Corrine Delivers: Quick-Picks 2015...

[Jimmy]

Well, as usual, Representative Corrine Brown has decided to bless (or curse, depending on your viewpoint) the electorate of Duval County with her suggested candidate list.  Based on what I've been hearing over the last few weeks, there are no surprises here, save for in District 8, which must have quite the story behind the snubbing of both PLF and Terry Fields.

A.G. Gancarski is knocking it out of the park this year with his reporting. 

CORRINE BROWN'S "QUICK PICKS" ARE OUT NOW FOR NO-INFORMATION DUVAL VOTERS

The Jacksonville election is less than four weeks away, and early voting starts in less than two. Most Jacksonville voters have been inundated with mailers and by radio and TV ads. But if you're one of those Jacksonville voters without a mailbox or any electronic media capabilities, you might still lack information on how to vote. No worries! Representative Corrine Brown has you hooked up, with "Corrine's Quick Picks".

For those who read our site's piece on the St. Paul AME Forum that Mayor Alvin Brown and Bill Bishop were not part of (as both men had schedule conflicts that precluded attendance), you might remember Denise Lee telling voters not to choose candidates from a "slip of paper someone gives you". Below, you will see the slip of paper she was talking about.

I'll spoil the suspense. The perpetual Congresswoman, a Democrat, endorses Democrats in every race. The interesting part of this old-school "voter education" document comes when she has to pick between Democrats.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/9379

Click the link for the full rundown, for what it's worth...

[coredumped]

Worst elected official in the area. If it weren't for gerrymandering she would be unemployed.

[strider]

What I find problematic is this :  "Florida Law Allows you to take this information with you into the voting booth". It may be legal, but in my mind, it is obvious that this is indeed another way "Corrine Delivers" and she delivers votes in part by providing a pre-marked ballot as a template on how she wants her people to vote. If she really just wanted to share her thoughts, it would not be exactly like the actual ballot but a simple list.  It would be interesting if there was a way to see how many of these did indeed get carried into the voting booths and how they arrived at the polls. 

[Jimmy]

A lot of them get carried into voting booths in Districts 7, 8, 9, and 10.  And maybe now in District 1 after reapportionment changed the demographics of that district considerably. 

Many are distributed informally at churches.  In the most heavily-trafficked precincts in the above districts, a volunteer or other person hands them out to people coming in to vote.  (So long as they stay 100 feet from the entrance to the polling place, electioneering is legal.)

strider, I don't think the Congresswoman wants to share thoughts; she and her political folks want to share their picks.  I wish she would share her thoughts and give people context and some supporting factors other than "Corrine says so." It's hard to paint with such a broad brush and get the best result.  I disagree with Mrs. Brown on Mayor, but agree on Supervisor of Elections. She gets many of these wrong based on blind partisanship that has no place in an election with no party primary.  There's a lot of nuance that gets lost.

I make a list of preferred candidates and share them informally with friends and family -- but I always explain my reasons for selecting, not selecting, or jointly selecting.

Everything I've done this election cycle has been about educating voters and helping them make a more informed decision.  That's what the Jax Young Voters Coalition is up to.  It's what the Northeast Florida LGBT Leadership PAC is up to.  Deeper dives into statements and records.  The best candidate survey in Jacksonville.  Nuance, information, and support for a better outcome.  I wish everyone involved in electoral politics would agree to those ground rules.

[Jimmy]

She's a person, not an organization.  Organizations have to file reports and adhere to election laws.  I'm not sure individuals are held to the same standards.

[Jimmy]

That's a pretty big difference.  Others would be: endorsements by groups are made after some mechanism for collecting information.  Such as surveys, questionnaires, or something along those lines.  Some groups make it a point to meet in person with every endorsee and have one on one discussions of issues.  Another difference: there's usually an explanation as to why a certain candidate was endorsed.  When the LGBT PAC endorsed, we explained the reasons behind the endorsements and talked about our process in a press conference. 

[Jimmy]

You could be.  But the groups that I work with who make endorsements don't want you to be.

