Today's Letters: Democrats boycott Florida race

Democrats boycott Florida race Sept. 2, story

Voters are looking for alternatives

Florida Democratic Party executive director Leonard Joseph said Saturday: "No matter which cards we're dealt, Florida Democrats are going to win the state's 27 electoral votes and elect a Democratic president in 2008. The country needs us."

First we are told we will have no voice in the Democratic primary. Now Leonard Joseph wants to take away our voice in the general election. Joseph and the party leaders are assuming Florida Democrats will just follow the party line, regardless of what they do to us, and I believe they are wrong. Many Democrats I have spoken to are looking at alternatives come the general election.

Florida Democrats are being penalized for a situation they had no control over. If the DNC leadership wants to punish someone, they need to look at people like Leonard Joseph. They need to hold the leadership here in Florida accountable. It's their job to make sure things like this don't happen or at least work as hard as they can to prevent it. Punish the people who are responsible and not the voters.

And shame on the candidates for agreeing not to come here and campaign. These are the same people who screamed about voters not being heard in Florida in past elections.

Gregory Pennington, Holiday

Democrats boycott Florida race Sept. 2, story

Cut your donations

Now that the major Democratic candidates have vowed not to campaign in Florida as punishment for leapfrogging over the traditionally early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, I would propose that all Florida Democrats stop their political contributions to those same candidates who choose to ignore their future constituents.

It would send a message to those candidates that if they choose to ignore Florida, then they will not receive any financial support from us either. A candidate's lifeblood is spendable cash, and I think that they would have an epiphany if the contributions from Florida were to suddenly dry up.

Lance K. Piscitelli, Clearwater

Democrats boycott Florida race Sept. 2, story

An attack on the voter

If the Democratic candidates are so obtuse and lacking any notion of the consequences of their boycott of the Florida primary, why should I - a registered Democrat - even consider voting for their self-appointed candidate in November 2008?

Their quarrel is with the Republican-led Florida Legislature. I did not change the date.

This is a direct attack on me, the voter. I do not have any truck with abusing, manipulative bullies. The Democratic candidates for president have just overstepped the boundaries of common decency and propriety. They have exhibited nothing but contempt for me as an individual, and they think my rights as a citizen are insignificant.

I don't think so. I will vote in November 2008, but I will not vote for any of these spineless Democrats who cannot even fight their own battles or think through the consequences of their own actions. They think there is strength in numbers; they will find that Florida fields a large number of votes.

In the meantime, they individually owe each and every registered Democrat in the state of Florida a personal apology.

E. Niles, Lithia

Board newbies rock the boat Sept. 1, story

Shake up the board

This article reported some conflict on the Hillsborough County School Board. Meetings were characterized as, historically, "a system that leaves little to chance." One board member described them as "a well-orchestrated play." Two newer board members, April Griffin and Susan Valdes, are accused of "breaking the unwritten rules." They "raised questions." One of the older members, Jennifer Faliero, even called for Griffin's resignation.

Faliero, lest anyone forget, is the board member who lied about having moved out of her district. She didn't want her move to become public, because board members are legally required to live within the districts they serve.

It's time the board started paying more attention to the written rules than the unwritten rules. It's time for board members to raise more questions. It's time for more independent thinking on the board, and less kowtowing to a system that worships conformity and stifles openness and free expression of new ideas. It's time for more School Board members like April Griffin and Susan Valdes.

Gregory A. Morgan, Lutz

Board newbies rock the boat Sept. 1, story

Public has priority

It sounds to me as though this so-called "team-building" for Hillsborough County School Board members was set up to bring the mavericks, April Griffin and Susan Valdes, in line with the status quo.

It's pretty incredible to me that board members of any kind should be concerned about building a team. A public board member's primary concern should be protecting the public interest. And board member Candy Olson's comment about meetings being a "well-orchestrated play," implying that all important business is taken care of behind the scenes and out of public view, is really an eye-opener.

