![]() |
Charlie Crist on Government ReformRepublican |
Nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. People deserve a second chance. Isn't that the very basis of our democracy and religious faith?
I quickly came to see that restoring the rights of ex-felons would be controversial. All my Republican friends seemed to be certain about what was waiting for us down this path: If we invited thousands of ex-felons back onto Florida's voting rolls, the vast majority wouldn't be voting for us.
"Just look at 'em," I heard more than one Republican say. "Those are Democrats." The laws that kept most ex- felons from voting in Florida went back 136 years. That was the Jim Crow era after the Civil War. Slavery was over. But white judges and politicians in the South were doing everything they could to make sure the newly freed slaves were still kept down.
At my urging and without much fuss, the legislature passed a bill requiring paper backup for all voting machines. The fact that the federal government would cover the $28 million price tag didn't hurt.
"It just makes common sense," I said that day. "You go to an ATM machine, you get a receipt. You go to a gas station, you probably don't like the receipt you get, but you get a receipt. And with the most precious, cherished right we have in a democracy, we deserve to have a record so we can verify."
A: Term Limits and enforce Existing Laws & instant contribution reporting.
| ||
Other governors on Government Reform: | Charlie Crist on other issues: | |
FL Gubernatorial: Adam Putnam Alexander Snitker Andrew Gillum Gwen Graham Rick Scott FL Senatorial: Bill Nelson Gubernatorial Debates 2017: NJ: Guadagno(R) vs.Phil Murphy(D, won 2017 primary) vs. VA: Gillespie(R) vs.Perriello(D) vs.Wittman(R) vs.Wagner(R) vs.Northam(D) Gubernatorial Debates 2018: AK: Walker(i) vs.(no opponent yet) AL: Kay Ivey(R) vs.Countryman(D) vs.David Carrington (R) vs.Tommy Battle (R) AR: Hutchinson(R) vs.(no opponent yet) AZ: Ducey(R) vs.David Garcia (D) CA: Newsom(D) vs.Chiang(D) vs.Villaraigosa(D) vs.Delaine Eastin (D) vs.David Hadley (R) vs.John Cox (R) vs.Zoltan Istvan (I) CO: Ed Perlmutter (D) vs.Johnston(D) vs.Mitchell(R) vs.Cary Kennedy (D) vs.George Brauchler (R) vs.Doug Robinson (R) CT: Malloy(D) vs.Drew(D) vs.Srinivasan(R) vs.David Walker (R) FL: Gillum(D) vs.Graham(D) vs.Mike Huckabee (R) vs.Adam Putnam (R) GA: Kemp(R) vs.Casey Cagle (R) vs.Hunter Hill (R) vs.Stacey Abrams (R) HI: Ige(D) vs.(no opponent yet) IA: Kim_Reynolds(R) vs.Leopold(D) vs.Andy McGuire (D) vs.Nate Boulton (D) ID: Little(R) vs.Fulcher(R) IL: Rauner(R) vs.Kennedy(D) vs.Pawar(D) vs.Daniel Biss (D) vs.J.B. Pritzker (D) KS: Brewer(D) vs.Wink Hartman (R) MA: Baker(R) vs.Gonzalez(D) vs.Setti Warren (D) vs.Bob Massie (R) MD: Hogan(R) vs.Alec Ross (D) vs.Richard Madaleno (D) ME: (no candidate yet) MI: Whitmer(R) vs.El-Sayed(D) vs.Tim Walz (D) MN: Coleman(D) vs.Murphy(D) vs.Otto(D) vs.Tina Liebling (DFL) vs.Tim Walz (DFL) vs.Matt Dean (R) NE: Ricketts(R) vs.(no opponent yet) NH: Sununu(R) vs.Steve Marchand (D, Portsmouth Mayor) NM: Grisham(D) vs.(no opponent yet) NV: Jared Fisher (R) vs.(no opponent yet) NY: Cuomo(R) vs.(no opponent yet) OH: DeWine(R) vs.Schiavoni(D) vs.Sutton(D) vs.Taylor(R) vs.Jim Renacci (R) vs.Jon Husted (R) vs.Connie Pillich (D) OK: Gary Richardson (R) vs.Connie Johnson (D) OR: Brown(D) vs.Scott Inman (D) PA: Wolf(D) vs.Wagner(R) RI: Raimondo(D) vs.(no opponent yet) SC: McMaster(R) vs.McGill(R) vs.Pope(R) SD: Noem(R) vs.Jackley(R) TN: Green(R) vs.Dean(D) TX: Abbott(R) vs.(no opponent yet) VT: Scott(R) vs.(no opponent yet) WI: Walker(R) vs.Harlow(D) WY: (no candidate yet) |
Newly-elected governors (first seated in Jan. 2017):
DE-D: Carney IN-R: Holcomb MO-R: Greitens NH-R: Sununu NC-D: Cooper ND-R: Burgum VT-R: Scott WV-D: Justice Retiring 2017-18: AL-R: Robert Bentley(R) (term-limited 2018) CA-D: Jerry Brown (term-limited 2018) CO-D: John Hickenlooper (term-limited 2018) FL-R: Rick Scott (term-limited 2018) GA-R: Nathan Deal (term-limited 2018) IA-R: Terry Branstad (appointed ambassador, 2017) ID-R: Butch Otter (retiring 2018) KS-R: Sam Brownback (term-limited 2018) ME-R: Paul LePage (term-limited 2018) MI-R: Rick Snyder (term-limited 2018) MN-D: Mark Dayton (retiring 2018) NM-R: Susana Martinez (term-limited 2018) OH-R: John Kasich (term-limited 2018) OK-R: Mary Fallin (term-limited 2018) SC-R: Nikki Haley (appointed ambassador, 2017) SD-R: Dennis Daugaard (term-limited 2018) TN-R: Bill Haslam (term-limited 2018) WY-R: Matt Mead (term-limited 2018) |
Abortion
Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families/Children Foreign Policy Free Trade Govt. Reform Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Infrastructure/Technology Jobs Local Issues Principles/Values Social Security Tax Reform War/Iraq/Mideast Welfare/Poverty Contact info: |