FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Wednesday, December 15, 2004

In the Footsteps of "Segregationist Politicians"

    Gov. Bush wants Floridians to believe that he's done something significant toward restoring to felons the right to vote and obtain certain jobs after they complete prison sentences. But ex-felons in the state still will have to wait years to get rights that 43 other states restore automatically.

    The governor acts as though continuing to deny ex-felons their rights somehow makes him tough on crime. "Don't make me wrong," he told one ex-con after granting clemency. But this issue isn't about punishment. That's best left to the criminal courts. This is about giving ex-felons a reason to become law-abiding citizens....

    Continuing a policy that segregationist politicians put in place may make the governor and the two fellow Republican members of the clemency board who are likely to run for governor in 2006 — Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher — look tough on crime. But the motive is more likely political. A disproportionate number of ex-felons are African-Americans, who tend to vote Democratic. By blocking rights that truly had been automatic under Gov. Reubin Askew, Gov. Bush blocks predominantly Democratic voters from the polls.
    "Florida still Jim Crow on ex-felons' civil rights".

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