The truth about Florida's delegates. A friends LTTE.

[Dr.Phool]

It's a letter a friend of mine wrote to the St. Pete Times yesterday. She's a long time party activist, donor, and a former Vice-Chair of the Hernando County DEC. She gave me permission to post it in it's entirety here. And I'll re-post it in GD- Primaries and the Florida Forum in separate threads.

_________________________________________________________________________

I have sent this letter today to the editor of the St. Pete Times. It is time to set the record straight on this matter and prevent an election being "rigged" by, not the Republicans, but by perhaps our own DINOS..Democrats in name only(s). Democrats are supposed to stand for truth and obeyance to the laws and rules of our party and our country. I want my Party back! How about you? Fran




LETTER TO THE EDITOR: FLORIDA’S DELEGATES TO CONVENTION

February 27, 2008

Dear Sir:

I am beginning to see more and more letters asking that Florida’s delegates be seated at the National Democratic Convention and that their votes be counted. To clarify this matter, once and for all and, as a member of Hernando County Democratic Executive Committee and an elected Precinct Committeewoman, here are the true facts.

The rules governing the date(s) of our primary are in writing and very clearly written. It is so easy to place blame on Howard Dean, the head of our National Party, but why? Governor Dean has followed the rules to the letter and that is as it should be. When the Republican dominated State Legislature overwhelmingly voted to change/move up the primary date, our Florida State Chairwoman, Karen Thurman, was offered financial assistance by Governor Dean so that the Democrats could hold a caucus and thereby escape any penalties. This offer of assistance was turned down by our state party leader(s). Why? This would have left all our delegates intact and eligible to cast their votes at the Convention.

For many months, at many events she attended, Karen Thurman spoke of Hillary Clinton as our “next President”, a clear violation of the bylaws which state that we may not promote one candidate over another prior to the selection of our party’s nominee. At the State Convention, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz announced from the platform, “..our next President, Hillary Rodham Clinton” much to the dismay of many attendees who were supporting other candidates. Literally a hundred or more signs for Hillary went up around the room….thought the candidates had agreed not to campaign in Florida (I was turned down by Edwards campaign staff when I attempted to pay for signs for John Edwards because they said it would violate the “no campaigning” agreement). Yet here was definite campaigning for Hillary at our State Convention. Is she a woman of her word or not?

The result of all this, including the so fortunate fundraiser for Clinton held in Florida on Primary Day, was that most of our citizens knew little about the other candidates and the Clinton name recognition just about guaranteed a win for Hillary, which I personally believe, was the intent of our State Chairwoman who has consistently promoted ONLY Beltway insiders as opposed to Progressive Democrats seeking to take back our country from the corrupt administration under which we have suffered for seven long, long years. As for Michigan, I thought all candidates had agreed not to be on the ballot there, but there was Hillary…can you count this as a “win” when the only competition was Kucinich? I think not and find this a statement we should pay attention to regarding Hillary Clinton’s word and her character.

So please citizens of the could be great state of Florida, stop vilifying the guy(s) who play by the rules. We have had seven years of watching our Constitution and our laws violated over and over again by those currently in power. Do we now blame those among true Democrats who follow the rules and obey the laws? Following the Judas Goat leads to only one place, the slaughterhouse!

Respectfully,

Frances Earl

Chair-Democracy for America Tampa Bay North

[peace13]

1. Wow!

Thank you for posting this Peace,Kim

[PassingFair]

2. BEAUTIFUL!

The same party crap went on here in Michigan, where
our term-limited DLC Governor allowed and abetted
the "cock-blocking" that allowed Hillary to waltz
away as the only "choice" on our "in-violation"
primary ballot.

We committee members all wanted the CAUCUS, with
ALL CANDIDATES on it.

No one listened to us.

[KaryninMiami]

3. This fellow Floridian says THANK YOU- and thanks to Frances too

I am so sick of hearing that the Florida delegates "MUST" be seated by Hillary folks- it's wrong and as the letter so clearly points out, it would be a violation of our rights. I know many people who would have voted differently had they known their votes would count, the rest of us had no opportunity as the rest of the country did, to really get to know each candidate and make an educated choice. Hillary was here in Miami Beach campaigning but they called it a "fund raiser" - regardless of the title of the event, it drew crowds and media attention to her campaign and it clearly broke the rules. There was indeed a big turnout but there was a very well publicized vote included on that ballot related to property tax reform that drew lots of interest (but is meaningless overall which is another story).

I was not aware however, that Dean offered to fund a caucus which Thurman refused- that just put me over the top this morning. Interesting that we were never advised of this fact.

Anyway, thank you for posting and for setting the record straight once and for all. Please thank Frances for her excellent letter to the St. Pete Times.

[Yael]

4. Off to the greatest with ye!

:kick:

[Window]

5. My goodness, what great LTTE. This needs to be spread far and wide.

You cannot make it any clearer than that.

Thank you for sharing this.



Peace:thumbsup:

[Window]

6. K/R

:kick:




Peace:thumbsup:

[crispini]

7. .

k and r