EYE ON MIAMI

FPL: Malignant Actor in Florida … by gimleteye

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 14:36:00 +0000

This story in today’s Miami Herald is mind-blowing.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article263757423.html

So many unanswered questions, including this one: why is a FPL propaganda outlet fronting for Big Sugar when one of its senior executives in a board member of the target: the Everglades Foundation?

https://thecapitolist.com/what-is-the-everglades-foundation-hiding-the-capitolist-files-motion-to-unseal-secret-documents/

How can the Public Utilities Commission allow such blatant tampering of the public interest by a regulated, virtually monopolistic utility?

How can NextEra, the “parent” company of FPL, tolerate the off-the-reservation actions of its senior executives?

Congratulations to the Miami Herald for publishing this investigative report.

Maggy Hurchalla: She Understood The Assignment! … by gimleteye

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 20:49:00 +0000

Maggy Hurchalla, an environmental hero in Florida, died last weekend unexpectedly. We featured Maggy on our blog over the years. We wished the mainstream press and media had, too.

To read our work on Maggy, click here:

Maggy Hurchalla and Eye On Miami.

Her passing is a great loss. Below you'll find a blog post from January 2015. I hope Gov. Ron DeSantis takes time read it. He is in the Governor's Mansion in no small part because Florida environmentalists loudly returned his competitor, Adam Putnam, to the private sector.

Putnam is a wealthy farmer who owed his political life to Big Sugar. Environmentalists did not hesitate to let Florida voters know.

The reason Ron DeSantis should take the time to read about Maggy Hurchalla?

Because the Florida legislature is in the midst of another horrible legislative effort to give Big Sugar what it wants, when it wants. That's the battle Maggy Hurchalla fought. DeSantis should think a little bit about what she stood for.

Maggy understood what scientists claimed as loudly as they could afford to (and still be employed): that the only way to fix Florida's water woes and the Everglades was to purchase lands currently used to farm sugar, the most heavily subsidized crop in the United States.

Big Sugar had other plans. It felt the pressure and reacted. In 2017, the sugar industry used legislation proposed by Senate President Joe Negron to pass a horrible bill into law. A Trojan Horse. Classic.

The Negron legislation started out as a way to address the wicked toxic algae blooms exploding on both Florida coasts because Lake Okeechobee is managed within an inch of its life to accommodate Big Sugar.

The bill that eventually passed in 2017 included other horribles; for example, stripping state agencies from using eminent domain on sugar lands.

Maggy never gave up. She was as determined and smart and sharp and vigorous as they come. She knew the Everglades because she had lived them. She knew the Everglades because she loved them.

Maggy Hurchalla understood the assignment! God speed.

****

The following is the original blogpost from January 2015: "The attached OPED is by Maggy Hurchalla, Miami native and former Martin County commissioner, whose interview featured here; our first 'Achiever' of 2015. Read Maggie's OPED, next to my broadside earlier this week on Adam Putnam, Florida Secretary of Agriculture, and Big Sugar, the Great Destroyers of Florida.

Miami is as affected as any other part of the state by water policies favoring the Great Destroyers, but Miamians need to look up from their shoelaces, sandals, and Guccis and see that the water policies dramatically impacting the rest of the state also are central issues, right here.

When all the Everglades were good for, was draining

The bottom line: Big Sugar has to let go of central land holdings in order to protect the water supply affecting millions of Floridians and the dying Everglades. They will do this either as willing sellers or through eminent domain. They are strenuously resisting either.

Read my OPED on Putnam, to understand how Big Sugar is gaming the media, the system, and taxpayers, pointing in the direction of endless delay.

The Miami-Dade County Commission has been deathly silent on "sending the water south". Lots of money was made in Miami, representing Big Sugar in legal proceedings and selling farm equipment to the Everglades Agricultural Area.

The stakes are so high that continued silence by Mayor Gimenez and the county commission is no longer tolerable. The weight of the county and the Dade delegation to the legislature is considerable. It is decades beyond the time for clamoring by our elected officials in Miami, send the water south. Instead, we've had mouthpieces for the Great Destroyers like Pepe Diaz acting like experts about the need for more drainage of the Everglades. What is missing is leadership.

BUY THE LAND: SEND THE WATER SOUTH

That's the war cry of the folks where dumping Lake Okeechobee to the east and to the west coasts is literally killing their estuaries. Comprehensive Everglades Restoration has to send the water south.

It's not hysteria. Even the Corps of Engineers agrees that without a change in water management, the St. Lucie Estuary will be irrevocably destroyed. Irrevocable is forever.

The irony is that the people who need to be shouting loudest are the residents of Miami-Dade County. They have been strangely silent.

