BlogWood: MT Archives

Lawmakers fight democracy

In Tallahassee, lawmakers continue to squabble over the “minority rule” amendment which would allow a citizen initiative to be killed by a minority of voters:
(Link via Florida Politics)

Lawmakers argue that most changes to the constitution don't really belong in the constitution, they belong in law. Maybe that's true, except year after year, legislators refuse to put them there. They're refusing to let citizens put them there, either. If lawmakers don't offer voters an alternative to changing the constitution, they strip citizens of their most immediate route to accomplish their aims when the Legislature won't.

You might wonder why the Legislature wants to do this. Voters haven't asked for it. School officials haven't requested it. Floridians aren't crying out for lawmakers to make the constitution harder to change.

But industry titans are. They characterize constitutional amendments as an end run around democracy. They really mean it's an end run around them and their control over the Legislature. They worry upcoming amendments could require them to pay minimum-wage workers more and force them to fork up sales tax on more goods and services. So they're ready to spend millions to fuel the publicity war to push the changes through.

Lawmakers justify making it harder to change the constitution by saying they want to keep big business and special interests from buying their way onto the ballot. But if these changes occur, they guarantee that big business and special interests are the only ones who can afford access to it. It's just another way for the minority to rule.

So, in theory, low wage workers could vote themselves a raise through the amendment process? Who knew?

Denise Hylton collects signatures, and that makes her very unpopular around Florida's capital these days.

The Tampa health care worker and mother of seven is a board member of ACORN, a nationwide advocacy group for low- and moderate-income people. She joined dozens of activists on a bus ride Thursday to Tallahassee to oppose legislation making it harder for people to use the citizen initiative process to amend the state Constitution.

"I will not allow my Florida government to strip away my voting rights," Hylton said at a rally. "I am angry that my representatives are taking away our God-given right, as American citizens, to choose."

Hylton's more immediate goal is collecting signatures for ACORN's ballot initiative to increase the minimum wage in Florida by $1 an hour, to $6.15 an hour. She says the group speaks for Floridians who struggle to survive while toiling away in low-wage jobs in hotels and restaurants.

ACORN's demand for a higher minimum wage has implications for the presidential election.

ACORN paid for a poll last fall that showed a minimum wage initiative might not only benefit workers, but also might attract liberal voters to the polls in November - including thousands of poor blacks and Hispanics who usually don't vote.

"Our campaign is nonpartisan, but the minimum wage issue will directly benefit 300,000 workers," said Brian Kettenring, of St. Petersburg, ACORN's Florida director. "Those workers and their families and communities are going to be tremendously more motivated to come to vote in November, because they know they can vote themselves a raise."
......

Business leaders, who generally support Republicans, said using a citizen initiative as a get-out-the-vote tool in a presidential election is another example of why the rules need to be tightened on citizen initiatives.

"It's just an abuse of the process for a special interest agenda," said Fred Leonhardt, an Orlando lawyer and president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Florida's minimum wage should be decided by the Legislature, Leonhardt said, not etched in the Constitution.

"Some people want it to become a part of the culture of Florida to bypass the Legislature and have citizens take over that role," Leonhardt said. "Making public policy by reading a 75-word ballot summary is not a good way to govern our state."
......

A St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll last month found that 65 percent of voters support making it more difficult to amend the Constitution.

ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It has 600 chapters in 45 cities across the country, including St. Petersburg, Tampa, Orlando and Miami.

ACORN needs nearly a half-million voters' signatures for the minimum wage issue to reach voters. They have been collecting signatures at places where working people gather, such as the state driver's license bureau on Florida Avenue in Tampa.

Last week they took their cause to Tallahassee.

Ordinary citizens attract attention in the capital because they are greatly outnumbered by people in tailored suits clutching cell phones and briefcases.

That contrast is part of ACORN's political message.

"Strip them of their luxuries for a month," said ACORN member Whitney Jamison of Tampa, referring to big businesses. "Put them out there on a $5.15 job, let them fend for it, and then come see me in a month. Tell me how you took care of your family."

Support ACORN.

Contact your representatives in Tallahassee and tell them you oppose efforts to weaken the people’s power to enact change.