIF Party that kicks off session.

It goes against Big Tobacco to have a strong anti-tobacco program. Florida's program, which was once the model for the world, and which the national 'truth' campaign was based off of, has been effectively left for dead. Governor Bush, although often publicly stating his support for a well funded anti-tobacco program, has done nothing to help make this program the priority that he says that it should be. Our state does not lack the funds for a program. The ballot initiative will state that 15% of the settlement dollars go to and prevention program. This solution is one that the people of Florida full heartedly endorse.

The citizen initiativeprocess is there to help the people combat special interest. I look forward to discussing this issue further at one of our upcoming LCYD meetings.

Florida Young Democrats Newsletter

This is the first attempt by the Florida Young Democrats to publish a newsletter in the recent history. The Florida Young Democrats are in the process of rebuilding and restructuring around the state of Florida for more information check out www.floridayd.org . The Florida Young Democrats is an organization of young professionals who are working together to help further the ideals of the Democratic Party. The Newsletter is a start at better publicizing what we do, and who we are, I hope that you get the chance to read it.

Drinking Liberally at Paradigm

Dear Progressive Tallahasseeans,

As most, if not all of you know, there is a Friday evening social group called Drinking Liberally (http://www.drinkingliberally.org). Typically, this is a group of 10-30 like-minded people who like to eat, drink, and socialize (or commiserate, depending on the circumstances) every Friday night. Lately, we have been meeting at Andrew's around 6:30 in order for those of us who are hungry to be able to eat dinner, and lately we have been migrating to Paradigm around 8:30 because they have actually asked us to go there. They have been fairly supportive of the group and of Democratic Party causes up until now.

This Friday, July 15th, there happened to be a high school reunion at Paradigm. Since this made the place rather crowded, a contingent of the DL group decided to postpone going to Paradigm for a couple of hours. When we finally got to Paradigm, Nick was refused admission because he was wearing, god(s) forbid in Florida in July, shorts. Most of you know Nick as Tallahassee's main Drinking Liberally host, the guy who has spend countless hours of his own time promoting Drinking Liberally, Andrew's (Andy is *not* a Republican by the way, the signs above Andrew's were from the Florida Restaurant Association), and Paradigm.

Personally, and I don't speak for everyone, I think what happened tonight was ridiculous. Whether I'm wearing ratty shoes, jeans, and a t-shirt (which I was tonight, but strangely wasn't refused admission), or a 3-piece suit doesn't make my money any more or less valuable. Shorts don't make someone any different as a person, unless the difference is a desire to be a bit more comfortable in the oppressive humidity that we've had lately.

The attitude of the staff at paradigm toward dozens of regular customers, in my opinion, is unforgiveable without an apology and a policy change. Until then, I will *not* be going to Paradigm. I would encourage the same of anyone who reads this message. Contrary to Republican assertions, we liberals are not a bunch of elitists, nor should we support those who are.

I've not been able to locate an email address for Paradigm, but if anyone knows of one, feel free to send this to them. I will be contacting them by phone tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Robert Hunter, Cohost
Tallahassee Drinking Liberally

Political Community Service

I'm posting to start a conversation of how best for the LCYDs to use their time and resources to better our community while maximizing our political effect. I am just finishing my year of being and Americorps*/VISTA in Tallahassee with the Community Neighborhood Renaissance Partnership (www.tallpartners.org), a fantastic nonprofit, but I've seen the good and unfortunate sides of dogoodery. My comments below are based primarily on how I perceive to avoid the unfortunate and make sure we're participating with the good, and I welcome others to ask any questions they have to further the conversation.


What should we be working on?
Several good ideas have already been mentioned towards this end. Maintaining/ preserving/ creating a healthy environment, fighting poverty, promoting education, and preserving family. All of these are excellent, and I'm sure we can think of more.

What are the problems resulting from these issues and why are these bad?
This question allows us to focus on what is wrong, and how something different (spurred by more Democrats in office) would be better. How does cutting down a tree or destroying a wetland effect the environment? What are horrendous correlations to life in poverty? Why is it important for children to have adults around who care about them? It's important at this stage to develop measures for your issue, carbon dioxide levels, crime rates, unwanted pregnancies, juvenile delinquency, recidivism etc. These become the things we can actually measure progress by.