A recent Herald editorial pointed out…
Read more »

Geniusofdespair: Biscayne Times, August

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 13:34:00 +0000

Born to Lead! Guest blog by Connie Goodman Milone

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 21:06:00 +0000

I live in District 8 in Miami-Dade and fully support Cindy Lerner as a candidate for County Commission in District 7. Lerner will be an engaged and supportive commissioner who will fight for you. She is a child advocate who served as lead attorney for the Florida Guardian Ad Litem program. She was a state representative in Florida who fought to protect our drinking water. Lerner served as a state representative until her district lines were redrawn.

Lerner is a former mayor of Pinecrest who transformed the village with a Climate Action Plan and the glorious Pinecrest Gardens. She created the Youth Advisory Council that provides leadership and civic engagement for high school students.

Mayor Lerner also created the Education Advisory Council to facilitate communication between the Village of Pinecrest and its five public schools. The council brought the Anti-Defamation League’s “No Place for Hate” program to the schools in Pinecrest.

Cindy Lerner served as president of the Miami-Dade League of Cities. She organized local city leaders to address the threats from sea level rise, flooding, and extreme weather patterns in Miami-Dade County. Through time, Cindy has worked closely with state legislators to address critical issues we encounter at the state and local levels such as sea level rise.

With her breadth of experience, Lerner understands what it takes to run a local government and to oversee a budget. She knows where to innovate and recognizes the value of collaboration. Her priorities as county commissioner will be traffic gridlock, Metrorail expansion, climate change, and sea level rise.

Cindy Lerner has key endorsements from Sierra Club, AFSCME Florida, Teamsters Local 769, SAVE, Florida Conservation Voters, Vote Water, Miami-Dade Democrats, and Ruth's List. She is endorsed by all four state legislators representing voters in District 7. Honoring the legacy of John Lewis, she will make good trouble where needed on the County Commission. Vote by

mail, vote early, or vote on August 18 for Cindy Lerner for County Commission, District 7.

BISCAYNE TIMES: JULY. By Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 13:15:00 +0000

June Issue Biscayne Times VOTER PURGE

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 10:50:00 +0000

http://biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3533:you-may-have-been-purged&catid=86:eye-on-miamihttp://biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3533:you-may-have-been-purged&catid=86:eye-on-miami

Biscayne Times: May: The Pandemic By Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Fri, 08 May 2020 01:46:00 +0000

Biscayne Times April 2020 by Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 18:41:00 +0000

Biscayne Times March 2020 by Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 18:42:00 +0000

Biscayne Times - my latest column. By Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 14:53:00 +0000

My tongue is always in my cheek.

New year predictions by Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 13:54:00 +0000

http://www.biscaynetimes.com/images/stories/art_0120/bt_0120.pdf
Page 16

Leave comments on Facebook Page ( link to your right)

My latest column in Biscayne Times. By Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 23:53:00 +0000

http://www.biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3393:money-money-money-&catid=86:eye-on-miami

Money, Money, Money

Written By Nancy Lee, BT Contributor

DECEMBER 2019

NEXT YEAR, LOBBYISTS’ STRANGLEHOLD ON OUR COUNTY COMMISSION COULD COME TO AN END

Lobbyist Ron Book’s businesses and family have given about $8000 to Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert. Courtesy of Floridapolitics.com

o term limits curb lobbyist influence? We’ll soon find out. This stinking system of influence-peddling on the one hand and raising money for candidates on the other is rotten. Lobbyists even write scripts for the dumber county commissioners like Pepe Diaz.

Term limits are a teeny, tiny step in the right direction, because sitting commissioners could never lose an election under the old system -- the lobbyists just were too efficient at raising money for them.

In Miami-Dade County, citizens changed the charter, voting in term limits for commissioners. It passed years ago. Regrettably, it wasn’t retroactive. Political wonks have been patiently waiting for eight years to pass. Some county commissioners have been in office forever; Dennis Moss has been there since 1993.

I say halleluiah for term limits. We’re seeing the end of long-held county fiefdoms, and it feels so good. Five county commissioners from odd-numbered districts will officially be out of office, leaving open seats for the elections in August 2020.

Five open seats to vote on. Damn, I’m ecstatic.

Audrey Edmonson gave a truly moronic quote to the Miami Herald about being kicked to the curb after 14 years on the county commission. The quote infuriated me. It’s why I’m writing about this subject. “If you don’t have an experienced commission,” she said, “you won’t be able to see through what the lobbyists are telling you.”

Audrey: “You needed 14 years of experience to figure out when you were being conned?”

• • •

Who will admit they like lobbyists? Maybe their children and the spouse who is accustomed to the finer things. Politicians will say they’re a necessary evil, but they actually like most of them.

