Last week, Big Sugar turned its hand to hiring unemployed Broward County actors to pretend to be Tea Party objectors to the purchase of US Sugar land by the state of Florida. The wide coverage landed with a thud in Tallahassee. Election results have convinced Florida politicians that the only questions they have to ask themselves: 1) have they gerrymandered districts well enough? 2) have they suppressed voters well enough? 3) have they isolated dissenters well enough, and 4) have they shown their willingness through their votes to destroy government from the inside?
These four reasons correspond precisely with job qualifications once elected officials leave office. They are looking to line their pockets; whether as lobbyists or "consultants" to the powerful, wealthy corporations that have locked down the state capitol.
The protest on April 9th in West Palm Beach is part of a rising tide of citizen anger, channeled by the terrible decisions that have allowed billions in property values along the Caloosahatchee and Indian River and quality of life to be sacrificed so Big Sugar billionaires can get wealthier. So far, politicians and their appointees (ie. governing board members of the district) appear immoveable on the issue of whether or not to exercise the US Sugar option, agreed to in 2010 by Big Sugar and opposed by Big Sugar five years later.
We are used to rent-a-crowds in Miami-Dade County. We've seen them at the county commission every time a big developer wants to move the Urban Development Boundary. They show up at the commission chamber with a T-shirt and a box lunch with instruction not to talk to anyone who looks like a reporter. You can see the lobbyists in the corner, advising their one or two designated "citizen" speakers how to read their script, like low-level advisors in a down-market boxing match.
The state of Florida is locked-down these days by special interests (Miami Herald cartoonist Jim Morin captured it perfectly, yesterday). Take some time, if you can, to join the Silent Majority on April 9th in West Palm Beach. What is at stake is not whether the Great Destroyers will get away it again in Florida. It is whether Floridians will ever regain control of government hijacked by radical extremists.
Here is a notice by Sierra Club:
These four reasons correspond precisely with job qualifications once elected officials leave office. They are looking to line their pockets; whether as lobbyists or "consultants" to the powerful, wealthy corporations that have locked down the state capitol.
The protest on April 9th in West Palm Beach is part of a rising tide of citizen anger, channeled by the terrible decisions that have allowed billions in property values along the Caloosahatchee and Indian River and quality of life to be sacrificed so Big Sugar billionaires can get wealthier. So far, politicians and their appointees (ie. governing board members of the district) appear immoveable on the issue of whether or not to exercise the US Sugar option, agreed to in 2010 by Big Sugar and opposed by Big Sugar five years later.
The state of Florida is locked-down these days by special interests (Miami Herald cartoonist Jim Morin captured it perfectly, yesterday). Take some time, if you can, to join the Silent Majority on April 9th in West Palm Beach. What is at stake is not whether the Great Destroyers will get away it again in Florida. It is whether Floridians will ever regain control of government hijacked by radical extremists.
Here is a notice by Sierra Club:
Governor Rick Scott and his appointed water managers are refusing to buy sugar land needed to restore the Everglades. Tell them it's not okay.
Hey Miami, Broward and Palm Beach citizens!
Hop on the train (the Tri-rail train) to tell Governor Scott's water managers to Buy Sugar Land Now this Thurs., April 9 at 9 a.m. at the South Florida Water Management District in West Palm Beach. Don't worry about the fare. It's on us.
Miamians, we’ll be on the P612 train from the NEW! Miami Airport Station at 7:00 a.m. (plenty of free parking) or you can join the train at the Metro rail transfer station at 7:09 a.m. (we’ll be the party in the first car)! Find your station address: www.tri-rail.com
Ft. Lauderdale friends, you can join us at 7:47 at Ft. Lauderdale station or check the schedule for other stops in Broward or Palm Beach Counties http://www.tri-rail.com/ We'll arrive at the West Palm Beach station at 8:45 and be transported to the protest and press event by 9 a.m.
You must RSVP for this special train offer. Simply send an email to jonathan.ullman@sierraclub.org with your name, cell phone and what station you're getting on.
Be a part of this important Everglades activity and have a great time getting there!
-- Jon Ullman, Sierra Club
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