The League of Women Voters of Florida has hired Marty Monroe as its lobbyist for the 2018 Legislative Session. Monroe has worked in the Florida Department of Education as a regional coordinator, and was a part-time lobbyist for the Florida Association on Aging/Florida Council on Aging, a press release said.
The Florida Supreme Court has asked Gov. Rick Scott to respond to a lawsuit claiming he doesn’t have authority to appoint three new justices on the last day of his term. The court on Friday gave Scott till July 5 to file a response, with the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVF) and Common Cause having a July 17 deadline to reply to Scott’s filing. The organizations this week filed a petition for “writ of quo warranto,” a court action against government…
When Gov. Rick Scott appointed a conservative jurist to the state’s Supreme Court in December, he made clear he wasn’t done. “I will appoint three more justices the morning I finish my term,” he said, referring to the mandatory retirement in early 2019 of the court’s liberal-leaning triumvirate of Justices Barbara Pariente, Peggy A. Quince and R. Fred Lewis. Now, two progressive organizations are saying to Scott: Prove you can. They say he can’t. The League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVF)…
The head of the League of Women Voters of Florida said Monday that “a lack of transparency” still plagues the state’s Constitution Revision Commission. In a letter to chairman Carlos Beruff and commissioners, LWVF President Pamela Goodman added concerns over “potential roadblocks to meaningful public engagement, potential for leverage and influence over commission members, and a less than robust respect for the Sunshine Rules.” The commission, which convenes every 20 years to hold public hearings, then review and suggest changes to the…
A coalition of progressive interests, including the League of Women Voters of Florida, on Wednesday chided the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) for leaving the public in the dust—and in the dark. A CRC spokeswoman, however, later said its “No. 1 priority is to ensure that the public is actively involved and engaged.” Pamela Goodman, the League’s president in Florida, spoke at a news conference on the steps of the old Capitol in Tallahassee. The commission, which meets every 20 years to review…
The League of Women Voters of Florida celebrated blocking a trio of gun bills considered by lawmakers in the 2016 Legislative Session, including one that would have allowed concealed weapons on college campuses. “Our joint forces succeeded in killing these bad bills this year,” said Patti Brigham, LWVF’s newly appointed 1st vice president and the founder of the group’s statewide Gun Safety Committee. “We remain determined to keep Florida’s colleges and universities gun-free zones, and our state safe from other reckless…
Florida is one of only three states left in the country that takes away ex-felons’ voting rights for life. More than 1.6 million Floridians cannot vote, hold office or serve on a jury, according to The Sentencing Project, a prison-reform group. Democrats in the Florida Legislature have railed for years against what they call this injustice, but have nothing to show for their efforts. Things did change in 2007, when the clemency board under then Gov. Charlie Crist began to automatically…