In Miami Beach, lobbyists disclose their fees, which comes in handy. Some get flat fees, such as $12,500 for Alexander Heckler to represent Terra Group. Alexander Tachmes gets $650 per hour to represent Aiyara LLC, a restaurant company. Of course, they all have lots and lots of clients, so they are making “finer things” kind of bucks. Ron Book and his two-person staff made almost $5 million in 2013, according to Sunshine State News, and his firm had 81 clients that year.

Unfortunately, even the very best of the county commissioners will see a lobbyist ten times faster than they’ll see you. Your $100 is chump change next to a lobbyist who can raise $10,000 for that commissioner.

Ron Book’s businesses and family have given about $8000 to Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, who is running for the commission from District 1 next year. Of course, that doesn’t include what Book raised from others, and it’s still early.

I would say, by the obscene $366,685 that Gilbert has raised so far, he should win. He appears to be the choice of the mega donors. Except… Sybrina Denise Fulton, mother of murdered Trayvon Martin (I call it the Skittles murder), is running against him. Hillary Clinton and Cory Booker have endorsed Fulton, who has hardly raised any money ($41,467), but she does have the community behind her. Plus, voters in that part of the county might not care so much about ads, and Gilbert must tread lightly with negative ads against the much-loved Fulton.

I find City of Miami Commissioner Keon Hardemon’s run for county commissioner particularly awful. He comes from a lobbyist family. With his connections, he should win Edmonson’s District 3. He’s already raised $97,325. Almost every donation was $1000, from about 100 people. Those contributors will get the royal treatment, while his constituents will have no clout.

When City of Miami Commissioner Johnny Winton was first elected, he wouldn’t even see lobbyists. When they slithered in, he’d instruct them to send their boss. That didn’t last long.

More awful than lobbyists raising money for candidates, though, are lobbyists put into positions of power. According to ProPublica, President Trump has had 281 lobbyists in his administration. Trump’s swamp contains “one lobbyist for every 14 political appointments.” Worse, he puts them in positions overseeing industries where they worked on the dark side.

According to Open Secrets, $3.46 billion was spent on lobbyists in 2018. Woof! That would go a long way toward subsidizing unaffordable prescriptions.

I got in touch with Sylvia Farina, who for 20 years was a chief of staff to three Miami-Dade County commissioners. Sylvia ended her career working for Katy Sorenson. I sent her Audrey Edmonson’s stupid quote. Sylvia said, “If you hire experienced people for your staff, then lobbyist issues will be fine.”

Another former chief of staff inspired me with hope: “If new commissioners hire professional staff to give them objective, independent advice, this powerful local governing board could become the most respected legislative body in Florida.”

Wow! If we start to respect commissioners, that would put most of us lunatic Miami-Dade writers out of business.

Feedback: letters@biscaynetimes.com

Geniusofdespair: November Column in Biscayne Times

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 09:27:00 +0000

http://www.biscaynetimes.com/images/stories/art_1119/bt_1119.pdf
My November COLUMN PAGE16

Biscayne Times October. By Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:03:00 +0000

My second column in Biscayne Times
http://www.biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3349:a-force-of-nature-compass-bound&catid=86:eye-on-miami

My First Column in Biscayne Times. By Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 12:18:00 +0000

http://www.biscaynetimes.com/images/stories/art_0919/bt_0919.pdf

PAGE 16

I am writing again. By Geniusofdespair

noreply@blogger.com (Geniusofdespair) — Sun, 11 Aug 2019 14:08:00 +0000

I will have a column in Biscayne Times. Also, our Facebook group (press the link on the right) is still alive.

Toxic waters linked to cancer and Alzheimer's dusted by Big Sugar in Florida mid-term elections ... by Alan Farago

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 16:22:00 +0000

On Twitter, former Reagan official Bruce Bartlett summed up the GOP response to climate change. He wrote: "There is no conceivable response to climate change that doesn't involve harm to the US economy. Therefore, we will do nothing until we all die."

That is, in fact, the GOP prescription that entraps taxpayers, citizens and voters. It is codified through hundreds of millions of political campaign contributions -- funded lies -- by fossil fuel producers and supply chains, their dark money pools, and stand-in trade associations like the US Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers. "We will do nothing until we all die."

The same could be said of the microcosm that is sending Florida outstanding waters into a death spiral of toxic algae blooms and health hazards linked to cancer and Alzheimer's: the immobile, intractable profit imperatives of Big Sugar. In this case, we will do nothing until every last inch of Florida's waters are stripped of life to benefit the biggest recipients of corporate welfare in the US farm policy: Florida's few sugarcane billionaires. Sugar's defenders include the Associated Industries, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the state's big electric utilities.

