Powerful state senator fired American citizens, hired guest workers instead, lawsuit says

[Sancho]

Source: St. Petersburg Times

TALLAHASSEE — In the waning days of the 2011 legislative session, Sen. JD Alexander, one of the state's most powerful lawmakers, delivered an impassioned floor speech against a measure that would have required employers to check the immigration status of new hires.

Alexander, a Republican from Lake Wales, offered a firsthand account of housing guest workers from Mexico to help pick his crops.

"You can't get anybody to come do this stuff, folks. And it's the same thing, whether it's construction, or whether it's hotels. Americans don't want to do it," Alexander said moments before the Senate defeated the legislation, a top priority of Gov. Rick Scott.

Now, Alexander, who owns a farm in Polk County, is facing a lawsuit from two farmworkers who say he violated federal law by firing American citizens and green card holders and replacing them with guest workers.

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/article1190444.ece

---

Another crooked Florida Repub exposed...

[dkf]

1. Even more ironic...green card holder replaced by guest worker.

[tularetom]

2. Hate to say it but he's right - a scumbag but right

What has happened is that the illegals have depressed wages to the point where these jobs are no longer attractive to American citizens.

And therein lies the problem with any "jobs" program. Somebody needs to make sure that these jobs go to American citizens. By putting all the public works jobs under the Davis Bacon Act and assuring that "prevailing wages" are paid on all government contracts.

[BeliQueen]

3. Why do we keep blaming the people who are being exploited?

People act as if the undocumented workers are insisting on being paid less than minimum wage and won't accept a penny more.

When in reality, these businesses are firing documented workers so they can reap higher profits.

[tularetom]

5. It's not their fault - these wages look good to them

Of course it's the fault of people like Alexander but the problem exists regardless of who is responsible.

[MrMickeysMom]

22. I'm in agreement with this thing you say...

Part of the race to the bottom, in addition to NAFTA CAFTA and Korean trade agreements are how farmers are no longer farmers, and farming, the one things people will always continue to need has been industrialized by the same behemoth model.

Of COURSE, the power brokers in FL legislature are going to support the corporate model!

[fasttense]

29. There are NO Illegal Workers, Just Illegal Employers.

If employers would stop hiring undocumented workers, there would be no immigration problem. Oh there would still be a handful of desperate people who risk crossing the border but if they could NOT get jobs (even crappy slave-wage jobs) they would no remain long.

RepubliCONS want it both ways. They want the slave wages that undocumented workers are willing to take while at the same time they want to despise the people who making them billions.

[efhmc]

38. That is the root of the problem. The ironic thing about this is

that he outed himself.

[PatrynXX]

51. still called illegal

But.. you are right and it's really stupid. I've kinda flipped her and a bit biased now. Mainly because dads racism (tea party member. seriously they want to get rid of the Republicans. good in site if your dads a member. ) really shined during my cousins wedding almost a month ago. Technically on paper they married in early June because he's Hispanic and that makes it more final to marry in a courtroom. But he was born in Mexico. Caused a bit of a rift in doing that. Little did I know dad demanded at that time that no invitations to us be sent. I raised hell in July on that. It didn't look good no matter which side your on. She's family. So my brother and I (he's also a bit more Tea than I'd like) got them and went. Without the parents. HELLOOOOO!!!!!! hey dad that's not good refusing to go to your own Nieces wedding because he's from Mexico. Unlike some at least he's tried to do this legally. and all because he figured more hispanics would show up than white. (ironic since more whites showed up. I'd say there's a bit of racism on both sides of the aisle :( ) But he certainly made my last name look foolish. Got to know alot of good friends who liked all sorts of foods. Yucca plant? fried? might as well be french fries.. loved those. But had a great time. Almost had my brother won over but he's back to his old self. However this fiasco now has gotten my mother to doubt all the things she's heard from dad about my aunt (my cousins mother is jewish) But seriously I'm guessing although my other uncle on moms side says some dumb things like all anchor babies should be shot he still would have gone because she's family. It's simply not the best thing in the world to put your political beliefs above your family.

And we don't enforce the law. My uncle got fucked for not hiring illegals while the big contractors did. I would like to see them have a path to being made legal because what your getting is cheap illegal labor and really badly built houses. I don't want that. My uncle was tired of fixing upside down windows and doors. And illegals aren't just Hispanic. So thats a racist idea to begin with. We have a large Bosnian / Croation population here. Some aren't legal. Some who went thru it legally really don't appreciate those who don't. The Dream Act is a fairly good idea. Wish they would pass that, but in the meantime when we go out and enforce the law and go after corporations who do hire illegals. There is usually an uproar from the otherside. So ICE gets a bad name. What they are simply doing their job for once.

[roody]

12. 'Illegal' is not a noun.

[harmonicon]

16. +1 nt

[Confusious]

17. The beauty of the English language

You can use any word how you want.