(the following two questions I think are valuable and interesting, but not absolutely necessary)
What does the government do to deal with these problems?
What, especially monetarily, is the government investing in such things as water treatment, police, correctional facilities, etc.

What does the government do to correct these problems?
What programs are in place to actually lower crime rates, etc. Do they work?

What actions work to correct these problems?
By knowing this, we'll have a good understanding of what we should be advocating that the government do, as well as what we should be investing our time working on in the nonprofit sector until the government cowboys up to fund it properly. Good nonprofits evaluate their programs for grants, etc. to show the impact they are having. We should only work with these. If there is a nonprofit that we agree with, and believe their programs have a positive effect but they have not had the resources to evaluate it, our best use of resources would be to help them evaluate their programs.

How best can we help the organizations that are correcting these problems?
After fully grasping the situation we're dealing with, we should balance being visible with being maximally helpful. For instance, many times Habitat For Humanity has more building volunteers than they can use, but they can't use the building volunteers because noone is volunteering to do the filing and other indirect work needed. Obviously direct service with an organization would be the best for our visibility, but we should also be willing to work to build the capacity for us and others to participate in the direct service.

By having a full understanding of why we're volunteering, and working with organizations that know the impact it will have, we will give ourselves strong footing to raise awareness about the issues, advocate real solutions, and candidates who can make those solutions a reality. Thank you for your time.

Clinton Urges Young to Get Involved

Here is an article that ran yesterday in the Washington Post about the Campus Progress national conference taking place in DC this week. I encourage you to check out their website it has some great opinion articles targeting 20 something. Local FAMU College democrat Amanda Wilkerson is at this conference and got the opportunity to meet with President Bill Clinton yesterday.

Clinton and Other Democratic Leaders Urge Young Liberals to Get Involved
By Brian Faler

Some of the biggest names in Democratic politics convened yesterday to focus on what they believe is the long-term remedy to their party's woes: cultivating a new generation of activists.
Former president Bill Clinton and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) were the headliners among a host of operatives, writers and artists who gathered at the Washington Convention Center for a day-long series of speeches and panel discussions designed to energize about 600 visiting students.
"You don't have to wait until your party is in power to have an impact on life at home and around the world," Clinton told a hushed crowd, urging them to embrace grass-roots organizing. "This ain't supposed to be easy, and you have to work at it. I promise you our adversaries work at it."
The suspicion that the right is working harder at it, in fact, is what led the liberal Center for American Progress to organize the event. David Halperin, a former speechwriter in the Clinton White House and the conference's coordinator, estimated that conservative groups spend more than $35 million a year on such efforts. By contrast, he said, the left has invested comparatively little effort or money in cultivating the next generation of activists and would-be leaders.
"We've been on the defensive for 25 years," Halperin said. "There's been a lot of focus on the day-to-day -- just getting through the day -- without having a rollback on civil rights or environmental protections. The idea that you could do that and, at the same time, invest in the future seems a little daunting. . . . We've learned some things from what conservatives have done better, particularly in developing and communicating ideas, in promoting news leaders and in trying to bring people together who are interested in different issues but who have the same general political orientation."
In some cases, groups such as Young America's Foundation, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the Leadership Institute have been doing for years the type of work Halperin wants to emulate -- supporting conservative student publications, sending favored speakers to college campuses, bringing students to Washington for conferences.
In general, colleges have long been liberal bastions, with Democratic presidential candidates routinely winning the student vote and with polls indicating that professors are on average further to the left in their views than most voters. Last year, exit polls showed that Democratic nominee John F. Kerry defeated President Bush among voters between ages 18 and 29 by more than 10 percentage points -- the only age group the Massachusetts senator won.
But this traditional advantage has not been supplemented by long-term efforts to promote an ideological movement. The center's effort, launched in February with a budget of $650,000, includes grants for liberal student publications, a program that sends its own speakers on the college lecture circuit and support for campus protests, such as a mock filibuster earlier this year at Princeton University.
But the convention, the center's first, is its most visible event. Much of the day was filled with panels teaching students how to articulate the party's message. Strategist Paul Begala, Thomas Frank -- author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" -- and Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel hashed over the reasons Bush won a second term. MoveOn.org's Tom Matzzie and American Prospect editor Garance Franke-Ruta spoke on "advocacy writing and blogging." Indie rocker Ted Leo and cartoonist * David Rees-- author of "Get Your War On" -- discussed "mobilizing the arts for change."
For Jessica Dauphin and Samantha Blanchard, two students from Middle Tennessee State University, the event was a chance to meet like-minded students that, they said, are often difficult to find in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Cathy Kunkel, a senior at Princeton, said she was looking to trade tips on how to organize disparate student issue groups around a single Democratic banner. Brandon Routman, a junior at Pomona College, said he came away inspired by Clinton's expansive defense of the Democratic Party