I can hear the howls of protest from Big Sugar shills, but it is a sad fact: not a single policy devised through political compromises at the time -- not the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, not Mod Waters, not the Tamiami Trail bridges, not underground injection wells, not Central Everglades planning, and certainly NOT the planned Everglades reservoir -- changes this equation: that sugar gets the water it wants, when it wants the water and wherever it wants it at whatever time of year and the rest of us get its toxic waste.

The one thing that sugar refuses to do: sell enough land for storage and treatment marshes -- even at taxpayer expense! -- to clean up its fouled waters and the legacy pollution it caused by using Lake Okeechobee as its cesspool. Big Sugar's attitude: "we will do nothing until we all die."

Just like the fossil fuel industries, Big Sugar buttresses its claims by hiring the best lawyers, consultants, engineers, scientists, and politicians that money can buy. Big Tobacco figured it out, until a cascade of multi-billion dollar judgments forced the industry to pay for the cancer it caused.

Will Big Sugar ever be held similarly accountable? Not by Republicans, for whom prohibiting "external costs" of pollution should be a core conservative principle. Not by Republicans, for whom corporate welfare embedded in the Farm Bill they support is a damning indictment. (Senator Marco Rubio, in the 2016 presidential primary, called support of the sugar subsidy program a matter of "national security". Excess sugar consumption, of course, being the leading cost component in $1T annual health care emergencies in the United States.)

Environmentalists don't like to talk about these matters in such frank terms. Instead, they soldier on, through the art of the possible. In 2016 they signed off on a disastrous piece of legislation that began as an effort by then Senate President Joe Negron, a Republican, to fix the horrendous pollution of the state's east coast rivers and bays during the extreme rainfall winter of 2015/2016. Big Sugar turned his bill into their Trojan Horse, by inserting a provision into the law -- passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott -- that prohibits eminent domain in the Everglades Agricultural Area. What they did was like the fossil fuel industry saying: we will agree to fix climate change so long as it does not involve impacting the consumer preference for gas, oil and coal.

At the time, Negron went to his Democratic colleagues, looking for help. He found only one in the state senate, Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Harvard educated attorney from Miami. Big Sugar has taken great pains to lock up Florida Democrats, shunting just enough money to state legislators and their political committees to make them appear competitive with the GOP. And if scandal should strike, as it did to former state senator Jeff Clemens -- the Democrat who blocked efforts to add storage and treatment lands to the EAA Reservoir legislative package -- there is always a cozy job waiting at the other end, as it has for Clemens with Florida Crystals, the billion dollar empire of the Fanjul family that maintains US Senator Marco Rubio, its chief ally in Congress.

Big Sugar sees the world just like Bruce Bartlett observed of Republicans and climate change: there is no conceivable response to fixing Florida's toxic water crises that does not involve harming its profits. "We will do nothing until we all die."

In Florida's case, doing nothing still involves the expenditure or waste of tens of billions of dollars. But don't count on the Fanjuls or descendants of Charles Stuart Mott and principal shareholders of US Sugar Corporation to do nothing. They are well along in their plans for power plants, inland ports, and new cities and suburbs in former Everglades wetlands. "An unstoppable force!" is how Bush campaign chairman and former developer Al Hoffman crowed to the Washington Post more than 15 years ago.

Unstoppable, because both Republicans and Democrats agree to do nothing or "something" so long as the money flows and the appearance of progress quells public discontent.

Matt Caldwell: don't let the door hit you on the way out ... by Ray Judah

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 15:43:00 +0000

Eye On Miami has written extensively on Ray Judah, a former county commissioner from Lee County who had served his community for 24 years when his 2012 reelection campaign was up-ended by a $1MM dark money hit job coordinated by a fellow Republican state legislator, Matt Caldwell.

Judah had the courage -- virtually alone among Republican electeds in Florida -- to challenge Big Sugar's dominance of water management practices and policies. The net result of successive legislatures and governors, mostly under Republican leadership, materialized as toxic algae blooms harmful to public health, to the environment, and devastating to coastal economies that depend on clean water.

For his courage, Judah was targeted by Big Sugar. (Our archive on Ray Judah can be accessed by clicking, here.)

For his part, Caldwell was rewarded. He assumed a leadership position in the legislature as the de facto majority whip for Big Sugar. Caldwell defended the outrageous extension of no-bid leases to Big Sugar of massive acreage already in public ownership, that is needed for additional storage and treatment development to prevent the trashing of rivers and estuaries and the Everglades. He opposed the involvement of the federal government in setting pollution standards for phosphorous (ie. nutrient runoff). In 2016, while his community buckled under the damage from pollution, he did Big Sugar's business by opposing then Senate President Joe Negron's effort to add 40,000 acres of marshes to absorb the impact of Big Sugar's toxic waste.