I can use the word "vegetable" as a noun, verb, adjective, etc

You can also use the word "illegal" as a noun, verb, adjective, etc

[lauramolina]

18. Why, 'cause you say it is?

Stop using the "I" word to dehumanize undocumented workers!

[Confusious]

20. No. Because it is. if you actually took the time to look.

But I don't think you ever do.


And no to your second statement. Is it dehumanizing because you say it is? I don't think it is, and I think you actually cheapen things that "dehumanize" people when you use it in this case.

I don't like or need your political correctness. Just another authoritarian trying to force people to do what they want, this time by calling names.

If I don't agree with you, I'm a racist, or dehumanizing people, etc, etc, etc....

I know the game, I see it plenty around here. Time for a new one, the old one is getting stale....

[donquijoterocket]

44. but IMO

Nothing's quite as old and stale as that "political correctness" tag.Says the same thing as your so victim of racist, de-humanizing call-out thing.

[Confusious]

45. IMO is redundant

Pretty much everything is an opinion around here.

Political correctness is alive and well, Mahr even ended his program talking about it a few weeks ago. Maybe old, maybe stale, but still going, still used as a way to shut people up.

The rest of your post makes no sense.

[stlsaxman]

36. This whole thing makes me want to vegetable...

but i don't know how to vegetable, never having vegetabled before.

Have you ever vegetabled? how do i vegetable?

:eyes:

[Confusious]

42. Someday it will be the new slang

and accepted as normal

[Confusious]

48. As an example

This whole thing makes me want to puke

but I don't know how to puke, never having puked before

have you puked? how do I puke?

It sounds even better with the F word.

[stlsaxman]

56. "... even better with the F word" as in-

This whole thing makes me want to vegetable

but I don't know how to vegetable, never having vegetabled before

have you vegetabled? how do I vegetable?

so, f--k you...

is that what you meant?

[Confusious]

57. Don't play stupid

You know that's not what I meant.

If you're not playing, I'm sorry about your disability.

[dotymed]

15. Davis Bacon at the least.

The opportunity to organize a Union also.

Bring BACK the taxes on the wealthy. They are job destroyers...anything for a profit.

[yourout]

19. I heard the wealthy are forming AFBPAC. Anything For a Buck.....PAC.

[wordpix]

58. they already have a PAC like that, it's called the US Congress

[obxhead]

41. "Illegals" often work for below min wage.

If we enforced current laws and forced these positions to be at least min wage legal workers would line up to fill these jobs.

The only way he's right is that Americans don't want to work below the federally mandated minimum wage. Its not fair to be paid less than the law demands.

[spooky3]

53. He's NOT correct. Many Americans would be happy to do the work at a fair, living rate of pay.

It has nothing to do with "wanting" or "not wanting" to do the work. It has to do with the pay rate and working conditions.

[Fuddnik]

4. And, this asshole is Katherine Harris's cousin.

Another inherited, rich, entitled fundie piece of shit.

[kag]

9. I'm shocked...

not.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[MrMickeysMom]

23. Rotten pieces of fruit, they are...

Katherine's daddy... Good God.... Who would have thought what was once a citrus empire should just now burn down, replaced with REAL citrus farms.

Someone please kick their ass out of Florida, they're all connected rotten pieces of fruit.

[Sancho]

6. these guys are the worst!!

:dem:

[seafan]

7. Powerful Florida state senator fired American citizens, hired guest workers instead, lawsuit says

Source: St. Petersburg Times

TALLAHASSEE — In the waning days of the 2011 legislative session, Sen. JD Alexander, one of the state's most powerful lawmakers, delivered an impassioned floor speech against a measure that would have required employers to check the immigration status of new hires.

Alexander, a Republican from Lake Wales, offered a firsthand account of housing guest workers from Mexico to help pick his crops.

"You can't get anybody to come do this stuff, folks. And it's the same thing, whether it's construction, or whether it's hotels. Americans don't want to do it," Alexander said moments before the Senate defeated the legislation, a top priority of Gov. Rick Scott.

Now, Alexander, who owns a farm in Polk County, is facing a lawsuit from two farmworkers who say he violated federal law by firing American citizens and green card holders and replacing them with guest workers.


Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/article1190444.ece

---

JD Alexander is one of the most corrupt members of the Florida legislature.

He is one of two powerful leaders who will benefit from Rick Scott's approval of SunRail commuter rail after Scott destroyed the shovel-ready high-speed rail project for Florida. Alexander and one of his legislative cohorts just happen to own property close to CSX rail lines that are a part of Scott's deal for SunRail.


JD Alexander also pushed through stealth legislation, over industry uproar, radically changing the Florida Citrus Code, which governs the Citrus Department and its overseeing body, the Citrus Commission. This move infuriated members of Florida's largest citrus-growers group, as it took them by complete surprise. Ol' JD owns a few acres of citrus himself; it's probably quite useful to use his power to rewrite the rules to his own ultimate benefit, you see.


JD Alexander also pursued legislation opening up Florida offshore drilling during a time of widespread public outrage. That Big Oil money that would flow into his campaign coffers must have looked good to JD.


