Republican Governors Of Michigan, Florida And Missouri Have A Unified Message For The Voters Of Their States: "Screw Democracy And Screw You!"

Missouri Gov. Michael Parson hates gays and hates democracy

On Friday, the Associated Press reported that Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder had signed and vetoed loads of bills on one of his last days in office. He signed a phony environmental cleanup bill that will actually make it harder to toughen standards for protecting drinking water from certain toxic chemicals. In line with other Republicans leaving office and crapping all over the governors' offices, Snyder signed a bill requiring Democratic Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer to justify new stricter regulations and as a capper he signed a law making it harder for groups to put proposals on the statewide ballot by limiting to 15% the number of proposition signatures from any congressional district. That's aimed to limit the power of voters in Detroit-- and a lesser extent in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, Dearborn and Kalamazoo-- to get proposals onto the ballot. And Snyder isn't the only Republican trying to limit the ability of voters to go around the gerrymandered Republican legislatures to make laws.

Associated Press also ran a piece about the right-wing kook who took over as governor of Missouri when Eric Greitens was forced to resign. Lt. Gov. Michael Parson was an extreme right member of the legislature from 2005 until last year. Well known in the gay community as a homophobic fanatic, Parson is also a corrupt shitbag. And everyone in the state knows it since his former chief of staff revealed that he proposed legislation for lobbyists who paid him off. He has been accused numerous times of taking "gifts" from lobbyists who have business with the state. One state legislator who knows him well told me that Parson is the "embodiment of corruption... He's the most crooked politician in [Missouri]." A firm believer in austerity for the citizens of his state, the first things he did as Lt. Governor was to approve a $54,000 remodeling and renovation budget for his office, request a $125,000 increase to his $463,000 budget, which included $35,000 to reimburse himself for travel expenses. On top of that he demanded $10,000 for out-of-state travel and then an additional $25,000 to pay for a personal driver.

Now he's trying to repeal a voter-approved constitutional amendment to establish nonpartisan redistricting for the state legislature and is pushing for an opportunity to make it harder for Missouri citizens to get proposals onto the ballot. First let's look at Amendment 1-- the redistricting initiative that also deals with lobbying and campaign finance reform. The results were not at all ambiguous and horrified Parson.

The amendment requires a state demographer and a non-partisan commission to consider specific criteria in drawing legislative districts, including partisan fairness and competitiveness, contiguousness, and compactness. It also forbids the state Legislature from passing laws allowing for unlimited campaign contributions to candidates for the state legislature and establishes campaign contribution limits for legislative candidates and their committees for a single election cycle to $2,500 per person to a state Senate candidate and $2,000 per person to a state House candidate. The measure prohibits making or accepting contributions using a fake name, using the name of another person, or through another person to conceal the actual donor's identity. It also requires legislators and legislative employees to wait 2 years after the conclusion of the legislative session before they can become paid lobbyists. On top of that, it prohibits legislators and legislative employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists in excess of $5.

Amendment 1 almost sounds like a personal rebuke to Parson, who is now working to overturn it, something likely to help elect a Democratic governor of the state in 2020. He seems certain he knows better than the 62% of voters who passed it.

Beyond that, Parson said in an interview with The Associated Press, it may also be time to raise the bar for initiative petitions to appear on the ballot.

The Republican governor acknowledges that neither of those things may sound good to voters.

"Fundamentally, you think when the people vote you shouldn't be changing that vote," Parson told the AP. "But the reality of it is that is somewhat what your job is sometimes, if you know something's unconstitutional, if you know some of it's not right."

... An AP analysis found the formula is likely to increase Democrats' chances of winning elections and cut into Republicans' supermajorities in the state House and Senate. The measure doesn't change congressional redistricting, which is handled by state lawmakers. Repealing it would require a new measure to be placed before voters... Republican legislative leaders also have said they may consider changes to Amendment 1 during the session that starts Jan. 9.

Despite Republican legislative efforts to hold up the Florida ballot initiative that will allow ex-felons to vote, local election officials said last week they will begin adding voters to the rolls in January, including those who have served time for felonies. Amendment 4 automatically restores the right to vote for people with prior felony convictions-- except for murder or a sexual offense-- upon completion of their sentences, including prison, parole, and probation. Governor-elect Ron DeSantis and the Republican legislature have been trying to figure out a way to kill it.

It affects more than a million and a half Floridians and is expected to help Democrats even up the gerrymandered state legislative districts a bit. It's likely that in 2020 the new voters will help Democrats defeat Michael Waltz (FL-06), Ross Spano (FL-15), Vern Buchanan (FL-16) and Brian Mast (FL-18) and is likely to also jeopardize the 2020 reelection efforts of Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25), Ted Yoho (FL-03), Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) and Bill Posey (FL-08). As for the 29 electoral votes Florida has in presidential elections...

Liberty Revisited by Nancy Ohanian