[Jimmy]

Meh.  That sounds odd.  If you don't want me to also trust your judgement, why should I bother with your endorsements at all?

That's why I made the point about process.  I don't mind if people trust my judgment, but I want them to know how I arrived at it.  Some people will want to know that background; others, I suspect, won't.  But I want them to.

[tufsu1]

What I find problematic is this :  "Florida Law Allows you to take this information with you into the voting booth". It may be legal, but in my mind, it is obvious that this is indeed another way "Corrine Delivers" and she delivers votes in part by providing a pre-marked ballot as a template on how she wants her people to vote. If she really just wanted to share her thoughts, it would not be exactly like the actual ballot but a simple list.  It would be interesting if there was a way to see how many of these did indeed get carried into the voting booths and how they arrived at the polls. 

I see nothing wrong with people or organizations making voting recommendations as Corrine does.  People should be able to take this into the voting booth, as they can with other sample ballots.  At the end of the day, everyone's votes are their individual privilege and responsibility.

[strider]

What I find problematic is this :  "Florida Law Allows you to take this information with you into the voting booth". It may be legal, but in my mind, it is obvious that this is indeed another way "Corrine Delivers" and she delivers votes in part by providing a pre-marked ballot as a template on how she wants her people to vote. If she really just wanted to share her thoughts, it would not be exactly like the actual ballot but a simple list. It would be interesting if there was a way to see how many of these did indeed get carried into the voting booths and how they arrived at the polls. 

I see nothing wrong with people or organizations making voting recommendations as Corrine does.  People should be able to take this into the voting booth, as they can with other sample ballots.  At the end of the day, everyone's votes are their individual privilege and responsibility.

Yeah that's a nice sentiment...though I suspect that if we knew for sure the result of finding out how many, where and how these arrived at the voting booth, you may feel differently.  There is a good reason it is a duplicate of the ballot rather than a simple list of names. And it is much different than the sample ballot one receives in the mail from the Supervisor of Elections, you know, the one that presents all the info on all the candidates and does not show any of them voted for....so that you can make up your own mind....rather than just vote as marked.

But honestly, we reap what we sow and we have apparently sown a predominately poorly informed voting public in many precincts so we deserve what we get. 

[Cheshire Cat]

Hi Guys.  I addressed all of this and more regarding electioneering, the law and Corrine's pics on the following link and have much more to add as the result of lengthy conversations with the State and Federal Elections office investigative officers.  Will do that later but now am busy putting my pics on various threads back up because my imgur crashed.

Where the above is discussed here on the forum :   



So what does the above image represent?  It is a picture of an electioneering tool used by Congresswoman Corrine Brown which is listed on her website http://www.corrineforcongress.com/quick-picks.  My guess is that many people are totally unaware of this website, her QP lists and how she uses them to influence elections in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Orlando, Seminole and Putnam counties.  She releases them as a representation of what Corrine Brown is "thinking" about a particular election.  There is no mistaking the fact that the list looks ballot like.  The names of those individuals Corrine has decided should be elected to office in any given district are indicated by a filled in voting box. She announces that her quick pic forms are allowed by law to be taken into the voting booth with you.  At the bottom of her quick pick is the following disclaimer: Paid for by The Friends of Corrine Brown Campaign Committee.  In this case my focus will be on Jacksonville elections and the above quick pic practice. 

Is this legal you may ask?  Yes it is.  There is even a handbook put out by the state that discusses electioneering.  It is called "Electioneering Communication Organization Handbook". You can view it at,  http://election.dos.state.fl.us/publications/pdf/2014/2014_ECO_Handbook.pdf.  The hand book sets out the parameters for electioneering and the parameters of lawful practice while electioneering.  Now here is the thing about Corrine Brown's quick pics and the law.  Chapter 4, titled Electioneering Communications Organization pg 3 (Chapter 106 Florida Statutes appendix B) Requires the creation of an "Elections Communications Organization", other than a political party or political committee.  Apparently Corrine is not following those laws.  How so you may ask?

