Alex Sink at Democratic Party fundraiser in Little Havana

We see a little furrow of worry on the president's brow in this painting, and it's because Florida might not be quite up to putting him over the top again in 2012. We did it in 2008. And whether we do it again will depend a lot on whether we campaign long and hard this year, right now, and make Alex Sink Florida's governor.

Having her as a Democrat in the driver's seat for two years before election day 2012 will make a world of difference. She will veto the next Republican attempt to wreck our public schools -- you know it's coming up again, sure as Jeb Bush is calling the shots from his cave. She will drive the agenda and put a Democrat atop the news budget again. She will deploy her business skills to build jobs in partnership with the federal government -- not in blind opposition like the Republican contenders. With her in charge and the Fair Districts amendments in the Florida constitution, redistricting will be done fairly and we can expect our delegations to the Florida and US House to reflect public opinion more than Republican ideology.

We must be far-sighted in this. Quibbling about minor matters must stop. Enjoy watching our local Republicans show how NOT to get along.

This photo comes from the Thursday fundraiser at Cuba Ocho Art and Research Center in Little Havana, where Alex Sink was introduced by State Rep. Luis Garcia in his own District 107, where he's going for his second re-election in a formerly Republican district. Garcia calls Sink, currently the chief financial officer in state government, "the best mind in Tallahassee." He's 100 percent for making her the check and balance we need to block the Republican majority in the legislature.

Her view: "Tally is out of touch and out of control."

Our mission is to elect her.

She had a special request: "Put me on your Facebook page." You'll see her in fresh text and photos on the Miami-Dade Democrats group page. Now it's your turn.

Kevin Burns announces shift to FL Senate race

This was at Wednesday meeting of Democracy For America-Miami.

MORE INFO:  At the short Miami Herald article on this development. This points out that there now is a primary between Burns and Gwen Margolis for state Senate District 35. This is my district, now held by Dan Gelber, who's running for attorney general.

FL-25: Joe Garcia up against ton of lobbyist money in his unethical opponent

While we’ve been fretting about what Florida’s Teabag state legislature is up to, in fact the Republicans in Tallahassee have just been kicking sand in our eyes so we won’t see David Rivera raising a ton of unethical money to try to ripoff FL-25 from Joe Garcia.

Yep, the moneybags business of a congressional race ran heavily in Rivera’s favor in the first weeks of the session -- even though there’s a state law banning fund-raising while the legislature is in session.

Yep, they’ve got a self-serving legal opinion that says the law doesn’t apply to those running for a federal office -- like District 25 in the US House -- only to people running for state offices. And so David Rivera feels free to ignore finger-waving by former Gov. Jeb Bush, who in the past thought it was unseemly to be doing it.

Yep, that’s the same Jeb Bush who thought it was OK for himself to go to work for Lehman Brothers as a consultant after leaving the governorship and to help sell Florida crappy investments that are worth nothing now. Even with such low standards, Jeb thought it was unseemly for legislators to raise money during session.

So David Rivera’s ethical standards are even lower than that.

Joe Garcia, our former chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, ethically resigned from his high position in the US Department of Energy to run for Congress in District 25, now an open seat. Yep, the Diaz-Balart brothers are doing a double quit -- Lincoln D-B retiring from District 21, and Mario D-B escaping from District 25, where he would lose to Joe Garcia this time, and aiming for the safer-R District 21.

Joe Garcia looks to have a good shot now in his second race in District 25. As Joe put it the other night in a talk to the Democrats of South Dade Club, Mario D-B designed the district for himself when he was in the state legislature (now the teabag legislature). Then in the early 2000’s, District 25 had a big Republican advantage in registration, 42-30 percent. Now the two parties are even at 36 percent, with about 800 more registered Democrats than Republicans. No wonder Mario D-B quit.

No wonder David Rivera is desperate.