As a reliable capo, Caldwell was put in line by Big Sugar to succeed Adam Putnam as state agriculture commission, a state wide position that would have put Caldwell on the path to higher visibility when Putnam, as Sugar's political maneuvering expected, vaulted to governor when Rick Scott snapped up a seat in the US Senate.

Both Putnam and Caldwell were shot down by Florida voters, who had enough of their iron-clad support for polluters against the interests of taxpayers and voters. Ray Judah wrote the following assessment:

After eight years of sponsoring legislation designed to undermine water resource regulations, Representative Matt Caldwell’s trail of stench ended in his recent loss to Nikki Fried for Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Never has one elected official so blatantly sold out his community and left a legacy of destruction of our precious and fragile water resources.

Caldwell hid behind a veil of Republican conservatism while rising to power in the Florida Legislature with lavish support from notable industries, including petroleum, pharmaceutical, gaming, tobacco, and Big Sugar. Caldwell worked tirelessly to shift the cost of restoring our rivers and coastal estuaries from those responsible for polluting our waterways to the public taxpayers. Caldwell achieved favored status with Big Sugar by sponsoring legislation that led up to the 2018 water crises debacle.

In the 2013 legislative session, Caldwell sponsored HB 7065 to amend the 1994 Everglades Forever Act, under the guise of increasing the sugar industry’s funding commitment to Everglades restoration, when in fact, his proposed amendment was a smoke screen to ensure that the sugar industry limited their long term obligation of funding Everglades restoration. HB 7065 provided for the extension of the so-called privilege tax of $25 per acre that the sugar industry pays to continue their discharge of polluted runoff to the Everglades, rivers and coastal estuaries. This amounts to approximately $11 million per year in comparison to the billions required by the public taxpayers to restore the Florida Everglades. Caldwell's amended language suppressed the "1996 Polluters Pay" Constitutional Amendment that required those primarily responsible for the pollution in the Everglades Agricultural and Protection Areas to clean up their pollution.

In the 2015 Legislative session, Caldwell, in violation of the public trust, supported re-directing Amendment 1 funds, intended to protect the public's water resources and restore the Everglades, to balance the state budget.

In the 2016 State legislative session, Caldwell sponsored a 'Water Policy Bill" that undermines water resource protection from Appalachicola Bay to the Florida Keys. The bill greatly impedes efforts to cost effectively prevent water pollution at its source. The bill eliminated the regulatory permitting process that included performance standards for potential pollutant loading of lakes, rivers, streams and coastal estuaries. It eliminated a January 2015 deadline, which the state didn’t meet, for compliance with nutrient levels without creating a new deadline, thereby delaying cleanup of Lake Okeechobee.

Coastal communities on the west and east coast of south Florida have suffered tremendous economic and environmental devastation due to harmful algae blooms from land based nutrient runoff. The toxic brew of fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and fungicides from the sugar cane fields around Lake Okeechobee have poisoned downstream rivers and coastal estuaries with toxic blue-green algae and red tide.

Caldwell constantly attempted to redirect government policy away from the polluters to further his own political ambitions. Inexplicably, a good number of local business men and women heavily supported his political aspirations despite devastation to our coastal resources and adverse impact to our tourism and real estate based economy. Fortunately, enough voters from the Florida panhandle to the Florida Keys recognized it was time to vote for clean water candidates and hold Caldwell accountable for his abdication of responsibility to represent the public interest.

Rick Scott, Adam Putnam, and Matt Caldwell: Part 2, Turbulent Waters For Florida's Toxic Trio ... by Alan Farago

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Everglades Agricultural Area, algae filled drainage ditch

Before Florida's midterm election, the media filled with news reports and visual imagery, spanning network news to the Daily Show, of rampant red tides and toxic algae coating all of Florida's coasts.

After the election? A few pundits noted the impacts on political careers well-grounded in defending polluters.

Big Sugar's best laid plans for the Republican hierarchy came a cropper.

For the first time in Florida political history, Sugar's campaign contributions to state-wide candidates became a threshold issue for candidates and for voters who get it: Florida's water crises is the direct result of dark political money from billionaires turning our waters and Everglades into sacrifice zones for their profits.

Credit is due to Bullsugar.org whose voter guides highlighted polluted campaign contributions from billionaires who have commandeered the state legislature.

Adam Putnam, whose political career benefited from family wealth derived from a water district funded farm acquisition -- and who has been a strong defender of Big Sugar -- was defeated by Ron DeSantis who made opposition to Big Sugar's cost shifting to taxpayers a central plank in his platform.

