When Charlie Crist became governor in 2007, he allowed ex-felons convicted of certain crimes to regain their rights without a hearing (though it still needed to be cleared through the Parole Commission), a big change from previous state law. But although it cleared the way for many Floridians to get back their civil and voting rights, there was still a huge backlog that prevented everywhere eligible to get those rights restored in a timely fashion.
But after Rick Scott and Pam Bondi were elected four years later, they opted to go back to the old way, saying it was becoming "too easy" for released felons to get back those rights. Now ex-cons have a minimum five-year waiting period before they can ask the Cabinet get those rights restored.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder thinks that's wrong. In a speech yesterday he called on the 11 states in the country (including Florida) that prohibit felons from voting after their release from prison to repeal such laws, which would allow millions more people across the county to vote.
Holder said that 10 percent of Florida's population is disenfranchised.
But of course the last thing the Scott administration is going to do is be lectured by Eric Holder.
“Eric Holder’s speech from Washington, D.C., has no effect on Florida’s Constitution, which prescribes that individuals who commit felonies forfeit their right to vote,” said Frank Collins, a spokesman for Governor Scott.
So case closed? Yep, at least for now in the Sunshine State. But you can bet this is one law that will change if Crist defeats Scott for governor in Florida this November.
In other news, Marco Rubio has been omnipresent in recent days. The GOP Senator plead the Fifth on Monday when asked if he had ever partaken in a little ganja. Weirdly, the 42-year-old admitted rap fan said he wouldn't give an answer.
Good news for those have roots in Seattle: For the first time in its 43-year history, Tampa International Airport can now get you on a direct one-way flight via Alaska Airlines to Seattle. Next stop for Joe Lopano to nail domestically? San Francisco.
And Congresswoman Kathy Castor was in St. Petersburg earlier this week to highlight the fact that more funding has been restored to the Head Start program.
This article appears in Feb 6-12, 2014.