Appeal for legal help you will love to give, I hope . . .

[BillyDoc]

Some of us in Florida had a crazy idea, inspired by a 2002 citizen’s initiative to Protect Pregnant Pigs. (Really!) We thought at first that this pig thing was about protecting Jeb, but genetic evidence did not support this hypothesis . . . it really was about protecting pregnant pigs . . . and it passed!

What, we wondered, would happen if we had a citizen’s initiative that prohibited bribery? You know, REAL bribery, like corporations use to buy politicians with. (Only they usually call it something else, like a “campaign contribution.”) It has become pretty obvious that our elected officials will have nothing to do with reform of this sort, because after all, that’s how THEY got elected. They took the bribes and continue to bend over for their corporate masters whenever asked so they can get more. I can’t fault them too much for this, as it really is the only way they could possibly get elected.

Anyway, it turns out that a lot of things we progressives don’t care for very much would go away if corporations couldn’t buy politicians. Like, for example, this little misguided war we are in with Iraq. Would we be there if Haliburton and a few others hadn’t pooled their money and bought themselves a little Drug-soaked Fascist Frat Boy to front for them? And how about all the environmental damage the Big Boys do when they “externalize” their costs by dumping their crap in our back yards for us to clean up. That would all go away overnight if we had real, independent representatives who actually represented the citizens, like they are supposed to!

So we put up a web page to promote this idea at http://BreakTheLink.org and we already have a pretty good rough draft of an amendment tailored for Florida. Our problem now is that we can’t seem to get any help with the legal stuff. We have asked a half-dozen Florida lawyers, and let me tell you the dust they kick up getting out of there could be used to plant potatoes in when it settles. We have been trying this for over a month now, with no luck. So, I’m asking you for that help. I think we can do this in spite of the lack of help from professionals. (And, in fairness to the lawyers, I can think of a bunch of very good reasons why they would not want to have their name associated with this little project. But, hey, you can log in as a “guest” and donate some of that pro bono stuff . . . we don’t need to know who you are!) If you want to give it a shot, just go to the Forum page on http://BreakTheLink.org and look in the “Sorting out the Amendment language” section. We even have links to the last 5 years of Florida Supreme Court opinions on various citizen’s initiatives there, and these opinions are very instructive. In fact, I think you can learn everything you really need to know about this subject from those opinions.

I know that we have failed in our efforts so far, because nobody has called us names yet. But if we can get this thing together and make it fly . . . who is going to vote to support bribery?

Oh, and I forgot to mention that there are 24 states with initiative laws, plus the District of Columbia . . . and there are provisions for all of them on http://BreakTheLink.org. Assuming we can get an actual honest election (doubtful at present, I admit) this could put a real crimp in our Fascist Friends little program of greed and looting. And, we don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do it, we just do it!

Here is a draft of our Florida version of the amendment:


PROHIBITING BRIBERY OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND PERSONS SEEKING PUBLIC OFFICE

We, the Citizens of Florida, hold that Public Officials representing and governing the Citizens of Florida cannot accept Bribes without accruing the taint of dishonor and the burden of bias; and further, that the offering of said Bribes in order to influence the performance of the official duties of said Public Officials, or the accepting of said Bribes, constitutes such extreme treachery against the Citizens of Florida that all parties convicted of said Bribery shall be punished by a mandatory minimum prison term of one year plus any additional corrective action a competent court of law shall deem prudent.

For the purposes of this Amendment:

(1) The following expressions shall have the indicated definitions and may be used in the singular or plural: "Bribe" means: Anything given or serving to persuade or induce. "Bribery" means: The act or practice of giving or accepting a Bribe. “Public Official” means: any person seeking or holding elected public office.

(2) A Bribe does not include information, or media necessary to transmit information, if said media has a monetary value less than $100 and said information is generally available to the public. Information which is not generally available to the public, and is of monetary or other valuable consideration to the recipient of said information, when said recipient is a Public Official, will be construed as a Bribe if acted upon in any way by said recipient other than to initiate appropriate legal action against the offeror of said information.

(3) The guilt of a person charged with Bribery shall be established if the fact of a transfer of money or other valuable consideration from an individual to a Public Official is established beyond a reasonable doubt, and said transfer of money or other valuable consideration is not part of said Public Official’s usual wages, or earnings from investments, or a gift from a spouse or the like, or fair market value received for the sale of properties and the like.

(4) Any transfer of money or other valuable consideration that could be construed as a Bribe under this Amendment will be excepted from all provisions of this Amendment if the fact is established beyond a reasonable doubt that said transfer did not or will not influence the recipient with regard to the performance of their official duties.

This Amendment supersedes and renders moot any and all previous legislation that provides exceptions to any Bribery legislation affecting Public Officials, or that may have the legal effect of allowing Bribery of Public Officials for any purpose whatsoever.

This Amendment shall become effective on the day following approval by the electors of the State of Florida.

[laylah]

1. kickin' it because

this is important and those here COULD be of help if they only so choose!

Jenn