Florida Democrats, again, proved susceptible to Big Sugar money and influence. Where and when they could have planted a flag on the outrageous exchange of Florida waters for corporate welfare, they largely declined or tip-toed through a perceived mine field. cf. Bill Nelson.

Big Sugar, you see, has a different way of forcing its echo chamber into Democratic party ranks. Chris King, Andrew Gillum's running mate, is a notable exception.

Matt Caldwell, who rose to prominence by orchestrating the upset 2012 defeat of Ray Judah -- a Republican commissioner in Lee County who eloquently supported more storage and treatment acreage in the EAA -- failed in his quest to step up the ladder to Agriculture Commissioner. He called Bullsugar, a "hate group", and attacked the group in ads but voters knew better. Look for Caldwell to find a sweet place, like former Democratic senator Jeff Clemens, on the Big Sugar payroll.

"Red Tide" Rick Scott slipped into the US Senate on a razor thin margin, bolstered by a personal investment of tens of millions. A sharper and focused Bill Nelson could have preserved his Senate seat if he had allied himself clearly and strongly against Big Sugar and for Florida's waterways, threatened tourism industries, and the Everglades.

While the punditry has dragged its feet on linking Florida's election outcomes to the toxic influence of Big Sugar, a few raised eyebrows indicate the industry is endlessly resourceful in preserving its prerogatives. It moved with lightning speed after the election, a show of political, legislative, and legal force.

A day after the election on November 7th, the very same day Jeff Sessions resigned as US Attorney General, Sessions signed an extraordinary memorandum providing new guidance to DOJ on federal consent decrees. Its key point: avoid them. Leave the messy business of fixing what is wrong to the states. A day later, the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District -- all appointees of Gov. Rick Scott -- voted to vacate the consent decree that governed relations between the state, the federal government and Big Sugar polluters for a quarter century. If you think the timing was coincidental, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

The District timing on its intent to rip up the consent decree was a show of Big Sugar force. It had been supported by very expensive lobbying and lawyering for at least a couple of years. The votes from the 2018 midterm elections hadn't been counted, but Big Sugar really didn't care.

Do you?

(originally published August 2, 2018)

In the winter of 2016, polluted water from Lake Okeechobee turned from brown to guacamole green, thick with toxic algae carrying cyanobacteria to downstream communities, putting people and businesses in harm's way. In the summer of 2018, it is happening again. Right before midterm elections.

Gov. Rick Scott. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. State Representative Matt Caldwell. All are seeking to move up the political ladder in November on the Republican side of the slate. Rick Scott is aiming to unseat Bill Nelson, the Democrat incumbent, in the US Senate. Adam Putnam is running to be Florida's next governor. Matt Caldwell, to take Putnam's chair in the state agriculture hierarchy. The ladder is real, and it is constructed carefully by the state's shadow government: Big Sugar.

There are a handful of Big Sugar players, and a much larger circle of influence peddlers, but there are two billionaire families who are the mainstay of the Big Sugar cartel; the descendants of Charles Stuart Mott who own US Sugar Corporation and the Fanjul family, owners of Florida Crystals and a vertically integrated, transnational sugar empire.

Both the Mott descendants and the Fanjuls spend heavily to make rules and regulations work their way while claiming a public benefit: "farming for families to put the food on your table". They never say that sugar is not a food but a substance more addictive than cocaine when consumed in excess. But that is another story.

Just when you thought you’d heard it all ... by gimleteye

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:36:00 +0000

Get your brain into gear this morning with this long read from @ChloeFarand and myself for @DeSmogUK on how US libertarians and fossil fuel interests are infiltrating the UK's #Brexit debate and pushing for environmental deregulation https://t.co/x7THxldFF9

Here's a tldr THREAD
— Mat Hope (@matjhope) November 19, 2018

3rd rate hacks point the 🇺🇸 toward constitutional crises

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 14:16:00 +0000

https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/11/07/dark-money-donors-trust-trump-attorney-general-matthew-whitaker-jeff-sessions

Dark Money Paid New Trump Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s Salary for 3 Years

Read time: 4 mins

Today, President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that Matthew G. Whitaker, who served as chief of staff for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, would replace his boss. Sessions was forced from office a day after the midterm elections, which were rough for climate and anti-fracking measures around the country.

Whitaker was appointed as Session’s chief of staff on September 22, 2017. Before that, he served for three years as the executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), which describes itself as “a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas.”

FACT has come under fire for its own lack of transparency, with the Center for Responsive Politics calling attention to FACT’s funding, which in some years came entirely from Donors Trust, an organization also known as the “Dark Money ATM of the Conservative Movement” and whose own donors include the notorious funders of climate denial, Charles and David Koch.

