Very Strange Video About Hasner and Bogdanoff

A Post-Election Message from Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda

Dear Friends & Supporters:

I am humbled and honored by the support, trust and confidence you have shown me. There are still votes to be counted and we are taking nothing for granted. The results are proof that every vote counts, every supporter truly matters! There was no insignificant act in this election. Each sign in your yard, each email to your friends, each word of mouth endorsement from friend to friend to friend mattered. Thank you.

If I am privileged to serve you, I promise you I will work with all of the people of House District 9 to forge an excellent Florida for all of us!

Our Top Priority Now

Fair Districts Florida. Seriously.

Florida Gets a "D" on Choice Issues

NARAL points out the following facts:

69 percent of Florida counties have no abortion provider.

Florida has unconstitutional and unenforceable criminal bans on abortion.
Details

Florida law subjects women seeking abortions to biased counseling requirements.
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Florida allows certain individuals or entities to refuse to provide women specific reproductive health services, information, or referrals.

Florida restricts low-income women's access to abortion.

Florida law restricts young women's access to abortion services by mandating parental notice.

Florida subjects abortion providers to burdensome restrictions not applied to other medical professionals.

Governor Charlie Crist (R) is anti-choice.

Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp (R) is anti-choice.

Attorney General Bill McCollum (R) is anti-choice.

The Florida House is anti-choice.

The Florida Senate is mixed-choice.

We can do better than this.

Bogdanoff Loves the People. The "Right" People.

Bob Norman has a lot of fun with Ellyn Bogdanoff:

Shortly after John McCain chose his running mate, state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff enlisted in the "Sarah Palin Truth Squad."

Don't let the name fool you — it's not about uncovering the truth regarding the Alaska governor. The group of Republican women was set up to counter "attacks" and "liberal smears" about Palin on the internet, according to the McCain campaign.

The "Sarah Palin Truth Squad" is a lot like the "Col. Sanders Chicken Freedom Society."

One of Bogdanoff's first public comments as a "charter member" of the squad was to chastise Barack Obama, implying that he had referred to Palin as a lipsticked pig.

Of course, Obama said no such a thing; the Democratic contender used the popular expression in describing McCain's record. But make no mistake — Bogdanoff and the Sarah Palin Truth Squad weren't about to let something as quaint as the truth get in the way of defending the would-be VP.

Does lying on behalf of a liar cancel out and mean you told the truth? Probably not.

Both, for instance, seem to have an aversion to tough questions on the campaign trail. While Palin has largely been sheltered since the nomination, Bogdanoff failed to make it to a political forum on September 15 at the Rio Vista Home­owners Association where Chiari was waiting to debate her. Chiari says he's been stood up by Bogdanoff five times in the past two elections.

The same day, though, Bogdanoff managed to make it to a high-rolling fundraiser held for her and fellow Republican representative Adam Hasner at the posh Boca Raton Resort & Club, where you can bet the questions went down as easy as the cocktails and prime rib.

Elitism at its finest.

Don't get me wrong. Bogdanoff's campaign slogan is "People Over Politics" — and she lives by those words. It just helps if you happen to be the right kind of people.

On Monday, for instance, Bogdanoff graced Fort Lauderdale's Republican elite with her presence at a $500-a-head fundraiser at the AutoNation building, hosted by the high-powered, politically connected Tripp Scott law firm.

Favoring people over politics is one thing, but for Bogdanoff, cash trumps all. She's already raised more than $400,000 for this campaign, and the people who like her most seem to be insurance agents and their companies, flooding Bogdanoff's coffers with tens of thousands of dollars.

On July 3 of last year alone, a horde of insurance agents, most of them from State Farm, contributed more than $15,000. This brings us to the issue that is to Bogdanoff what the Bridge to Nowhere is to Palin: the state's personal injury protection (PIP) insurance laws, popularly known as no-fault.

Like Palin and the infamous bridge, Bogdanoff changed her position on PIP reform — though in reverse order. Before Bogdanoff worked out a plan to save it, she found a way to kill it.

Ending the system, of course, was exactly what her friends at State Farm and other insurance companies wanted her to do. And with the use of some legislative gamesmanship, Bogdanoff actually engineered the expiration of PIP laws.

It led the Sun-Sentinel to accuse Bogdanoff of devising an "end-around to kill no-fault" and of "carrying water for special interests." Bogdan­off, a former insurance agent herself, angered more than just the newspaper with the move. People from around the state complained.

Bogdanoff then went to work on reforming the PIP process, saying there was too much fraud in the system (again, precisely the tack used by her friends at State Farm). For most people, though, the new Bogdanoff reforms would only make it harder to collect claims from insurance companies.

One of the main provisions Bogdanoff wanted was to cap attorney's fees for people suing insurance companies. This, of course, would have a devastating effect on tort cases involving people denied injury claims.