If we look at the quick pic form used by Corrine you will see this statement at the bottom: Paid for by the Friends of Corrine Brown Campaign Committee.  So her statement is that she has followed Fla electioneering laws and her quick pic is presented under this named committee.  I set about checking the Fla Department  of State Division of elections records to see if Ms. Browns committee exists and is current using the Elections Committee Organization ECO first and then every other possible combination I could think of during the records search.  Here is what I found and the only thing on record that is named anything close to the committee Corrine has on her quick pic form.

Quote

Friends of Corrine Brown 

Type:    Political Committee
Status:    Closed
Address:    12055 Saverio Lane
Jacksonville, FL 32225
Phone:    (251)490-6211
Chairperson:    Gloria Simmons
11607 Longwood Key Drive
West
Jacksonville, FL 322180000
Treasurer:    Gloria Simmons
11607 Longwood Key Drive
West
Jacksonville, FL 322180000
Registered Agent:    Gloria Simmons
11607 Longwood Key Drive West
Jacksonville, FL 322180000
Purpose:     
Affiliates:   

You will notice that this is listed as a "Political Committee" which is not in keeping with the Florida State requirements and that it is closed and apparently has been closed since 2007

Now this raises a number of concerns.  Corrine has a website for quick picks that still lists her pics from 2014.  But it appears there was no lawful committee in place when she made those pics or any since 2007.  It that is true we have a problem.  There is no listing in State records for the organization Corrine lists on her ballot pic document. If it exists and has for years why doesn't is show up in the records using any related search or search combination?

But it goes deeper still.  What those who do not vote in districts 7,8,9 & 10 don't know is that Corrine's quick pics are highly prized by candidates running in those races.  It is said that in order to get on her quick pics the candidate must be someone she feels is in line with her political views and method of doing business.  Here is where it gets really murky and questionable.  For the past few years folks in those districts have been "telling" me about the practice and this is what I have heard from some seeking office in the past and currently but are unwilling to put their name to the accusation.  Likely because doing so would also be an indictment of their own character.  It has been suggested over and over again that if you as a candidate are not anointed to be on Corrine's list of pics it would be helpful if you were to offer some sort of monetary compensation to be placed there. These suggestions do not come from Corrine herself but allegedly from one of her many operatives or associates. Plausible denial? Maybe.  The amounts I have been told were suggested to candidates reflect thousands of dollars.  If the money is not possible, then the claim is, it may become an exchange of things less tangible, like support for a specific agenda etc. All of this of course remains nothing more than here say and it is being shared as such.  Until someone brave enough steps forward and tells their personal candidate story this will remain an unproven claim.  However a look at Corrine's history which include fines for campaign violations it seems at least plausible.  Why would a candidate do this?  It's simple really, a positive association with Corrine Brown can be very profitable once elected as well as the potential for other powerful connections.  I will be offering some future posts about those close to Corrine who profit in finances and goods with links to the information.   Here is one to begin with. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/all-in-the-family-2/

Quote
From the above link:  Brown's campaign committee paid her daughter's husband, Tyree Fields, $5,500 for political consulting work in 2006.

A congressional ethics committee investigated Brown in 1999 after a $50,000 Lexus purchased by African banker Karim Pouye was registered to Shantrel Brown.

Brown failed to disclose a $10,000 donation from a secret Wisconsin bank account that her friend Baptist leader Henry J. Lyons allegedly used for money laundering during her 1996 re-election campaign. The House Ethics Committee eventually cleared Brown.

Brown paid a $5,000 fine to the Florida Ethics Commission in 1993 after it found she used legislative staff members as employees in a travel agency she owned.

In another instance, Brown's campaign treasurer quit after discovering his name had been forged on campaign reports, leading to a rebuke from the Federal Elections Commission.

and this from the same article:



A nonprofit connected to Rep. Corrine Brown (D., Fla.) and run by a local political power player over billed Medicaid by nearly $1.4 million, the Florida Times-Union reported.

According to an audit by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, the Community Rehabilitation Center in Jacksonville overbilled Medicaid by nearly $1.4 million. Reggie Gaffney, a former Jacksonville Port Authority board member, runs the nonprofit, which provides medical services for mental illness, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS for low-income residents.