And when the lavish Taj Mahal courthouse funding came to light, in a time of great economic hardship for Floridians, there was old JD, along with Marco Rubio and many others, hailed as "heroes" for their grand push to pour taxpayers' money into the mahogany and granite and private bathrooms and workout rooms for the appellate judges who would call the new courthouse home.



And now, JD Alexander is being sued for firing American workers on his farm, and replacing them with guest workers who would only be allowed to work for him, or be forced back to their original impoverished country.

"Guest workers only can work for one employer, the one who got them their Visa. So they're less likely to complain," Schell said. "They want to hire the young motivated Mexican whose choice is to work here or go back to Third World poverty." Link

Floridians deserve better than JD Alexander.



JD Alexander has repeatedly abused his position in Florida's government to enrich himself mightily. And he should be removed from that position of power.

[madfloridian]

8. Seafan, post this in GD. I keep trying to respond, but can't.

They moved it.

[seafan]

10. Thanks, I will do so. n/t

[lovelyrita]

11. What a crock! I live in Polk County, not far from Lake Wales,

people here need jobs and would certainly pick oranges.

[Initech]

13. What a douchebag.

[Hubert Flottz]

14. What he means is...

He can't get Americans to work for almost nothing.

[whathehell]

21. So tired of hearing this: "You can't get Americans to do this"..Bullshit..Pay them an American wage

and they WILL do it..Hell, at this point, pay them a SEMI-American wage and they will.

May the American workers who were fired win their suit.

[lauramolina]

40. They won't hire American workers to do this

They'd rather have undocumented workers who won't organize a union or sue them when they break safety and labor laws.

[whathehell]

43. Correct....Something similar might be occuring with the HB-1 Visas.n/t

[w0nderer]

24. k&r for reading later n/t

[mother earth]

25. Same old rouse...paving the way to downgrade any wage.

[SpiralHawk]

26. Republicon Family Cesspool Values Against America

as usual

[Pacifist Patriot]

27. crooked and Florida Repub strikes me as a bit redundant.

Just sayin' ;-)

[lunatica]

28. He said he can't get legals to work, yet he 'fired them' to get illegals to work

What a fuck.

[Sancho]

30. I see this repeated all over the state...

not just on farms. Labor jobs at the waterfront, hotels, restaurants, roofers...basically, the big employers do whatever is cheapest. They do not want a path to citizenship. They do not want a legal worker. They do not want an organized worker. If they could get away with it, they would have slaves.

The repubs are protecting the system that they exploit. This lawsuit is interesting to me because I think it could be documented all over the state, so maybe an avalanche of parallel court challenges would embarrass the JD Alexanders and also help change the abuse.

[Enthusiast]

31. Florida must be chock full of crooked Republicans.

It is unbelievable that the Republican brand hasn't become synonymous with corruption in that state.

[Roland99]

32. All the way to the top with pRick Scott.

[Vinca]

33. A greedy, crooked Republican? What's the "news" part?

[Javaman]

34. seems like this asshole wants to bring back "the good old days" of slavery.

what a fucking asshole.

[The Backlash Cometh]

35. Here's how we take the upper hand.

The tide has turned, at least on the subject of putting Americans back to work. So we hit them over the head with their unpatriotic choices and their greed. If they insist they have the right to hire cheaper labor, we can say yes you can, but you shouldn't be leading us.

[gtar100]

37. He didn't finish his sentence. "...Americans don't want to do it..."

For low pay, no rights, no health care, long days, get-sick-we'll-fire-you, all wrapped in an oppressive work environment. Hmmm... why hire Americans when you can promise guest workers the moon, bring them here, treat them like shit, pay them worth shit, and if they cause any problems send them back. Hmmm...

[spooky3]

54. exactly

[fascisthunter]

39. why does he hate america...

or should I say the US? When you hire within your own country, you help that country's economy by giving folks a decent wage so they can spend.

[oldbitty]

46. So I wasn't the only one that notice

He had to "fire American workers" because they didn't want to do the work?

What a surprise. Another Republican that's out of touch with reality.

[aggiesal]

47. Here is what he's really saying ...

"You can't get anybody to come do this stuff {for the salary I'm paying}, folks. And it's the same thing, whether it's construction, or whether it's hotels. Americans don't want to do it {for the salary being paid}, ..."

[oldbitty]

49. But to frame it properly for the simpleton pukes

you have to show them he fired the very people he claims don't want the jobs. This is the most ridiculous part of the whole scenario. He had Americans working the jobs and fired them. He has no leg to stand on claiming that Americans won't do the work.

[aggiesal]

50. I'll bet they were demanding a living wage! n/t

[progressoid]

52. +1

[spooky3]

55. agree--or rephrase as "Americans CAN'T do it at the rate he's paying"

because they expect to have a decent standard of living without having to share tiny spaces with multiple relatives and friends, don't have the threat of deportation hanging over them, etc.

Why don't the media call him on this???