He is chair of the committee writing the budget. The unethical game he’s running is that lobbyists are piling money into his federal campaign even though he’s now term-limited as a state representative, and if he were to win and go to the US House, he’d have no vote anymore on state legislation. So this money is purely to influence legislation now before the Florida House, and that’s the spirit and intent of the law and House rules that ban it.

“'The spirit be damned,’ my opponent says,” Joe Garcia told the Democratic club. Still channeling Rivera, he went on, “’We need to raise a lot of money. We need to justify a $2 billion tax increase at the same time Florida had the worst economy in its history.’”

Garcia called Rivera “a very special kind of guy” and predicted: “I’m sure the special interests will pave his way.”

For our part, Democrats will be called on to join the Garcia campaign’s planned grassroots ground drive, and of course to donate as generously as possible, to see that Joe Garcia gets his message out.

“Folks like you will make the difference,” he said to a crowd with a lot of District 25 residents, including many experienced campaigners with a strong dedication to progressive policy.

In the Miami New Times -- Goodness, they even call Rivera a “banana Republican” in their headline -- an article says there were 80 lobbyists and committees backing legislation among Rivera’s donors in the first quarter. He raised a bit over $700,000 and more than half came from the influence-buyers. More detail in the Miami New Times.

This is how low their ethical standards are.

Let's make those phones ring in Tallahassee -- protect teachers and students

Call 850-488-1450 and protest the way the Republicans are ramming SB6 through the House.

ACORN is a victim in this Jacksonville story, but what's going on?

This is hard to summarize, so I'll just make a link to the item in the Miami Herald. I also found the Jacksonville newspaper's rendition of it, which said the target of the race-baiting political flyer was unclear.

Someone needs to make a complete confession.

Lesson from Australia: Big oil spill from "safe" offshore rig

Our friends at Progress Florida make a good point about offshore oil drilling. You can say it's safe, but then there's a horrific oil spill. One happening now in Australia.

There's a link to send a fax to the Florida legislature on this issue. Do it. I did. Thanks, Progress Florida.

Donate TODAY to stop Florida gerrymandering

Today, Wednesday Sept. 9, 2009, is the day we've all agreed -- We have, haven't we? -- to donate to Fair Districts Florida to support the petition drive to stop gerrymandering.

Here's the link: http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/home.php

The logic is simple and direct. A big reason for Florida's political jungle is the fact that gerrymandering leads to gross misrepresentation in the state legislature and our congressional delegation. Even though there are many more registered Democrats than Republicans in Florida, the legislature lately has been almost three-fourths Republican and the Congressional delegation almost two-thirds Republican.

The petition that your donations support will put a referendum question on the ballot next year to ban political considerations in drawing district lines. We're all doing this on 9/9/09 to make an impact. Please do it before midnight Wednesday.

I just made my donation. I feel victory coming on already.

Pledge to donate on 9/9/09 to end gerrymandering

How to fix the Florida legislature? How to fix our gerrymandered congressional districts?

Change the Florida constitution to ban gerrymandering! That’s the aim of Fair Districts Florida, and this wonderful organization has gathered almost 1.5 million petitions to get the issue on the ballot.

Next step is to raise our personal support of this ambitious drive by donating to help.

I have pledged to donate. Have you?

Please go to fairdistrictsflorida.org/9909 and add your name to the pledge rollcall. I did it this morning and was #88 to sign up. A short while ago the numbers was approaching 150. Please add your pledge.

Then on Sept. 9 we will all pledge together and raise the money needed to process our mountain of petitions.

Thank you for listening and pledging. Now, please go do it.

Miami-Dade Democrats favor universal health plan

Candidates for the Democratic nomination for US Congressional District 17, from the left: Yolly Roberson, Phillip J. Brutus, Shirley Gibson, Roderick Vereen.

A good Democratic Party meeting Monday night, and a fine setting at Florida Memorial University’s up-to-date auditorium.

A lot of new members of the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee were sworn in, more than I could count with confidence. Almost 20, I think, a good sign that people are coming aboard even in the summer doldrums. Chairman BJ Chiszar said DEC membership was very close to his interim goal of 300.