“In other words, an organization ‘dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency’ gets 100 percent of its funds from a group that exists mainly as a vehicle for donors to elude transparency,” the Center for Responsive Politics wrote in 2016.

In 2014, FACT received $600,000 from Donors Trust — the only donation it reported that year, according to OpenSecrets.org. An additional $500,000 flowed from Donors Trust to FACT in 2015. And in 2016, Donors Trust gave $800,000 to FACT, tax recordsshow.

In 2016, Whitaker earned $402,000 as FACT’s director and president, according to the organization’s tax filings. That followed reported compensation from FACT for Whitaker of $63,000 in 2014, and $252,000 in 2015.

His work included advocacy for causes backed by the fossil fuel industry.

As FACT’s executive director, Whitaker sought documents from the Attorneys General United for Clean Power Coalition, alleging in a 2016 op-ed that the Coalition “launched a campaign to silence many public policy organizations and even individuals for their work challenging liberal views on climate change, as well as private companies like ExxonMobil.”

That coalition, representing attorneys general from 17 states, included Eric Schneiderman, then attorney general for New York state, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, and Claude Walker of the Virgin Islands, who were all reportedly investigating ExxonMobil for failing to disclose what it knew about climate change to its investors for decades.

Whitaker labeled the probe of ExxonMobil, which has funded climate denial efforts to the tune of at least $33 million, “both unconstitutional and unethical” — but it recently led to charges against the company.

Embed from Getty Images

Last month, following three years of investigation, Schneiderman’s successor Barbara Underwood filed a 91-page lawsuit alleging that ExxonMobil had engaged in four counts of fraud.

“Investors put their money and their trust in Exxon — which assured them of the long-term value of their shares, as the company claimed to be factoring the risk of increasing climate change regulation into its business decisions,” Underwood said in a statement, according to Courthouse News. “Instead, Exxon built a facade to deceive investors into believing that the company was managing the risks of climate change regulation to its business when, in fact, it was intentionally and systematically underestimating or ignoring them, contrary to its public representations.”

FACT has also come under fire for its right-wing partisan bent.

“It’s perhaps worth noting that although FACT describes itself as a ‘non-partisan ethics watchdog,’ its ethics complaints are targeted overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) at Democrats, and it is funded entirely by an anonymous trust fund (a so-called ‘pass-through) favored by ultra-wealthy conservative donors, including Charles Koch,” the Global Anti-Corruption Blog wrote in September of this year.

As Acting Attorney General, Whitaker will replace Jeff Sessions, described as a “climate change skeptic” by the Washington Post for saying on the floor of Congress in 2015 that “Carbon pollution is CO2, and that’s really not a pollutant; that’s a plant food, and it doesn’t harm anybody except that it might include temperature increases.”

Main image: Matthew Whitaker in 2011 appearing on CSPAN. Credit: CSPANscreen shot

Sharon Kelly's blog

VOTE & watch this new film by Spencer Miller: Sweetwater

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 16:30:00 +0000

HUGE Election tomorrow ... VOTE~!~ ... Alan Farago

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 13:21:00 +0000

Tomorrow, vote like your life depends on the outcome.

Millennials: you stayed at home in 2016 and helped elect an illegitimate president whose victory owes to collusion with a hostile, foreign power. Russia. Tomorrow, vote.

Independents: this is your chance to express how you feel about the slide to authoritarianism under Trump and a Republican Party that bows to his whims.

Republicans: think. Read Washington Post columnist and conservative Max Boot: "Vote against Republicans. Every single one."

If you’re sick and tired, too, here is what you can do. Vote for Democrats on Tuesday. For every office. Regardless of who they are. And I say that as a former Republican. Some Republicans in suburban districts may claim they aren’t for Trump. Don’t believe them. Whatever their private qualms, no Republicans have consistently held Trump to account. They are too scared that doing so will hurt their chances of reelection. If you’re as sick and tired as I am of being sick and tired about what’s going on, vote against all Republicans. Every single one. That’s the only message they will understand.

And here is a personal wish: that Floridians will see through the Toxic Duo: Rick Scott and Matt Caldwell.

Both are Republicans. Both were selected by Big Sugar to move up the political ladder. Scott, to the US Senate. Caldwell, to the holding position: state agriculture commissioner.

The political careers of both Scott and Caldwell closely track the destruction of Florida's waters and Everglades. I've spent nearly three decades advocating for policies to protect Florida's economy and environment: these two have run hope off the rails. Whatever they claim to the contrary, is a lie.

Vote to remove Scott and Caldwell from Florida politics.

