Hidden hand of Jeb Bush behind upcoming church-state ballot fight in November

[seafan]

Don't trust this gang with our state's future

Mar. 30, 2008
Miami Herald

The panel of wizards assigned to fix Florida's gross tax inequities has impulsively broadened its scope to a social issue in which its expertise is even more dubious.
By a margin of 17-7, the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission voted last week to place on the November ballot an amendment that would erase from the constitution a long-standing ban on subsidizing religious institutions with public dollars.

If the measure passes, Florida would be the first state in the country to formally trash the concept that the roles of church and government should be separate.
The unseen hand behind this crusade belongs to former Gov. Jeb Bush, who was stung when his overhyped school-voucher program was struck down as unconstitutional -- a judicial decision that surprised hardly anyone except Bush.
Under his plan, students at underperforming schools could receive tax dollars to switch to private schools, many of which are run by churches and teach religious doctrine.

The vouchers basically amounted to a public payout, and the First District Court of Appeal properly nixed the idea as a blatant breach of church-state separation.
Florida's constitutional position against funneling taxpayer funds to sectarian institutions is more strongly worded than that in the federal constitution. As proposed, the amendment would strip away the state's ''no-aid'' language and replace it with this: ``Individuals or entities may not be barred from participating in public programs because of religion.''

Translation: Rush out and start your own church as soon as possible, because deals are waiting in Tallahassee.

The person leading the push to change the constitution is Patricia Levesque, who worked as Bush's educational policy advisor and is now waving his sword over the tax commission. .....
Of those commission members defending the radical amendment, the most surprising was Roberto Martinez, a respected former prosecutor and usually a smart guy.
He said not to worry -- the church-state protections set forth in the U.S. Constitution will serve as a ''backstop'' to protect Floridians from having their tax dollars doled out to religious enterprises.
Martinez knows full well that the current Legislature has no grasp of, or concern for, constitutional law. Once the door is opened to church-related subsidies, the money will start flying out of Tallahassee by the millions.

The only practical backstop would be a federal lawsuit derailing the amendment, which is a certainty. There's absolutely no point in picking a fight like this at a time like this, unless Republicans are hoping to rally conservative evangelicals who'd otherwise take a pass on the November elections.
If that's the case, Bush and Levesque have outsmarted themselves. Most voters couldn't care less about school vouchers; they want to hear about school budgets.
It's outlandish that the topic of church-state separation was seriously debated and voted upon by a tax-and-budget commission. It tells you all you need to know about the panel's political sense of mission.

.....

Let's see, so far.... the *red meat* on our November ballot:


1. Church-State battle, set to destroy Florida's century-old constitutional protection against the merging of church and state.


2. Anti-Gay marriage amendment

.....

The commissioners soon will take another vote on the church-state amendment, to tidy up the language. Levesque's goal will be to make it appear harmless, which it isn't.
To further obscure its flaws, the measure might be bundled with a batch of others that the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is sending to the ballot.
That would actually make the voter's task much less complicated. Just say no to all of them, because this gang cannot be trusted with Florida's future.

Jeb Bush, keeping a very low profile since leaving the governor's mansion last year recently said that he needs "to let go."


When the shallow, self-serving platitudes do not square with the secretive, egregious actions, a duplicitous liar is exposed.




And don't ever think that Jeb Bush's miserable, backbiting abuse against the state of Florida would not foretell his aggression if he bulldozes his way into the White House.


Jeb's cloaked and sordid history is catching up with him.

[dbonds]

1. Hasn't he done enough to destroy FL.

Can we put all the bushites on an island where they can rule themselves any way they want to, but it won't effect the rest of us.

[seasat]

2. We've seen that kind of abuse with the McKay scholarships here in FL.

I'm sure you remember those but here's a St Pete Times article for those unfamiliar with the criminality that has already occurred under Jebbie's voucher programs.

Art and Angel Rocker are giving up day-to-day management of four private schools participating in the McKay Scholarship voucher program. They say they are working on plans to manage four other private schools next school year. A story Sunday was incorrect on this point.
...
Church leaders at the schools, including the Bethel Metropolitan Christian School in St. Petersburg, plan to keep them open next year. The Rockers have offered to consult, but it's unclear whether the churches are interested.
...
Former employees question what happened to much of the $1.19- million in state money the Rockers received this school year, and puzzle at the state's lack of oversight of a program that will send about $25-million in tax dollars to private schools this year. "All I know is the money wasn't going into the classroom," said DiAnne Taylor, former principal at Bellview Junction Academy in Pensacola.

Former teachers, who were paid $10.50 an hour, say they spent their own money on food for students and books and supplies for their classrooms. "We went to the Santa Rosa County warehouse to get discarded books all the time," said Heidi Burdess, a former teacher at Bellview.

A later article points out that this couple was never charged by Jebbie's administration despite obvious embezzlement. Aside from the obvious problems mixing of Church and State, I agree that this program will only result in more of this fraud. You'll have phony non-profit religious groups sucking up state funds and providing kids with a poor education with no oversight from the state.

Someone needs to point out to these Repugs that this won't just mean Judea/Christian schools will get voucher money, it'll mean any religious school. They quietly swept it under the rug that voucher money was going to Sami Al-Arian's Muslim school. The school was accused of indoctrinating students into radical Islam. (Though I suspect, like some of the charges against Al-Arian, that might have been exaggerated.) You can bet the Scientologists will open up a voucher religous school. They never miss a chance to make money or promote themselves. An unsuspecting parent may not know if their child is being indoctrinated into some weird radical sect of Christianity? State funded education needs to remain secular.

