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 Sunday, April 10, 2005

Restoration of Voting Rights

    Kudos to the Miami Herald for trying to keep this issue alive:
    The fundamental issues are justice and fairness. After a person convicted of crime has fully paid for the offense with a prison sentence, his civil rights should be restored automatically. That's how nearly every state except Florida does it. Now it's time to erase this vestige of repulsive Jim Crow laws that leaves at least 500,000 Floridians without voting rights and diminished job prospects.

    The Legislature should put a measure on the ballot that would automatically restore civil rights when an ex-felon has completed his sentence. ...

    Florida has the largest number of disfranchised people of any state, a group that is also disproportionately black. That alone should make legislators seek remedies. Yet halfway through the session, no clemency related bill has gotten any traction.
    And remember these big talkers:
    Senate majority leader Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, and Sen. Stephen Wise, the Criminal Justice Committee chairman, now remain silent on the issue although they said earlier that they would pursue a constitutional amendment to repeal the state's automatic ban on civil rights for ex-felons.

    That's unacceptable. Too many Floridians unfairly are being deprived of civil rights. The Legislature's indifference doesn't excuse this injustice.
    "Never-ending punishment for ex-felons".

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