Home > Intimidating Florida Voters
by Jim Hightower
Governor Jeb Bush is out to make his state of Florida the next Florida.
In 2000, Jeb used such crude tactics as illegally purging voter lists to help engineer his brother’s 537-vote "victory" in that election - and now, here he goes again. As one peer of Florida’s GOP establishment candidly puts it: "A Democrat can’t win a statewide election in Florida without a high turnout of African-Americans. It’s no secret that the name of the game for Republicans is to restrain that turnout as much as possible."
The Orlando League of Voters can attest to that. This African-American civic group has played a big role in turning Orlando from a Republican stronghold into a city that increasingly votes Democratic. Their reward for getting involved in the democratic process is to have Jeb Bush’s state police suddenly come knock-knock-knocking on the doors of some 50 of the League’s grassroots leaders. These leaders, mostly elderly Black women, find it frightening to be confronted in their homes by armed troopers interrogating them about their electoral participation.
They are not charged with any crime. Instead, police say they’re investigating vague allegations that some voter fraud might have occurred in this spring’s mayoral election. Yet, Jeb’s own state police honcho wrote in a May letter, that "there was no basis to support the allegations," and he declared "this matter closed."
But it was not closed. Police now say the chief’s letter was "poorly worded," and the intimidating in-home interrogations continued this summer as the presidential election heated up. Jeb’s police action is creating a blanket of fear among the League’s volunteers who worry that their perfectly-legal efforts will land them in jail.
Of course, Jeb and his police honcho say there’s no political motive involved, but when asked how long the Orlando investigation will go on, police say it might continue right through November 2nd.
Jim Hightower is the best-selling author of "Let’s Stop Beating Around the Bush". For more information, visit jimhightower.com. You can hear Jim’s column locally on KVMR 89.5FM or attend his Grass Valley appearance on October 8th.
Forum posts
10 October 2004, 08:23
Bushco is a Nazi organization, Hitler used to send out the Gestapo, and the brown shirts, and the SS. Bush sends out his own terror groups posing as police, CIA, FBI, and etc. There is no difference, they have taken the pages out of the Nazi policy book and are implementing them at every opportunity. Hitler’s troops marched thru Europe, Bush’s troops will march thru the middle east.
With any sense of justice Bush will wind up like Hitler.