Main events were three:

· We passed a resolution urging Congress to go for universal care in health reform. There was spirited debate as to whether it was good to go against President Obama’s plan that would add a public option to a wide modification of the present system.

· Candidates for the state legislature had the opportunity to speak from the stage and make themselves known. Seven Democratic challengers in open seats were featured, along with two incumbent reps, Oscar Braynon of Miami Gardens (District 103) and Ron Saunders of Key West, whose District 120 includes a chunk of Miami-Dade as well as Monroe County.

· Four of the Democrats vying to succeed US Rep. Kendrick Meek in FL-17 (he’s running for US Senate) were on stage for a candidates’ forum, making statements and responding to questions. The four were former state Rep. Phillip J. Brutus, Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson, state Rep. Yolly Roberson and attorney/activist Roderick D. Vereen. Also among Democratic candidates in FL-17, according to the Florida Division of Elections, are Haitian activist Marliene M. Bastien and state Rep. Frederica S. Wilson.

All three of these agenda items were well worth the drive to Miami Gardens, and the meeting remained lively until after 10 p.m.

State Rep. Ron Saunders, who is slated to be leader of the Democratic minority in the state House in 2010, described the statewide strategy to build the number of Democratic winners in next year’s election. The Democrats are specially targeting 34 of the 76 seats the Republicans now hold in the 120-seat House. The criterion for choosing them, he said, was to identify districts in which Alex Sink got 48 percent or more of the vote in her run for Florida chief financial officer in 2006.

Sink, now running for governor, is the only Democrat in the state cabinet. She won with 53.5 percent in 2006, meaning there must have been plenty of state House districts where she captured otherwise Republican voters.

And here's a three-hour event compressed to 40 seconds:

Call the governor on voting bill in Tallahassee

I just did it and the staffer said she'd be glad to pass it along.

There's a story out that Gov. Crist is thinking of vetoing this retrograde bill, and now is the time to encourage him in that direction.

Call 850 488-4441.

Facebook and emails are alive with concern about the Republican drive to restrict voting rights -- and solidify Florida as the laughingstock of the nation. It's wonderful to see the Netroots in action!

NBC wakes up: FlaDems not so bad

Over at Naked Politics, the Miami Herald’s blog, they’re reporting a mea culpa from NBC political director Chuck Todd, who maligned our beloved Florida Democratic Party as one of the worst in the country.

After a little fact-checking, he says that was back in the distant past – 2004 and earlier – and nowadays we’re much better.

I’d be inclined to agree if our Bless-its-heart party had had the wit to see trouble coming with the too-early primary date and had fought it tooth and nail in the state legislature. That misstep was only a year ago, so by my clock we’ve only been doing much better since then.

Late-breaking thought: If the state legislature is agitated now to be passing laws about boys showing their boxers, will Naked Politics be safe and legal?

Your TV Guide

Happened to discover: Live TV coverage of the Florida State Legislature, now in its annual session, is available on my neighborhood cable system, Atlantic Broadband. It’s Channel 78 here on the Beach. Sort of like C-span, one of my favorite TV channels. Schedule info is available on line: http://www.wfsu.org/tfc/index.html

Better ideas about mission in Tallahassee

Here's a link to Commissioner Katy Sorenson's piece in Wednesday's Miami Herald with pointed advice to state legislators from the view of local government.

Hey, Speaker Marco Rubio: How about solving problems rather than giving limited relief to one sector of taxpayers?

Such reasonable views tend to give me hope for the Herald's opinion pages. But then I look up to the day's lead editorial with the headline "NAFTA distortions discredit candidates." Rip the Democrats! Claim that their speeches make it seem that "NAFTA ranks right up there with Osama bin Laden as a threat to our national well-being." Whew, how over the top can they go?