*Could be deemed offensive by some readers.

Deep Rove

With the recent scandal involving the White House and Karl Rove, I am reminded of how important it is for consistent, effective communiction when discussing political issues. The talking heads defending Rove and the Bush administration are spouting the same exact hypocritical rhetoric day after day on cable news and radio. This link may help in revealing some of their desperate tactics:

LINK

With strategies such as distraction issues, delaying tactics, coordinated talking points that right-wing hacks strictly adhere to, and cable news networks that gladly parade them in front of their cameras, the struggle to get most Americans to pay attention and strongly react to this significant issue will quickly become unwinnable. However, if we as LCYD's can mount a coordinated, concise, fact-based information campaign, we may be able to make an impact, however localized, on public opinion involving this case. Letters to the editor, press releases, or simple public debating are some examples of ways to affect the public's perception of this issue. I'm not necessarily trying to frame this as an LCYD or Democratic Party issue, but I'm mainly trying to develop a way for us as individuals to present the facts in an manner that effectively gets to the heart of this issue...that the Bush administration is hypocritical, untrustworthy, and dangerously secretive, and should be held accountable for this disgrace.

I have some ideas on how we can do this, so I'd like to discuss them this Friday at DL. If you wish to post a comment to this, feel free, but since this deals with strategy, I'd prefer to discuss it in person. If you don't know what DL is, just ask.

One of the main things to remember when discussing this with "Rove defenders" is that they are on the defensive with multiple excuses. For example, they're trying to argue what the definition of the word "name" is. Sound strangely familiar? If you recall, they used one like that (quite appropriately) with one of our guys. It's time to give them a dose of their own medicine.

County Commission to consider public hearings for Fallschase Agreement 163

The County Commission will consider whether or not to schedule public hearings for agreement 163 which would allow irresponsible development in Upper Lafayette, a sensitive wetland prairie ecosystem. Upper Lafayette also has one of the regions largest active sinkholes, which links directly to the floridan aquifer.

However, this is more than just an environmental issue; Agreement 163 could also obligate the County to waste significant public funds in supporting the Fallschase Development. This agreement appears to be contrary to the public interest. County Attorney Herbert Thiele had this to say about the proposed agreement (June 20):

"...the proposed Development Agreement is so significantly overreaching and unilateral in favor of the Fallschase developer, that I cannot in good conscience place this matter before the board..."

This matter is going before the Board of County Commissioners tonight, Tuesday July 12th, It is difficult to gauge how long it will take the Board to address the first 40 items on the agenda, but it is likely that they will reach Agreement 163 after the public hearings. So the issue will probably be discussed after 7:00 PM.

If you are interested in coming to the County Commission Meeting tonight please email me. If you would like to check the progress of the meeting tonight feel free to call me on my cell phone.

The Pendulum Swings Up

Check out this story about the Florida Democratic Party by Gary Fineout of the Miami Herald, here are some highlights:

"Despite being called ''pathetic'' by Gov. Jeb Bush because of bookkeeping problems and tax woes, the Florida Democratic Party managed to raise nearly $800,000 over the last three months, a nearly three-fold increase from the first quarter of 2005.

The Republican Party of Florida reported raising $1.23 million in the last quarter, a sharp drop from the more than $3 million that flowed into party coffers between January and March. GOP party officials, however, expect their numbers to rise again as the 2006 elections move closer.

Democrats managed to raise just $269,000 between January and March, but raised nearly $763,000 between April 1 and June 30. Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Thurman said part of the jump was due to the party's annual Jefferson--Jackson dinner that was held in June at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood.