Brown's daughter, Shantrel, is a lobbyist for Arlington-based Alcade and Fay, whose clients include the nonprofit. Community Rehabilitation Center has paid $185,000 to Alcalde and Fay since 2005.

Such arrangements aren't unusual in Congress. According to a 2012 report by government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 44 members have family members who lobby or are employed in government affairs.

Brown requested nearly $3 million in earmarks for the Community Rehabilitation Center between 2008 and 2010, when Congress banned earmarks, the Florida Times-Union reported in 2010.

Of those requests, Congress approved $147,000. However, the tax dollars did not go directly to the nonprofit health center, but rather "streetscape improvements and renovation" for Pearl Plaza, the shopping center in Jacksonville where the nonprofit is located.

Gaffney and several other Community Rehabilitation Center executives own three for-profit businesses that lease space in the plaza.

Gaffney and the health center did not immediately return request for comment, but in 2010 he said that the for-profit businesses provided job training.

When the connection between Gaffney, Brown, and her daughter was revealed by the Florida Times-Union in 2010, Gaffney said he was "unaware of Ms. Shantrel Brown's involvement with securing funding for the agency."

Gaffney has contributed $5,300 to Brown since 2003. Brown's office did not return requests for comment.[/quote]




Beyond all of the above there is the reason why I am sharing this information.  It is so that the public can be educated as to how politics goes down in Jacksonville and to point out again the fact that so many people go to the polls and are uneducated about the candidates.  In the case of those using Corrine's quick pics they simply take her word when it comes to choosing a candidate.  She indicates who to vote for with no background or information shared about the candidate.  That is a good part of the reason that voters in these districts continue to find themselves with representation that takes care of their business obligations at one level and the business of the people falls in line behind that.

Why should they care if the use Corrine's quick pics.  A look at these numbers recently shared in a Time Union article are one good reason to question following Corrine's lead.  In the decades of her time in office these are the stats for many of her constituents.

Quote
Anyone trying to connect with voters this year might keep in mind these benchmarks of how different Jacksonville looks, depending on where people stand:
■ By 2013, unemployment had dipped to 7.5 percent for whites and 16.4 percent for blacks.
■ Household income for whites — the median was $55,035 by 2013 — was a world apart from the $31,911 median for black households and far higher than the $40,261 for Hispanic households.
General racial differences found all over Florida don't fully explain why; white incomes in Duval County were well above the median statewide, but black incomes were below that norm.
That's masked in overall numbers, with the county's $59,238 median family income standing a prosperous $2,500 above statewide levels.
■ Poverty is more common in Duval County than in the state overall, although just a little. From 2010 to 2013, the share of Duval residents living in poverty rose from 16.6 percent to 17.1 percent.
■ Whatever else happened with incomes, more and more people in Duval County have been signing up for food stamps, now known by the government acronym SNAP. From 2010 to last year, food-stamp enrollment rose from 162.5 per 1,000 people to 212.1 per 1,000, a 30 percent increase and well above the state norm of 187.1 per 1,000.
■ Education remains the clearest dividing point for earning power. The median income for someone with a bachelor's degree in Duval County was a bit under $45,000 a year, compared to a little more than $27,000 for someone with a high school diploma and no college.
By some basic benchmarks, Duval has been playing catch-up to the state in education — or trying to

For the article link,  http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,23661.0.html\

[Cheshire Cat]

What I find problematic is this :  "Florida Law Allows you to take this information with you into the voting booth". It may be legal, but in my mind, it is obvious that this is indeed another way "Corrine Delivers" and she delivers votes in part by providing a pre-marked ballot as a template on how she wants her people to vote. If she really just wanted to share her thoughts, it would not be exactly like the actual ballot but a simple list.  It would be interesting if there was a way to see how many of these did indeed get carried into the voting booths and how they arrived at the polls. 

Joe, I am actually speaking with investigators about this notion of info in voting booths.  There are statues that address that and there is one in particular that is open to further interpretation with regard to things that "are not" allowed in the voting booth.  When I next speak with the State Elections Directors office about the statue I will let you know what has been decided.

