Bush dynasty: You better believe, he’s still got power in Florida

[seafan]

Bush dynasty: You better believe, he’s still got power in Florida


By Stephen Goldstein
April 25, 2010

.....

Jeb Bush is still Florida's governor, in his mind — and in fact. Now, more than ever, he believes that he knows what's best for you and me. And now, more than ever, when he says jump, too many state legislators still ask, "How high?" These days, Jeb is pursuing at least a three-pronged strategy to remake the state in his image.

Jeb Strategy 1: Continuing to push his failed education agenda. For eight years, he used standardized testing, vouchers, charter schools, and privatization to gut public schools, without improving them. Ten years ago, Gov. Jeb abolished affirmative action in university admission and implemented One Florida to increase minority student access to state universities. But according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis, "minority enrollment . . . hasn't kept pace with the number of minorities graduating from high school."

But again this year, Jeb's been strong-arming members of the Legislature about how to improve education. State Sen. John Thrasher, a former board member of Jeb's Foundation for Florida's Future, was his errand boy, introducing Senate Bill 6, the much-maligned merit-pay initiative that would have tied teachers' salaries to student achievement. The lapdogs in the Legislature did his bidding. But the public barked in such vast numbers, that Gov. Crist vetoed the measure.

Jeb Strategy 2: Rewriting the Florida Constitution to suit him. The most sinister of Jeb's current legislative efforts is his pushing a constitutional amendment that would allow unlimited state funding of religion, an assault on our historic separation of church and state.

.....

In addition, livid that Floridians had the audacity to pass a constitutional amendment reducing the size of public-school classes that he didn't want, Jeb's behind the push to overturn it again this year.

Jeb Strategy 3: Making Marco Rubio U.S. Senator. The Bush Dynasty has anointed right-winger Rubio, after Charlie Crist bucked Jeb too many times, especially on constitutional issues. Jeb's been publicly mum, but his sons, with no credential but their name, have blessed Rubio.

.....

Fair warning: Do not let Jeb Bush slip off the radar. Ever.


Jeb Inc.



Goldstein concludes:

.....

Floridians enacted term limits to guard against one-man rule. After serving, most elected officials move on to other things — but not Jeb, after all he's got nowhere to go. He was the Dynasty's designee for the White House until his brother ruined it.
For many of us, eight years of Jeb's agenda was too much. It will take a generation to recover from his long list of failures; the sooner we start, the better.

It's time for Jeb to give Florida a rest — and get a life. Otherwise, sooner than later, we'll have another Terri Schiavo fiasco, our schools will deteriorate, and our economy will falter, while he's insisting that the Dynasty always knows best.

And, since he left office in early 2007, Jeb Bush has merely stepped into the shadows, only to continue his hard right-wing assault on Florida's constitution and relentlessly shoving the battering ram agenda of Big Developers, Big Business, Big Oil and religious fundamentalism, leaving a scarred and barren gash of destruction throughout Florida's natural resources and the everyday lives of people.


Deliver us from Jeb Bush.

[Orlandodem]

1. We MUST pass the Fair Districts Amendments and vote NO on the the attempt by the

Republicans to sabotage them.

The Fair Districts Amendments will benefit ALL Floridians but the Republicans want to keep the status quo for gerrymandering purposes. Jeb is in control because the Republicans are still in power in the legislature. The FDAs will severely limit his ability to pull the strings of power and he understands this.

If you don't know what the FDAs are, then please google them and learn about them.

[ellenfl]

3. as we get closer to election day, we need to educate as many as we can.

i'm anxious to see what the legislature puts on the ballot to 'fix' the fair districts provisions. i have no doubt it will be totally mindbogglingly confusing. educating the electorate is a must. i plan to write lttes to my increasingly rw paper (palm beach post) once we get closer to the day (have to allow for short attention spans!). since my paper is now leaning to the right, perhaps i will get a wider audience.

ellen fl

[ellenfl]

4. dupe . . . but it bears repeating.

[seafan]

5. Republicans concocting a poison pill amendment to nullify Fair Districts Florida amendment this year

The Republican's competing ballot amendment language would nullify Fair Districts Florida Amendments 5 & 6 even if voters pass them in November.


See this thread: Florida Republican Legislature considers a 'poison pill' to nullify citizen petitions


You are exactly on point, Orlandodem. If redistricting is required to be done FAIRLY, these entrenched Republican leeches in Florida's legislature will see their power dissipate before their eyes.


That is why they are fighting it so fiercely.



From February 13, 2006:

TAMPA - Common Cause pledged Monday to release the names of donors who provided $2.6 million to a campaign to change Florida's Constitution.
The announcement comes after a growing assault from state Republicans, who oppose the group's effort to take legislative districting out of lawmakers' hands.

.....

Republicans have derided the campaign as a partisan power grab and since last week have demanded to know who is financing it. In a meeting with The Tampa Tribune's editorial board Monday, Gov. Jeb Bush described "a group of Secret Squirrel liberals who go to some fancy resort somewhere, and they divvy up the states and the ballot initiatives. They write large checks; they launder the money through places like Common Cause, ironically."

Bush raised money in Florida for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to pass a similar measure in California in November.

And at the forefront of this vicious assault against Common Cause in their support of fair legislative districts for the people, is Jeb Bush.



Fair Districts Florida

[katmondoo]

2. Amen

Please Lord deliver us from all the evil Bushes now and forever Amen

[seafan]

6. Jeb Bush continues his assault on the Florida Constitution.

Jeb Bush is hell-bent on ramrodding unlimited state-funded religion into the Florida Constitution, which has maintained the separation of church and state for the past 125 years.

.....

The Florida Supreme Court took a similar amendment off the ballot after Jeb tried to get it passed two years ago, but he vowed never to give up. The wording of the joint resolution now working through the Legislature "(p)roposes to provide an amendment to the State Constitution to provide that an individual may not be barred from participating in any public program because of choosing to use public benefits at a religious provider and to delete a prohibition against using public revenues in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or any sectarian institution."

.....

Florida Constitution of 1885:

Section 6. No preference shall be given by law to any church, sect or mode of worship, and no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination, or in aid of any sectarian institution.

This action by Jeb Bush is his most far-reaching and ominous nationwide threat to the sanctity of the separation of church and state. And it is why his relentless attempts to amend Florida's constitution must be halted.

[UTUSN]

7. "no credential but their name" says it all. n/t