Yes, tomorrow vote against Republicans. Because they have not listened. Will not listen. And because they are arranging the legislatures and courts to remove the system of checks and balances that distinguished our democracy.

Help make America, America again.

Florida Voters: let's get this right on state agriculture commissioner ... Nikki Fried is the right choice ... by gimleteye

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 13:05:00 +0000

We've written extensively about Big Sugar's candidate for state agriculture commissioner. His name is Matt Caldwell and his entire political career has been in service of Big Sugar's goals.

The result is clear enough: Big Sugar, thanks to Caldwell, gets the water it wants, when it wants, and shifts the burden to taxpayers for the immense costs of pollution.

The right choice on Nov. 6th, is to vote for Nikki Fried for State Agriculture Commissioner. Fried has the endorsement of the state's major newspapers, including the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times. We need change!

The Stop Harmful Discharges Act would help immensely ... guest blog

noreply@blogger.com (Gimleteye) — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 16:05:00 +0000

The Stop Harmful Discharges Act would help immensely | Guest column
Peter Girard Published 10:14 a.m. ET Nov. 1, 2018 | Updated 10:15 a.m. ET Nov. 1, 2018
Peter Girard

Would we get less toxic algae if protecting people’s health were required by law?

Of course we would. The real question is, Why isn’t our health already a priority for the government agencies that decide whether to discharge toxic algae and pollution into our rivers?

Our toxic water sickened and killed dogs this year, made people choke and closed beaches. Medical researchers warn that just breathing air near the water boosts our risks of dying from ALS, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and liver failure.

Our government is poisoning us.

Legislation introduced this summer can change that. The Stop Harmful Discharges Act (HR 6700) would force agencies “to include public health and safety as the primary consideration” in the central and southern Florida system that controls our water.

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers met with U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, at Stuart City Hall on Aug. 17, 2018, for a public meeting on how Lake Okeechobee is managed. Mast has filed a bill, the Stop Harmful Discharges Act, that would make public health and safety the primary concern in managing Lake O levels.Buy Photo
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers met with U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, at Stuart City Hall on Aug. 17, 2018, for a public meeting on how Lake Okeechobee is managed. Mast has filed a bill, the Stop Harmful Discharges Act, that would make public health and safety the primary concern in managing Lake O levels. (Photo: ERIC HASERT/TCPALM)
In other words, put people first.

We’ve been told that agencies already do that when they flush Lake Okeechobee into coastal communities to prevent a dike breach. But even this hollow excuse isn’t true — they routinely dump more water into the lake at the same time, actually making the dike less safe. That’s not putting people first.

The Stop Harmful Discharges Act does something else important: It requires agencies to manage the whole system together, instead of like an unconnected set of projects and measurements that make it hard for lawmakers and the public to see exactly where our water goes. We deserve to know that.

MORE: Health should be priority for Corps, Mast says

What the legislation doesn’t do is just as important: It doesn’t disrupt Everglades water-quality standards, it doesn’t disrupt existing agreements with the Miccosukee and Seminole tribes, and it doesn’t disrupt Everglades restoration.

Also, it doesn’t tell experts how to do their jobs. That’s crucial. When we put a man on the moon, the executive order didn’t tell NASA how to build a rocket. The Stop Harmful Discharges Act was drafted with input from policy experts and senior Army Corps officials, but the responsibility to execute it will fall to professionals.

And it won’t be rocket science. They’ll be asked to make it a last resort — not the first option — to discharge polluted water into communities where it can fuel toxic blooms. It’s their job to figure out how to do that without breaking existing laws.

Nothing in this legislation should divide a community whose river is poisoned year after year, but the opposition we’re hearing explains a lot about why these discharges have gone on for so long.

The introduction of the Stop Harmful Discharges Act required us to overcome a shameful tradition of political indifference, which comfortably switched between parties over the years. It required us to care more about what the bill said than who said it. It required us to put aside vanity and ask for help solving a problem that’s haunted us for generations.

The debate over this legislation isn’t honestly confronting the real reasons why we never solve this problem. Instead, we hear pleas for silence because if we try to change water policy, corrupt state agencies will punish us with junk solutions like deep injection wells, or they’ll take revenge by illegally dumping polluted water into the Everglades. Or sugarcane lobbyists will somehow turn the policy against us. Or because the exact wording might not be quite perfect. Or because the words came from the wrong people.

None of these is a good reason to stay quiet and let our government turn a blind eye to the human health impacts of its water management decisions. We deserve better. Every one of us — every family, every business owner, every taxpayer, every visitor, every Democrat and every Republican — deserves clean water.

Peter Girard is a spokesman for Bullsugar, an environmental activist group.