Posted on 07/14/2013 5:51:56 PM PDT by abb
Over the Fourth of July weekend, I had occasion to reread our Declaration of Independence, and among the long list of grievances against King George III, this one stood out to me:
“He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.”
I thought of that grievance as one historical source of our American insistence on open and accessible government, so the people can see, understand and participate in the public processes with power over their lives. It is why we have laws requiring public meetings and public records to be open to … the public.
As an institution implicitly charged by the First Amendment with insisting on that transparency to keep you informed and, if you desire, involved in your government, we journalists take on responsibility for pursuing governmental transparency — open records, open meetings, open processes.
That’s why:
• We sued the city last year and liberated some public records on the budget process.
• We sued the Florida Department of Education to give you access to the aggregated value-added student-test scores of public-school teachers. Our lawyers will be arguing before the appellate court this week in Tallahassee.
• We are now suing Mayor Alvin Brown, the city and the Police and Fire Pension Fund for secretly negotiating a pension deal that would affect city finances for decades.
Now comes State Attorney Angela Corey, who is trying another way to intimidate and control press coverage.
She is going to extraordinary lengths to try to keep The Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville.com and our 625,000 readers from knowing what her office is doing to prosecute cases in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.
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(Excerpt) Read more at jacksonville.com ...
Rick Scott should return the favor and fire her butt just like she did the IT guy...
She is a state wide elected official, she can’t be fired by the Governor.
“She is a state wide elected official, she can’t be fired by the Governor. “
Then do as Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law Professor just demanded, disbar her!
She is, of course, not an elected official but rather was appointed by Republican Governor Rick Scott.
Not sure that would help. She could still hold office just not practice law.
I’m sorry to hear that. Is there a recall provision in Florida state law?
Not sure
Thanks. I hope that the good people of Florida put some heat on her tail.
“Not sure that would help. She could still hold office just not practice law.”
Perhaps, but disbarment might provoke an impeachment. We can always hope. Actually, I am hoping that Zimmerman sues her, and makes is a civil rights issue.
Well if Zimmerman sues Corey he should include Governor Scott in the suit because he is the one that pushed for the indictment and appointed Corey to prosecute.
“Well if Zimmerman sues Corey he should include Governor Scott in the suit...”
I don’t follow FL politics on a daily basis (other than their signature murder “trials),” but from what little I see, Florida has has three successive GOPe “clinkers” as governor. You have Bush (The Mexican Bush), Light in the Loafers Christ (who is now a RAT I think), and then this looser, Scott. I guess Hollywood knew what they were doing when they made the Eddie Murphy movie “The Distinguished Gentleman” using a mostly black cast set in Florida.
If Scott is a winner, someone please tell us all how that is!
Don’t be distracted. The Federal government is going to use sleight of hand, to keep our attention focussed on riots and demonstrations like the ones in Oakland, San Francisco and elsewhere, to try and give Boehner and Cantor breathing room to force amnesty for illegal aliens down our throats. DON’T LET THEM DO THIS!!
Have to agree with you. Any politician that throws a man to the prosecutorial wolves to get the political heat off of him is no leader.
I don’t know who Scott will run against in the next election but as a Republican I would have a hard time voting for him after this fiasco.
Hopefully Florida can primary Scott out and have a real Republican to run in the general. (It is a small but very sincere hope) Get busy Florida Freepers!
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