Saturday, May 26, 2012

The winnowing is under way in Florida again

THERE'S AN unpopular fellow down in Florida named Rick Scott who happens to be the  governor.  How he was elected to that job is one of  the great mysteries of our time. I only know that he is the former CEO of HCA Healthcare, which has since paid the Federal government $1.7  billion in fines for Medicare fraud.  That could  be a record in a day when  records are usually  broken every day.  From those closer to the scene, I learned that during the investigation of HCA's scalpel-less handiwork,  Scott took the Fifth Amendment 75 times in a deposition.

Anyway, Scott is the  bell cow for the voter purge in
Florida that heightens  the Republican-controlled scandal that separates the wheat from the chaff, and then gets rid of the wheat.  It's all in the name of good government with savage GOP attempts to reduce voter fraud that they have yet to prove exists. In the 2000  election, the state dumped 7000 voters,  most of whom were believed to be eligible.  The Republicans use it as a an election tool, which I have read is how they do it in some foreign countries run by dictators..

By now, you are probably wondering about the woman in the photo holding a poodle (?). Her name is Maureen Russo, born in Akron, and now in  the dog boarding and grooming business in Ft. Lauderdale with her husband. According to ThinkProgress, she's been declared ineligible because she "wasn't born in this country".   I've lived in the Akron area for many years, and this is a new one on me.  

Actually Mrs. Russo has been a registered voter for 40 years.  But before she can  challenge the state, she has to ask for an administration hearing  that will grind her through the bureaucracy. It's never pleasant.   If were her, I would show up with one of those Goodyear tire ashtrays  as Exhibit No. 1.

In Florida, it will be easier for a Republican voter with a coconut for a head to enter the voting booth than  folks like Mrs. Russo.   It's a shameful way to do business, governor, even if it has nothing to do with Medicare fraud.    But shame is never something they think about when an election is at stake.  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Florida is just one case where clearly eligible voters are intentionally being put through extra hoops with the intention of keeping individuals from voting. More stories will be popping up like Mrs. Russo's throughout the country.

David Hess said...

If there is any voter fraud in Florida, it's not perpetrated by Mrs. Russo and thousands of others who could be disenfranchised. It is the fraud perpetrated by the Republican-controlled state legislature and its Fifth-Amendment invoking governor to deny state voters their role in electing their fellow citizens to public office. Not content to gerrymander their electoral and congressional districts so that they, rather than voters, can better control the outcome of political races, the incumbents in control of the legislature and statehouse now want to limit access to the polls to further ensure their continued control.

Grumpy Abe said...

It will get uglier. These villainous creatures prefer to operate outside the lines of reasonable behavior. The GOP class has no class.