But Thurman said many people had been stepping forward to help out the party. ''I think that it showed there is still a groundswell of good individuals that care about the party and care about the issues and care about making sure this party moves on,'' she said."

Kudos to Chair Karen Thurman!

And you thought it was only about redistricting

Who would define every political campaign contribution as a "bribery" punishable by a year in prison? Who would legalize marijuana? Lower the voting age? Lower the drinking age? Who would insist that we redistrict the state of Florida?

The People of Florida, that's who.

There are almost 50 citizens initiatives collecting signatures right now around the state. (Click Here to see the current list) The Leon County Young Democrats are actively supporting the Redistricting campaign, (in fact there is a link to the their website in the links section of this Blog). The people of Florida deserve the right to augment our state laws when the legislature disappoints us and carries out the will of big business versus that of the people. Many people believe that we should change state statues versus the state constitution, but we need a means of change and currently the constitution is all that we as citizens have direct access to. For many years our state did not pass very many Constitutional amendments, but recently the pattern has done a 180 degree shift and now it is rare that a ballot initiative becomes qualified and doesn't get approved by the voters.

As we continue to move forward with our efforts to make the state more representative of its citizens through our efforts to redistrict I wanted to make sure that all of our readers were aware of the other changes being proposed to our state constitution. It is our responsibility as active citizens to become educated on the issues and choose for ourselves which ballot initiatives we support. As an active citizen you should encourage your friends to become educated on the issues and to vote for or against the issues that you have chosen to support. I know that next fall there will many people who choose to vote yes or choose to vote no to every ballot initiative no matter if it is good or bad...and it your challenge to try and make your friends fight apathy and realize that there are good and bad amendments being proposed and to vote accordingly.

Good Luck

Wow....

Here are some excerpts from the article by Joe Follick linked in the title bar:

Crist Sets $3.8 Million Fund-Raising

Attorney General Charlie Crist has obliterated the record for fund-raising in Florida, hauling in $3.8 million in just six weeks in a strong start to replace term-limited Gov. Jeb Bush next year.His primary Republican opponent, Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, announced last week he had raised a bit more than $3 million in 43 days. Both amounts appear to be more than the previous record of $3 million raised by Bush in a 90-day period for his 1998 campaign for governor. Note Gallagher's website not up yet, but this Gallagher's Gubernatorial website is up and running....

Both candidates have already raised much more than the Democratic contenders. U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, has raised $800,000 for the year. State Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, has raised a similar amount, though his campaign won't release firm totals until today. Former Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox has not released an estimate of his fund-raising.

It's mind-boggling," said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida. "That's the way the money in politics trends have been going. I just don't see an end to it."

Crist supporter Brian Ballard, an A-list Tallahassee lobbyist, said the $3.8 million cements Crist as the front-runner."I think Tom Gallagher established his candidacy around the fact that he was the fund-raising king of Florida and he did everything he could for two years to line up fund-raisers," Ballard said. "The message is that not only does (Crist) have a double-digit lead, not only does he have greater political skills and a greater base in the conservative part of the Republican Party, he is the best fund-raiser in the history of Florida politics."

Gallagher campaign spokesman Brett Doster scoffed at the idea that Crist only worked two months to raise the money."To suggest that Tom has been doing this for two years and Charlie has been doing this for two months is bunk," Doster said. "Charlie Crist has been campaigning nonstop for the last four years."

Doster also tweaked Crist for "raising money with folks like Donald Trump" and for having trial lawyers host many fundraising events for Crist."I don't think that will be favorable with your rank-and-file voter," Doster said.

The news may not bode well for Democrats. Not only do the two favored GOP candidates carry higher name recognition and much larger fund-raising capabilities, the Republican Party of Florida has raised $7 million itself this year, and ... The Florida Democratic Party had about $80,000 in the bank last week -a bit more than 1 percent of the RPOF's stash.

Wow... Click Here to contribute to the Florida Democratic Party. If every Democrat in the state gave $1 to the Florida Democratic Party it would have over $4,000,000, still not as much as the RPOF, but more than it has right now. I encourage each of you to make a small donation to the Florida Democratic Party and to encourage your friends and family to make small donations to the Florida Democratic Party.