Jason Henry, candidate for the Florida House, representing District 39, issued the following statement today, on the 2012 Florida Legislative session.
Over the past 80-plus days, the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature and office of the Governor has attacked public education as well as the rights of homeowners, students and workers, just to name a few. These elected officials have assaulted the future of Florida’s youth by lambasting the public education system and those who educate our children under the guise of attempting to give parents more of a say in how failing schools are recovered.
Republicans also tried to privatize prisons, a measure that died in the State Senate, and attempted to add more government oversight into our daily lives by legislating what some Floridians are allowed to eat.
Simply put: The 2012 Florida Legislative session was a complete and utter failure.
For all of the Republican barking about less government and more independence for the state’s citizens, members of the state GOP did the exact opposite during this past session. The Florida House, along with a Senate panel, passed a bill that will allow state agencies to randomly drug test its employees. There is no evidence that Florida state employees abuse drugs, but Republicans are hell bent on attacking public employees any way they can.
State workers are our husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons and they deserve to serve the State of Florida with dignity and respect. Republicans continue to treat them like second-class citizens.
Florida is in peril, as evidenced by the state’s high unemployment and foreclosure rate. Minorities are still struggling to find jobs in Florida’s tough economy, specifically African-Americans. According to a report by the Economic Policy Institute, Florida is projected to have a 16 percent unemployment rate for African-Americans through the fourth quarter.
A recent 2011 Annual Report by The Florida Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, commissioned by Attorney General Pam Bondi and released Jan. 27, sheds light on the injustices that black males face in our state – and will continue to face – under continued Republican rule.
“Unfortunately, this report reveals and exposes educational, economic, criminal justice and health status inequality that reduces the quality of life for black men and boys in Florida,” wrote Council Chairman Eddy M. Regnier PhD. “In the past four years, the Council has made recommendations to address these disparities, and today most of these recommendations remain unfulfilled.”
Chairman Regnier notes, continuing problems like the, “overrepresentation of black males in the criminal justice system, poor educational opportunities, unequal economic status, unemployment and under employment, and consequences of health disparities.”
The public sector is the nation’s largest employer of African-American men, and attacking the rights of state workers is essentially an attack on many minority workers. The struggle has been hard enough on minorities and making the path to find – and ultimately keep – employment much tougher for these hard workers, is strong slap in the face.
We are supposed to look to our leaders for vision and guidance, not diffident leadership and rearward direction. If we continue to elect Republicans to local, state, and federal office, our fate is in the hands of a party who places the needs of industry and commerce over that of humanity.
Democrats, on the other hand, continue to stand up for workers, organized labor, minorities and the rights of all citizens across this great country. Yes, we support business and economic growth, but true American success can’t come at the expense of the many to enrich just a few.
Let’s remind them why we sent these politicians to Tallahassee in the first place this August and November: To fully represent the needs and rights of the people, not a singular, destructive party ideology that defaults at all times to corporate interests.
Jason Henry is a candidate for the Florida House, representing District 39.
