Category Florida Legislature
Editorial: Remember in November that Florida GOPers mean what they say
For years, a debate has circulated among opinion leaders in this state. Do elected GOPers really intend to end access to reproductive rights in this state? Are they really homophobic? Do they really have an issue with talking about this nation’s past racism? The assumption had often been that the GOP uses these provocative hot-button […]
Say Gay week at TFS – the DeSantis agenda of dividing Floridians must be countered
Don’t be shy and don’t fall into the trap of the DeSantis Republicans whose goal is to divide Floridians, by turning neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend and family member against family member. As with Covid, where DeSantis’ strategy was to divide people and break our Florida community (which he was successful at doing) and […]
TFS+ – House Congressional map analysis
Yesterday, the House Redistricting Committee submitted a new Congressional Map that effectively splits the difference between the Senate’s status quo map and Governor DeSantis aggressive partisan gerrymander. Analysis over at TFS+
The GOP-led Florida Legislature continues a race to the bottom headlined by Senator Ileana Garcia (who earned her seat in the biggest electoral fraud scandal of 2020!)
In the last three decades, the Florida Legislature has gotten progressively worse. Every time I feel we’ve reached a new bottom, we go lower. In 1997, after the GOP takeover of the State House, I told friends the legislature had reached a new low for buffoonery. But those days were relatively enlightened. In 2001, after […]
Assault on reproductive freedom another deterrent for professionals to live in Florida
I have long rejected the narrative that battles over reproductive freedom are social issues that are discussions of morality. For me, that is precisely what the right wants you to think. The reality is this – access to legal and safe abortion and family planning options has always been a core economic issue and another […]
TFS+ early access – curtailing reproductive freedom another deterrent to professionals living in Florida
I have long rejected the narrative that battles over reproductive freedom are social issues that are discussions of morality. For me, that is precisely what the right wants you to think. The reality is this – access to legal and safe abortion and family planning options has always been a core economic issue. Early access […]
Special Session: Florida Republicans very own Socialism week
Republicans just love calling President Joe Biden a “socialist.” Democrats who could easily point to President Donald Trump’s own record of “socialist” views and actions in how he turned government into a repository of subsidies for groups and industries that supported him, opt not to do so for whatever reason (perhaps it’s because some young […]
Real election reform in Florida requires changes to our primaries – Seven reform ideas
Florida Democrats are correct – the sweeping “reform” suggestions of the GOP to stamp out the imaginary “voter fraud” that allegedly (according to Newsmax and OANN) swept the 2020 elections are completely unnecessary and unwarranted. Though it must be stated the GOP may actually be overreaching and ultimately hurting themselves with these “reforms” should they […]
Revisiting Florida’s Tort Reform debates: Many Conservatives have now shown true colors on human life.
In the late 1990’s conservatives throughout the country were pushing Tort Reform as a larger scheme to “defund the left.” Florida was an epicenter of activity as Jeb Bush’s Republican Party made breaking the Trial Lawyers and Teacher’s Union (via merit pay, school vouchers and other education “reforms”) the priorities of having complete control of […]
The Pork Chop Gang and the birth of modern progressive Florida politics – The Florida History Podcast Episode 6
Episode 6 of The Florida History Podcast focuses on the era of The Pork Chop Gang, a group of rural legislators who controlled the politics of the state tightly until the 1950’s and whose power was not completely broken until the Constitution of 1968. We examine Charley Johns, Senate President, Acting Governor and one of […]
The Florida Squeeze 