Almost sounds like Bogdanoff is selling votes for campaign checks. She'd never do that, right?

It might seem that Bogdanoff had a slight conflict of interest, but she has always been a strong voice for honesty and against crime. In fact, when she ran for the State Senate in 1996, she famously accused her opponent, Steve Geller, of being "soft" on crime. That backfired on her, and she lost what was widely considered to be one of the dirtiest campaigns in recent Broward memory.

Who would've thought that Bogdanoff would be involved in dirty campaigning?

Bogdanoff is surely tough on crime — and she's not one to forgive anyone their past offenses, either. Earlier this year she sponsored a bill to guarantee monetary payments to people imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit ($50,000 for each year of incarceration).

To make sure only good people — Bogdanoff's kind of people — got the money, she added what was called a "clean hands" provision that denied any payments to anyone who had a previous felony.

This made the bill almost meaningless since almost everyone who is wrongfully convicted of a crime has a rap sheet.

In her personal and professional life, Bogdanoff appears to be more forgiving. She's extremely close to Christopher Fertig, who heads the law firm where she works.

Fertig pleaded no contest in 1986 to racketeering, a felony, for helping to launder drug money for a former law partner and client, according to Florida Bar records. The records show that Fertig knew the client was a drug smuggler when he transported the illicit funds to the Bahamas. The Bar let him continue to practice law (with just a 90-day suspension) because he'd cooperated with investigators after he was caught and because he had "turned his life around since he committed [the] illegal acts," according to records.

So Bogdanoff can forgive people their sins. Again, they just have to be the right kind of people.

Got to get the street criminals behind bars to make things more safe for the business criminals.

Bogdanoff has always portrayed herself as a moderate on social issues who favors abortion rights.

But her stance has evolved (though we're not sure where Bogdanoff stands on creationism at this point) as she's become a power player in the Republican-dominated state house. Earlier this year, she voted for a bill that forced women to submit to an ultrasound before they had a first-trimester abortion.

She also voted against an amendment that upheld a woman's right to an abortion in the first trimester without "undue burden from the state."

Makes it sort of tough for Bogdanoff to claim she's for abortion rights now, but it brings her more in line with the Republican nominee. And it highlights the fact that a vote for Bogdanoff is very much like a vote for the Alaska governor, only on a local scale.

I wonder if Bogdanoff or any of her donors would have a problem obtaining an abortion under this policy? I'm guessing not. I'm seeing a pattern here: I and my friends can do whatever we want, you can't do anything we don't want you to do.

She has reason to get her name into the news as often as possible, since she's running for reelection in November. For the second time, she faces Democratic challenger Chris Chiari, a smart and dedicated, if relatively unknown, campaigner who gave Bogdanoff a run for her money in 2006, garnering 46 percent of the vote.

What can you do to make sure she doesn't win again? Donate to the Chiari campaign. Now.

Republicans in District 71 Hate Science, Reality

Florida Citizens for Science:

Republicans Chris Constance and Ken Roberson are vying for the Florida House in District 71. FYI:

"He [Constance] has endeavored, along with Roberson, to portray himself as the candidate of the Republican right (both support requiring public school teachers to offer 'alternative' theories to evolution)."

I think one word in there is of particular significance: requiring. Not permitting. Requiring.

Sansom Hates Women

Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment is a no-brainer. The only reason to oppose it would be because you think women shouldn't be equal. That seems to be the stance of incoming speaker Ray Sansom, who won't venture an opinion on Florida's legislature ratifying the amendment. He says he won't talk about it because he's focused on winning elections. But considering that the majority of voters are women, what better way to win elections than to let the majority of voters you support them? If he opposes the amendment, he should be honest and come out and say it. Otherwise we'll be left to assume, since his explanation is nonsensical, that he opposes the ERA and equality for women.

Florida Republicans Hate Gay People, Unmarried People, Common Decency

Specifically:

Frank Attkisson
Donald Brown
Larry Cretul
Carl Domino
Greg Evers
Anitere Flores
Bill Galvano
Andy Gardiner
Gayle Harrell
Alan Hays
Dave Murzin
Pat Patterson
Joe Pickens
Ralph Poppell
Ray Sansom

So says their endorsement of the Hate Amendment.

Rubio Hates Ethics

In addition to being a bad legislator and terrible leader, Marco Rubio is also ethically-challenged.

Apparently, he attempted to help a political ally win FDOT contracts by inserting obscure language into the budget that would've prevented the state from awarding the contracts to other bidders, even if they came up with better bids.

He also received a suspicious home equity loan of $135 thousand. Real estate experts claim the deal is "unusual" at best. Rubio failed to disclose the loan, something he's done in the past.