However, Jebbie's motives are not based on the promotion of religious schools. His followers may believe that, but his real motive is to destroy public education. Education is one of the best equalizing forces that promotes upward mobility of the lower income classes. Jebbie and his followers view public education as socialist. Just like their fetish with deregulating financial institutions, they want to do the same for public education. This action will result in a crop of cheap uneducated labor to staff their low wage jobs busing tables at Florida resorts.

[seafan]

3. Jeb Bush's bold intent is to destroy public education in the state of Florida. Then, go national.

Floridians, this is an emergency action call to preserve our Constitution.


Three amendments that the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission have forced onto the November ballot are ALL aimed at destroying our public school education system. It's what Jeb always wanted. He calls himself **the education governor**, you know.

One of the three amendments will eliminate the 40% of property taxes that fund public education. In its place will be a penny sales tax increase. This maneuver will cut over $9 billion from public education; however, the sales tax increase will only replace about 3-4 billion, with the *promise* that the legislature will find the other 5-6 billion *somewhere, so don't worry.*

The other two amendments strike the century-old language that separates church and state, paving the way for public tax funds to be used to support religious schools and institutions. If this passes, Florida will be the first state in the nation to open a gash in its state constitution for unfettered and harmful religious influence on such things as allowing discrimination in hiring practices and proselytizing in our schools.


This is very dangerous, and our forefathers recognized it, adding protections against it in our Constitution.

But Jeb wants his legacy to reflect the wholesale dismemberment of public education, and in order to preserve *his legacy*, he finds nothing else is acceptable.



He has been very quiet lately, but I fully expect him very soon to go on a multi-million dollar charge across this state to promote these amendments on the November ballot.


I hope that all the newspapers in Florida will inform their readers of this constitutional coup in progress by our obsessed former governor.



Just so we don't forget, Jeb's on a mission to seize the White House.

[flashl]

4. K&R

[seafan]

5. 'So long religious freedom. Hello state-sponsored religious coercion.'

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Florida tax commission goes astray with ax to church-state wall

Michael Mayo | News Columnist
March 30, 2008

.....

What the heck is a taxation council doing wading into a constitutional wedge issue like this?" said House Democratic leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, who sits on the commission but doesn't get to vote.

Maybe it's time the commission, which meets every 20 years, goes back into hibernation.

This latest proposed amendment veered off the tax path into the hot-button realm of conservative ideology.

Call it the Revenge of Jeb, because the amendment was proposed by a close associate of former Gov. Jeb Bush, Patricia Levesque, and could mean the revival of a private school voucher program Bush championed. The Florida Supreme Court struck down the vouchers that could be used at religious-based schools.

Call it a solution in search of a problem, because nobody raised the issue in statewide public hearings last year. "It never came up in public testimony," said Jim Scott of Fort Lauderdale, the commission vice chairman and a former Republican senate president who voted against the proposed amendment.

And call it a bad idea, because the proposal is sure to trigger confusion and controversy and siphon attention from other amendments that actually relate to tax policy.

.....

It's not the prospect of religious institutions getting state money that bothers me so much as those institutions placing religious demands on people getting state aid.
A few years ago, I went to a church in Belle Glade that distributed food donated by a nonprofit organization. There were supposed to be no restrictions on the distribution. But the church made recipients attend services before getting a hot meal and a box to take home.

If this amendment passes, that could be the wave of the future. So long religious freedom. Hello state-sponsored religious coercion.

This is reminiscent of the military chaplain who demanded that troops be baptized into the Christian faith before they would be allowed water in which to to bathe:


8 April 2003

Reports that a US Army Chaplain is providing Army troops with bathing water only if they consent to Christian baptism and preaching should be investigated immediately by military authorities, an Atheist civil rights group said today.

Published news reports coming from the Knight Ridder agency identify the chaplain as Josh Ilano of Houston who sees the shortage of water on the front lines as "an opportunity." Ilano identifies himself as a "Southern Baptist evangelist." Soldiers "have to go to one of Llano's hour-and-a-half sermons in his dirt-floor tent," submit to Baptism and only then are given water. "It's simple," Llano is quoted in a KR story. "They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized."

"This is absolutely outrageous," said Kathleen Johnson, Military Director of American Atheists. "This is totally inappropriate and unconstitutional behavior by an officer in the military. He is exploiting the harsh conditions our troops in Iraq are encountering in order to further a sectarian religious agenda." Johnson said that military chaplains are "embedded" with troops to minister to those who might voluntarily seek out counseling or an opportunity to practice their faith. "This guy is trying to 'lure' potential converts, and he is preying on vulnerable, stressed-out military men and women who are risking their lives in combat. The military should investigate Llano's coercive and even possibly illegal activities. Pastor Llano should share water and other resources with ALL needy troops." "He's using government resources to advance his particular religious agenda, and doesn't seem to realize that there are plenty of soldiers who do not agree with his particular creed, or in any creed at all," said Ms. Johnson.

link (scroll down a quarter page)



Jeb Bush's Revenge. A very apt name.

[pepperbear]

6. UH HELLO, Is there a PAGAN charitable organization that can apply? let them TRY to deny them. n/t

[Quantess]

7. Hello! Scientology has made Florida its capital.

What does that tell you about Florida?

edited because I wasn't sure whether it's or its' would be correct.