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Florida felon voting rights restoration bill draws concerns
Dems Say This
New Republican
Poll Tax”
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A bill that sets condi
tions on restoring felon voting rights won approval March
19 from a Florida House committee over the objection of
advocates who helped get rights restoration placed in the
state constitution.
Advocates said the language goes too far, in part by re
quiring civil fines and court costs to be paid before felons
can have their voting rights restored.
“That will restrict the ability to vote for thousands of
Floridians, especially people who are poor, especially
people of color,” said Neil Volz, political director for the
Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.
Volz said financial obligations should be considered
only if a judge specifically made that part of an offender’s
sentencing, such as restitution to victims. He also argued
that the Legislature doesn’t need a bill to spell out a pro
cess for voting rights restoration.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee approved
the bill, 10-5, with Republicans in support and only Dem
ocrats opposed.
Voters approved a constitutional amendment in No
vember that restores felons’ voting rights once they’ve
completed their sentences, unless they were convicted of
murder or a sexual felony.
Republican Rep. James Grant said the amendment ap
proved by voters didn’t define what it means to complete
a sentence and didn’t define sexual felony. He rebuked
advocates for felons who contended the bill language was
politically motivated.
Citing court transcripts, Grant said that when lawyers
representing the advocates for felons explained the ballot
language to the Supreme Court, they said court costs and
fees would be part of completing a sentence and other
details would have to be worked out in implementing the
amendment.
Democratic Rep. Adam Hattersley said the bill repre
sents the arrogance of lawmakers who think they know
better than the 64 percent of the voters who approved the
bill.
“It’s not only targeting the poor and is targeting minori
ties, but it’s blatantly unconstitutional as a poll tax,” said
Hattersley. “The will of the voters is clear, and this bill is
trying to circumvent that.”
Grant shot back at Hattersley as he made his final argu
ments for the bill.
Republican Steve King:
Katrina victims only asked
for help, unlike lowans
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Republican Steve King says he was told
that victims of Hurricane Katrina only asked for help, unlike people
in his home state of Iowa, who “take care of each other.”
The Iowa congressman told a town hall meeting in Charter Oak
he visited New Orleans multiple times after the deadly 2005 storm.
Referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said:
“Here’s what FEMA tells me: We go to a place like New Orleans and
everybody’s looking around saying, 'Who’s gonna help me, who’s
gonna help me?’ When FEMA responds to problems in Iowa, they’re
just always gratified when they come and see how lowans take care
of each other.”
New Orleans is mostly black. The storm crossed the tip of Flor
ida and then swept into the Gulf of Mexico and over Louisiana and
Mississippi, causing more than 1,800 deaths and an estimated $108
billion in damage. It was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, ac
cording to the National Hurricane Center, with most of the fatalities
occurring in Louisiana after levees failed and 80 percent of the city
was flooded.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said that recent flooding in the state has
caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage. Reynolds sent a letter
asking President Donald Trump to quickly issue a disaster declara
tion for 57 counties in Iowa that have been severely impacted by
flooding.
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who was born in New Or
leans, responded to King in a statement saying, “His comments about
Katrina victims are absurd and offensive, and are a complete con
tradiction to the strength and resilience the people of New Orleans
demonstrated to the entire nation in the wake of the total devastation
they experienced.” Scalise’s district includes part of the city.
It was the latest slap from House Republican leaders to King. Ear
lier this year, they punished him for comments about race, most re
cently stripping King of his committee assignments.
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed.
The award was presented to Michaux by NCAE President Mark Jewell on Fri
day, March 22
Durham Politician, Civil Rights
Leader Mickey Michaux is the
Recipient of the 2019 NCAE
President’s Award
RALEIGH - Rep. Mickey Michaux, a fixture in the North Carolina General Assembly
for 43 years, is the 2019 recipient of the NCAE President’s Award, presented annu
ally to an individual or organization in recognition of outstanding work to advance the
cause of public education in North Carolina.
Michaux, who is retiring from elected office, was encouraged to enter politics by the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He worked closely with the civil rights legend and
was responsible for inviting him to Durham in 1956. It would be the first of many
times that Dr. King stayed with Michaux when visiting North Carolina.
In the mid-1960s, Michaux entered several political races unsuccessfully, but begin
making a name for himself as civil rights activist. When he joined the Legislature, he
was the third African American ever elected. As a lawmaker, he crafted legislation
to merge the Durham city and county school systems, worked to acquire funding for
North Carolina Central University, his alma mater, and other historically black col
leges and universities, and was a tireless advocate for public education. As a member
of the General Assembly, he has served on the Subcommittee on Appropriations for
Education, the Pension and Retirement Committee, and Subcommittee on Education
for Universities.
As the longest serving member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Mich
aux is also a staunch supporter of voter rights, the rights of all people, and free speech.
“NCAE applauds Rep. Michaux for his many years of service to the people of North
Carolina, especially the students and educators of our public schools,” said NCAE
President Mark Jewell. “He has always been a champion for public education and for
that, we are most appreciative. He has dedicated his political career to ensuring that
North Carolina’s schools are places were students can be successful. We thank him for
unwavering commitment and know that the legacy he started so many years ago will
live on.”
The award was presented to Michaux by NCAE President Mark Jewell on Friday,
March 22, during the Association’s 49th Convention and Representative Assembly at
Justice Thomas
talks at court
arguments, 1st
time in 3 years,
Appears to Side
With White
Prosecutator
By Mark Sherman
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Supreme Court was about to ad
journ for the day when the Geor
gia baritone politely inquired of
the lawyer at the lectern.
Justice Clarence Thomas, the
court’s only African-American
member and lone Southerner,
was breaking a three-year si
lence at high court arguments
with a couple of questions in a
case about racial discrimination
in the South.
The case involves a black
Mississippi death row inmate
who’s been tried six times for
murder and a white prosecu
tor with a history of excluding
African-Americans from juries
by using peremptory strikes,
for which no explanation is re
quired. Prosecutor Doug Evans
excused five African-Americans
from the jury in inmate Curtis
Flowers’ sixth trial.
“Would you be kind enough
to tell me whether or not you
exercised any peremptories?”
Thomas asked Sheri Lynn John
son, Flowers’ Supreme Court
lawyer.
If so, Thomas wanted to
know, “What was the race of the
jurors?”
In Flowers’ sixth trial, John
son said, Flowers’ lawyer ex
cused three white jurors.
But the defense lawyer’s
“motivation is not the question
here. The question is the moti
vation of Doug Evans,” Johnson
said.
Even Thomas’ conserva
tive colleagues seemed to favor
Flowers in the course of the
hourlong session, and the jus
tice’s questions seemed intended
to show that both sides can be
conscious of race in jury selec
tion.
In a similar case from Geor
gia in 2016, Thomas was the
only dissenter when the court
ruled for a black Georgia inmate.
Thomas wrote then that the Su
preme Court should not second-
guess a trial judge who initially
considered and rejected racial
discrimination claims.
Before March 20, Thomas’
last questions were in a case
about the reach of a federal law
that bans people convicted of
domestic violence from owning
guns. Those were his first ques
tions in 10 years.
He is the only justice who
does not regularly pose ques
tions from the bench. Thomas
has explained that he relies on
the written briefs and thinks his
colleagues interrupt lawyers too
often. As in 2016, he only piped
up after everyone else was done.