Crazy Jim Greer Quote of the Day

Aren't we currently in a budget crisis? Greer doesn't seem to know about it:

"When it comes time to get out and speak around the state, it's important that we have the ability to travel there and that we accomplish as much as we can in any given day... You will see that the party is much more engaged in traveling the state..."

They've spent more than $1 million in private charter jet flights in the last year. Greer wants you to think that these expenses are necessary, but the Sarasota Herald Tribune found otherwise, discovering that they lodged "high-flying expenses from last year with tens of thousands of dollars in ritzy New York hotels, thousands of dollars in limousine services and thousands of dollars more in regular air service."

This is while they are seeking to cut healthcare for more than 40,000 low-income senior, disabled and seriously ill Floridians. And it flies in the face of the rhetoric the members of Greer's party regularly spout off...

Charlie Crist: "We're asking local governments to tighten their belts, too. We are tightening ours. We can do no less... I feel for our students and I feel for their families... They are paying higher insurance rates. They are paying higher property taxes. They are paying higher gas prices."

Durell Peaden on the healthcare cuts: "If we don't get to print money, we're going to have to do with what we've got."

Charlie Crist: "If a family with two young boys can tighten their belts to live within their means certainly our cities and counties can also."

Alan Hays: "We cannot ask our state and local governments to tighten their belts if we continue to support frivolous spending."

Mike Haridopolos: "Experience also proves that government in Florida does not have a revenue problem -- it has a spending problem."

Apparently, it's the Republicans who have a spending problem and have pretty serious problems with hypocrisy. I wonder if any of them will call in their votes to cut healthcare for poor people while riding in a limo or if Crist will sign the bill flying in his a chartered jet?

Crazy Republican Quote of the Day

From the Buzz:

"There's a big difference between cuts and reductions...We're not cutting anything. We have to balance the budget. We're doing what the people of Florida expect us to do ... This is not the United States Congress. We cannot spend in a deficit. We have to live within our means."

-- Ray Sansom (R-Obfuscation)

While there is a difference between eliminating and cutting a program, there isn't any difference between cutting and reducing a program. These are synonyms. Really. By any standard or definition. Except in crazy Republican world.

Besides, most of this rationale is a straw man argument. Nobody said that you didn't have to balance the budget. And, of course, there are two ways to live within your means -- cut spending and increase revenue. Republicans appear to be allergic to the latter, regardless of the circumstances. That's fiscal irresponsibility. I'm one of those people of Florida Sansom speaks of, and what I expect the legislature to do is maintain services (or even improve them) while keeping taxes at a reasonable level. I'll wager I'm in the majorit on this particular expectation.

Silly Republican Arguments

The Republican leadership of the House opposes using Florida's reserve budget funds to avoid cuts to education that would harm our already devastated education system, saying that such proposals amount to "legislative malpractice." This ignores a lot of things, such as the fact that Charlie Crist supports using the reserves, that the economy is in a bad place (largely due to past Republican legislative malpractice) and the very fact that this is why we have reserves, to help us avoid cutting necessary programs (such as education) in bad economic times. Besides, anyone with a basic understanding of economics, or just basic common sense, knows that education is the most important investment we can make to guarantee long-term economic stability in the state.

Crazy Republican Quote of the Day

"Last year, you led the way on property tax reform, because you understood then, as you do now, that we needed to do something meaningful and comprehensive to help Florida prepare for an impending economic downturn." -- Speaker Marco Rubio to the Florida House, 3/4/08

"Last year, our state failed to confront and solve the economic problems before us in a meaningful way. And now, we are facing the consequences." -- Speaker Marco Rubio to the Florida House, 3/4/07, less than a minute later

The Best News I've Heard All Day -- Sasso Wins!

Brevard came through -- Tony Sasso has taken the seat formerly held by Bob Allen. Another win for our side. Now I will say that Sasso is a bit too conservative for me on some issues, notably guns, but he's still and improvement over Allen or his potential Republican Replacement Sean Campbell. Of course my desk chair might've been a better legislator than Allen or Campbell, but that's a different blog post. The goal as progressives is more Democrats, then better Democrats. This is a step in the right direction.

And for those that continually bash Karen Thurman and the state party, this is more evidence that you're wrong in at least some of that criticism. The goal of the FDP chair is to help more Democrats win seats in the legislature and Congress. This is the ninth seat Democrats have picked up in the House in the last two years. The biggest two-year gain by Democrats in the history of the state of Florida. That's success by any definition. This is also the second special election win in two years after many years of losing every special election. Again, that's success.

This might not be the end of Campbell, though, as he was already filed for the 2008 election before the special election came up. Will he keep on campaigning?

Campbell Hates Taxes, Honesty...Republicans?