No to Jan. 29 property tax referendum

Miami-Dade Democrats are against the property tax referendum that will be part of the Jan. 29 voting exercise. Explanation will follow, but first:

YES! Do vote on Jan. 29. DO NOT swallow any of the negative commentary trying to make you think that your vote for the presidential nominee will be worthless, just because of the fuss over primary dates.

As Nancy Pelosi and others have said: The person who emerges in the lead after the caucuses and primaries will become the party leader and will surely rule in favor of seating the Florida delegation at the Denver convention. Who would be so insane as to snub Florida at that point? Who would snub 27 electoral votes?

With that out of the way, we have to consider what else will be on the ballot, and the biggest item is the lightly considered proposal to amend the state constitution to change property tax rules. I confess that the full details escape me. Those who’ve looked at the verbiage that emerged from the legislature say it may be page after page on the voting screen. I’ll provide a link below to the full text. Here comes the news:

The December meeting of the Democratic Executive Committee voted to oppose Amendment #1 on “Property tax exemptions; Limitations on property tax assessments.” The DEC vote was largely on grounds that the result would be budgetary hardship for public education, first responders and public officials and services. And that most property tax-payers would save so little money that their financial burden would not be eased.

Chairman Joe Garcia said more thoughtful work needed to be done by the tax and budget reform committee in Tallahassee.

The decision to oppose the measure was made by a voice vote of over 100 people attending the Dec. 10 meeting.

Here, thanks to DEC Secretary Charlotte Klieman, who made the motion, is official information on the referendum proposal:

PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS; LIMITATIONS ON PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS

Reference: ARTICLE VII, SECTIONS 3, 4, AND 6; ARTICLE XII, SECTION 27 Summary: Link to full text This revision proposes changes to the State Constitution relating to property taxation. With respect to homestead property, this revision: (1) increases the homestead exemption except for school district taxes and (2) allows homestead property owners to transfer up to $500,000 of their Save-Our-Homes benefits to their next homestead. With respect to nonhomestead property, this revision (3) provides a $25,000 exemption for tangible personal property and (4) limits assessment increases for specified nonhomestead real property except for school district taxes. In more detail, this revision: (1) Increases the homestead exemption by exempting the assessed value between $50,000 and $75,000. This exemption does not apply to school district taxes. (2) Provides for the transfer of accumulated Save-Our-Homes benefits. Homestead property owners will be able to transfer their Save-Our-Homes benefit to a new homestead within 1 year and not more than 2 years after relinquishing their previous homestead; except, if this revision is approved by the electors in January of 2008 and if the new homestead is established on January 1, 2008, the previous homestead must have been relinquished in 2007. If the new homestead has a higher just value than the previous one, the accumulated benefit can be transferred; if the new homestead has a lower just value, the amount of benefit transferred will be reduced. The transferred benefit may not exceed $500,000. This provision applies to all taxes. (3) Authorizes an exemption from property taxes of $25,000 of assessed value of tangible personal property. This provision applies to all taxes. (4) Limits the assessment increases for specified nonhomestead real property to 10 percent each year. Property will be assessed at just value following an improvement, as defined by general law, and may be assessed at just value following a change of ownership or control if provided by general law. This limitation does not apply to school district taxes. This limitation is repealed effective January 1, 2019, unless renewed by a vote of the electors in the general election held in 2018. Further, this revision: a. Repeals obsolete language on the homestead exemption when it was less than $25,000 and did not apply uniformly to property taxes levied by all local governments. b. Provides for homestead exemptions to be repealed if a future constitutional amendment provides for assessment of homesteads "at less than just value" rather than as currently provided "at a specified percentage" of just value. c. Schedules the changes to take effect upon approval by the electors and operate retroactively to January 1, 2008, if approved in a special election held on January 29, 2008, or to take effect January 1, 2009, if approved in the general election held in November of 2008. The limitation on annual assessment increases for specified real property shall first apply to the 2009 tax roll if this revision is approved in a special election held on January 29, 2008, or shall first apply to the 2010 tax roll if this revision is approved in the general election held in November of 2008.