[Cheshire Cat]

A lot of them get carried into voting booths in Districts 7, 8, 9, and 10.  And maybe now in District 1 after reapportionment changed the demographics of that district considerably. 

Many are distributed informally at churches.  In the most heavily-trafficked precincts in the above districts, a volunteer or other person hands them out to people coming in to vote.  (So long as they stay 100 feet from the entrance to the polling place, electioneering is legal.)

strider, I don't think the Congresswoman wants to share thoughts; she and her political folks want to share their picks.  I wish she would share her thoughts and give people context and some supporting factors other than "Corrine says so." It's hard to paint with such a broad brush and get the best result.  I disagree with Mrs. Brown on Mayor, but agree on Supervisor of Elections. She gets many of these wrong based on blind partisanship that has no place in an election with no party primary.  There's a lot of nuance that gets lost.

I make a list of preferred candidates and share them informally with friends and family -- but I always explain my reasons for selecting, not selecting, or jointly selecting.

Everything I've done this election cycle has been about educating voters and helping them make a more informed decision.  That's what the Jax Young Voters Coalition is up to.  It's what the Northeast Florida LGBT Leadership PAC is up to.  Deeper dives into statements and records.  The best candidate survey in Jacksonville.  Nuance, information, and support for a better outcome.  I wish everyone involved in electoral politics would agree to those ground rules.

Jimmy how does this substantially differ from any other organization's endorsement list?

I differs because she is an elected official and is offering her material as paid for by Friends of Corrine Brown which is how her political machine is registered at the federal level.  There are laws and statues in Florida as well that outline what she must do in order to electioneer, which is different from public individuals or groups.

[Cheshire Cat]

I just wonder why the dems can't get their shit together and actually work as a unit here in jax.  Is Corrine really that hard to work with? Is she any more or less corrupt than our other national representation?

Her seat came as the result of an initiative by the Republican Party to overcome favorable gerrymandering by a Dem leader of the legislature, but to hear some retell the story, (meaning the usual anti 'black gerrymandering' suspects) you would think it was the by product of old democratic race politics (which it most certainly isn't)

What did Corrine do that pisses off the white dems so much in this town?

Is there some other reason why the black democrats in this town refuse to support white democrats?  Other than you know....Corrine's hammerlock on the no information voter bloc?

You mean what has angered Democrats beyond her working with State Republicans to gerrymander her district? Not only Dems in the district but by a judge who took on the Gerrymandered district and had plenty to say about her gerrymandering efforts?   On July 11, 2014, Florida Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis over threw the new district out and had this to say about Corrine (the judges words in bold: 

Corrine Brown has run this district for more than 20 years, last night Judge Terry Lewis thew the gerrymandered district out and Brown issued a blistering statement opposing the judge's ruling. As the Tampa Bay Times' Alex Leary describes in great detail, Brown partnered with Republicans to create that district in the 1990s. She's siding with them again in Florida's redistricting case, and it's easy to see the mutual benefit there: Brown gets a safe majority-minority district, while Republicans benefit from diluted minority representation in all the districts surrounding Brown's.

Florida Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis made the following statement:  In effect, she's choosing political self-interest over the interest of her party. Forty-seven percent of votes in Florida's House elections in 2012 went to Democratic candidates, but Democrats won only 39 percent of the state's House seats. This is partly because Democratic-leaning minority voters were concentrated heavily in District 5, and by extension underrepresented everywhere else.

Beyond this it is not just white Dem's that are fed up with her but rather a great deal of Jacksonville's black population are no longer quite so fond of Corrine and her manipulations in their districts.  Why not ask Denise Lee about these the next time you get a chance or Stanley "Doc" Scott who wrote a blistering letter about her to Times Union that was published in letters to the editor. Get another perspective. 

[Jimmy]

Yeah, what Diane said above.  My biggest problem with Congresswoman Brown is the gerrymandering stuff and is summarized well here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/01/this-is-the-best-explanation-of-gerrymandering-you-will-ever-see/?tid=sm_fb

I'm also distressed that she's endorsed a number of anti-gay candidates, including Councilwoman Kim Daniels.