It seems as though the majority of board members are not too concerned about transparency. I think the public should be looking for some new School Board members and I don't mean replacing Griffin and Valdes.

Gail Parsons, Tampa

What dogs can teach us about humanity Aug. 31, Sue Carlton column

Humans come first

Let me get this straight: Michael Vick's executing pit bulls is the worst crime imaginable because it was perpetrated against animals. Really? Worse than Jennifer Porter leaving children dying in the road?

How many people would have to be harmed or killed to be worse than Vick killing dogs?

Torturing and killing dogs - or any other animal - is wrong and should be punished in a society that values civility. But the idea that harming an animal is a worse crime than harming a fellow human is twisted. Ms. Carlton, you are more important than a dog.

Christi Craig, Temple Terrace

State's budget shortfall

Save victim services

Tampa Bay's Rape Crisis Centers are in grave danger of losing vital services for rape victims. The Department of Health has included the elimination of the Rape Crisis Program Trust Fund, the state's main source of funding for rape crisis centers, as part of proposed reductions to deal with the state's budget shortfall. This $1.2-million cut would destroy essential services for almost 6,000 Florida rape victims per year but does nothing to improve the state's budget outlook because all trust fund money comes from fines on offenders - none of these funds come from general revenue.

Rape crisis centers already sustained a $700,000 cut during the 2007 legislative session and many are also facing devastating cuts to county and city funding. We cannot ask those traumatized by crime to get by with no help. We cannot stand by as rape crisis centers close their doors. Our legislators must oppose this cut.

Barbara McCormick, Tampa

A tangled Web we achieve when in texting we believe Aug. 26, Perspective story by Arleen Spenceley

Person to person

Well put, Ms. Spenceley. After so many positive advancements in the world of technology and communication, we seem to be faltering. Humans are disconnecting from others, whether intentionally or not.

Sent quickly, text on phones or e-mail is easily misinterpreted. Sarcastic or humorous comments can be erroneously taken as offensive or insulting by the recipient. Very personal discussions go public or people dismiss one another as though they were never important (the writer being dumped buy text message rather than face to face).

It's time to rein in and redirect some of our inventions so that they benefit rather than harm our population. If we do not, humanity will only become less civilized and more isolated.

Robyn Dalton, Largo

For the life of me, I genuinely don't understand how my political party, the Democratic Party, can be so stupid. For all intents and purposes, the 2008 presidential election is the Democrats' to lose, and my party is doing everything in its power to alienate its own members. The sheer stupidity of the Democratic Party's response to changes in the primary schedule in Florida and several other states defies even the simplest logic.

I will grant that by changing the primary schedule, Florida (and the Republican Party) created a nightmare for the country. Of course, screwing up elections appears to be the mandate of Florida politicians. But for the Democratic National Committee to punish the voters of Florida by denying our chosen delegates access to the upcoming party convention is beyond comprehension. Moreover, for all of the Democratic presidential candidates to agree not to campaign in Florida as punishment has pushed me over the edge.

So in response to DNC chairman Howard Dean and his edict against Florida, I have decided that if the DNC punishes Florida, I will not vote for another Democrat for anything (not even dogcatcher) as long as the bombastic Dean is running the DNC.

I don't know who will win the Democratic nomination, but if the DNC doesn't change course, the people of Florida will send another Republican to the White House.

Carl Thompson, St. Petersburg

The Democratic National Committee got it right and the Florida Legislature got it wrong.

The same leaders in Tallahassee who gave us property insurance relief and tax reform want to upend the nominating process. Shame on those elected officials, Republicans and Democrats, for voting to move up the 2008 presidential primary to before the Feb. 5 date set up according to national party rules.

If they got their way, the 2008 nominating process would be decided before 2008 even gets here.

Ted Pafundi, Palm Harbor

[Last modified September 4, 2007, 23:57:39]