Why Would Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz Vote To Send Patients Like This To Prison?

A radio host asked me a few days ago why Debbie Wasserman Schultz was one of the 17 mostly right-wing Democrats in the House to cross the aisle and vote with the Republicans against a bill to lighten up on medical marijuana in states that have legalized it. I suggested that with anything involving Wasserman Schultz, one of the most transactional politicians in Congress, just follow the money. This week Americans for Safe Access were asking a similar question-- in the form of the above TV ad.

Wasserman Schultz's constituents favor medical marijuana legalization-- and overwhelmingly so. So why is she trying to fill Florida prisons with patients whose doctors think they would benefit from marijuana? Who's paying her off? Wasserman Schultz's big play to win the House Democratic leadership position after Nancy Pelosi is being financed, in part, by the prison-for-profit industry. She's their camel's nose in the Democratic tent. Although, the venal Corrections Corporation of America "donates" their bribe money primarily to right-wing Republicans like Steve Womack (AR), Kevin McCarthy (CA), John Culberson (TX) and Marsha Blackburn (TN), Wasserman Schultz is one of the few Democrats taking payoffs from them as well.

Wasserman Schultz is willing to send immigrants and her own sick and elderly constituents to for-profit prisons so they continue making money and continue schmearing her. And especially to a for-profit prison she's helping her Corrections Corporation of America donors build in Southwest Ranches against the will of the people there. Yesterday Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times tried to explain Wasserman Schultz's excuse for voting with the Republicans against her constituents (and history) without mentioning her propensity to vote for the interests of her donors. Slippery, arrogant and misleading, Wasserman Schultz wasn't very convincing. Florida Democratic Party super-donor, John Morgan, was so furious at Wasserman Schultz's idiotic remarks about medical marijuana that he was quoted in the Miami Herald Friday saying what everyone knows but no one has been willing to say aloud: "I know personally the most-powerful players in Washington, D.C. And I can tell you that Debbie Wasserman Schultz isn’t just disliked, she’s despised. She’s an irritant."

An irritant