House District 32 Special Election Candidate Sean Campbell has been going on and on about his "top priority" -- property taxes. And he warns that his opponent, Tony Sasso, will raise taxes if elected. This ignores, of course, the fact that Sasso actually voted repeatedly to cut taxes as Cocoa Beach City Commissioner. While Sasso did vote to increase tax revenue, what this really means is that he voted to support real estate improvements and new growth, things that generate additional tax revenue while maintaining or even cutting tax rates.

So, while Campbell is dishonest in going after Sasso, he is on target in attacking people who say they favor lower taxes but actually vote to increase taxes. It's good to see that he's takign on the Republicans in the legislature, who love to talk about cutting taxes, but actually have done quite a bit to increase them. Like last year when they required local governments to increase their share of education funding -- something they could only do by raising taxes.

But lets not just talk about this in generalities, lets get some numbers, using the Republican way of looking at this, tax "revenue" increases:
*Will Weatherford (R-Land O' Lakes) - Voted to increase property tax revenues more than $550 million
*Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues more than $1.5 billion, for a total of nearly $3 billion
*Ray Sansom (R-Gulf Breeze) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues by $2.7 billion for a total of nearly $7 billion
*Marco Rubio (R-Miami) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues by $3.8 billion for a total of more than $40 billion
*Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) - Voted to increase tax revenues so many times that its hard to keep track, but the total is certainly more than Rubio's

This is the problem with so much of the Republican rhetoric, they create dishonest standards by which to judge their opponents, and don't apply these same standards to themselves.

Campbell Hates the Law, Loves Hypocrisy

Sean Campbell isn't a member of the Florida House, but he wants to be. He's so willing to be a member of the House in the upcoming special election for Florida House District 32 that he's willing to break the law. He's following in the fine tradition of the former holder of the seat, Bob Allen, who left the seat after being convicted of soliciting an undercover male police officer for sex in a public restaurant. No, Campbell hasn't gone that far, but he has, it appears, broken the law:

He recently sent a mailer out to Republican voters and gave them free postage to mail in their vote by mail ballots. Sounds pretty nice of Campbell, right? It is. Except for the part about it being illegal.

The state election code reads, in part, "no person shall directly or indirectly give or promise anything of value to another intending thereby to buy that person's or another's vote" [FS 104.061 (2)]. Postage isn't a lot, but it certainly is something of value promised to the voters if they mail in their ballots. Campbell is paying for votes.

The irony of Campbell breaking the election law is that he accused his primary opponent of the same thing just a few weeks ago. Typical Republican adherence to the law -- it's okay for me, but not for you.

Charlie Crist apparently approved of the illegal mailout, since a letter from him came with it.

This is not the kind of person I want moving up here to join me in Tallahahssee. Please keep him. Send me Tony Sasso instead. You can contribute to his campaign here.

Rubio Hates Government, Floridians, Believes Everything In the World Is A Tax

Marco Rubio is talking crazy talk again:

House Speaker Marco Rubio said the key to "making Florida as attractive as it once was" is to build a world class education system, reduce state and local government regulation and "bring state government back to its proper size."

One out of three ain't bad. Education is one of the keys to improving Florida. You can't, of course, do that if you cut revenue and cut government, since education is government paid for by taxes. Then he lets his tax cut tourette's get the best of him again:

regulatory compliance is a tax

The logic in that statement is like saying "imprisonment is a tax on felons." Seriously, if you play loose with logic and language, you can paint anything as a tax. That doesn't make it a good argument or a legitimate way to approach government and politics. This conservative approach to government and taxation is what has Florida and the U.S. in such bad economic and social position in the first place, we need to fight this kind of nonsense at all turns.

Rubio, Rivera Hate Florida, America, Laws

Naked Politics:

Huckabee backers House Speaker Marco Rubio and Rep. David Rivera spent the day in the Granite State, calling voters and in Rivera's case, receiving a chiding from a police officer.

"I came all the way from Florida to give you this orange," Rivera said, plunging into traffic at a Concord intersection near Huckabee's campaign headquarters. "I'm hoping you'll remember on Tuesday to vote for Gov. Huckabee."

The Concord police officer who cruised by was not amused and admonished Rivera to stick to the sidewalk, where a crush of Huckabee supporters waved signs.

It's bad enough to be campaigning for Huckabee, he who wants women to submit to their husbands and wants to "reclaim America for Crist," and to break the law to do it. But don't you think, maybe, that Florida has some problems of its own to deal with? Like a huge budget problem, a flailing economy, property tax inequalities, a failing education system, etc. You'd think that since these guys were elected to serve Florida that, maybe, they'd serve Florida? It'd be different if they were campaigning here, where they could pull double duty. But, no, pandering to the fundamentalist right from other states is more important than serving your constituents.

I wonder who is more focused on their post-Florida House career than on doing their job?

Rubio, Rivera Hate Religious Freedom, Tolerance, America

They both endorsed Mike Huckabee for president.