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October 22, 2014 November General Elect ion Issue #3 No. 14-13E
5 TALKING POINTS
General Election, Tuesday, November 4, 2014
[See Candidate Listings And Ballot Questions On Page 3]
Dont Wai t For
El ect i on Day.
Vot e Now !
Call 561-656-6200.
Order Your Mail Ballot
To Be Delivered Tomorrow.
Bad Officials Are
Elected By Good People
Who Don't Vote,
Its Not Too Late To
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Mail Ballot
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or 866-868-3321 toll free
NOTE: You can request a mail ballot up
to October 29th.
The Election In
Pictures
[starting on page 4]
11
[Continued on page 3, At Stake #16]
At St ake #16 - Const i t ut i on
Revi si on Commi ssi on
by Debra Kanter
Staff Writer, VoterEducation.net
(Note: At Stake #1-#15 may be found at:
http://www.pbcdemocraticparty.org/images/pdf/
newsletters/democratic_voter/tdv_15things-at-stake-
nov4.pdf)
Ever Higher Stakes in 2014 In our previous
issue, 15 Things At Stake On November 4th,
we listed 15 concerns important to voters. This 16th
stake is equally vital to consider in our vote in 2014.
Constitutional Mandate The Florida
Constitution mandates a Constitution Revision
Commission. This Commission, which convenes
every 20 years to review our Constitution, is charged
with making proposals for changes to our Florida
Constitution. These proposals will subsequently
become Amendments placed on the ballot for the next
election. During the term of the governor, elected
in a few weeks, this Commission will be formed in
2017, and will determine the Amendments that will
be placed on the 2018 ballot.
Constitution Revision Commissions Respon-
sibilities The members of the Commission must
travel the state, identify issues, perform research,
hold hearings, and recommend changes that become
Amendments to the Constitution.
The 2017 Constitutional Revision Commission
Will Consist of:
37 members, including the Attorney General,
15 members chosen by the governor,
9 members chosen by the (Republican) Speaker
of the House,
9 members chosen by the (Republican) presi-
dent of the Senate,
3 members selected by the Chief Justice of the
State Supreme Court.
The Governor designates one member of the
Commission as chair who has the authority to
convene the meetings.
Controlling the Process It becomes obvious
that the 18 members chosen by the 2 Republican
Leaders of the Legislature would require enough
Democrats to balance the Commission. That could
only occur if a Democratic governor could choose
his 15 members. In addition, a Democratic Attorney
General as well as 3 members selected by a favorable
Chief Justice would round out the majority on the
Commission. This would prevent Amendments
repugnant to Democrats from reaching the ballot
in 2018. Charlie Crist must be able to appoint the
chairperson and control this process.
Opportunity, Power, and Blocking Tea Party
Influence Despite our Republican Legislature,
Democrats must prevent multiple Conservative
Amendments that would push Florida further to
the right. Democrats have the opportunity to elect
George Sheldon as our Attorney General. Charlie
Crist, as Governor, would never appoint three
Tea Party selections to the Supreme Court. We
must insure that Democrats will blunt the power
of Conservative Republicans on the Commission
by barring a group of destructive Tea Party
Amendments from reaching the 2018 ballot. We
must elect Charlie Crist!
There Are Five Ways Amendments Get
On Your Ballot The Constitution Revision
Commissions suggestions are only one of the five
ways an Amendment can find its way to your State
Ballot. Here are the five ways:
1. Proposed by the Legislature. (In 2014,
one Amendment, Number 3, regarding
Judicial Appointments during the governors
lame duck period was approved (hastily) by
the Legislature. We recommend vote NO.)
2. Citizens Initiative. (In 2014, two other
Amendments, Number 1 on Land and
Water Conservation, and Number 2 on
Medical Marijuana originated with voter
signatures. We recommend vote YES on
both.)
3. Constitutional Convention
4. The Taxation and Budget Reform
Commission
5. Constitution Revision Commission
It takes 60% of voters to pass a Constitutional
Amendment.
1997-98: Example of a Previous Positive
Outcome The 1997 Constitution Revision
Commission was formed by Democratic governor
Lawton Chiles. Our Democratic Attorney General
was Bob Butterworth. Although the Legislative
Leaders were both Republicans, the Chief Justice
of the Florida Supreme Court appointed impartial
members. Impartiality is assuredly not possible in
our present political climate with a Conservative
Tea Party supporting a Republican administration.
The 1998 ballot contained Amendments on
ConservuLIon oI NuLuruI Resources und
Creation of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission, which passed with 72 percent
of the vote.
2
[At Stake #16, continued from page 2]
CONGRESS
U.S. Representative
District
18 Patrick Murphy (Icumbent)
20 Alcee L. Hastings (Incumbent)
21 Ted Deutch (Incumbent)
22 Lois Frankel (Incumbent)
EXECUTI VE
Governor
Charlie Crist
Lieutenant Governor
Annette Taddeo
Attorney General
George Sheldon
ChieI Iinunciul OIcer
William Will Rankin
Commissioner of Agriculture
Thaddeus Thad Hamilton
PALM BEACH COUNTY DEMOCRATS ON THE NOVEMBER 4, 2014 BALLOT
(CANDI DATES AND QUESTI ONS)
STATE HOUSE
State Senator (Palm Beach County)
District
32 Bruno Moore
34 Maria Lorts Sachs (Incumbent)
State Representative (Palm Beach County)
District
82 Mary Higgins
86 Mark Pafford (Incumbent)
88 Bobby Powell (Incumbent)
89 David Ryan Silvers
COUNTY COMMI SSI ONER
District 4
Andy OBrien
District 6
Melissa McKinlay
SCHOOL BOARD (Non-Partisan)
District 4
ErIcu WIILheId (D)
SPECI AL TAXI NG DI STRI CTS
Indian Trail Improvement District
Seat 1
Michael W. Erickson (D)
Seat 3
Ralph Bair (Incumbent) (D)
Alan Ballweg (D)
Seat 5
Betty Argue
Loxahatchee River Environmental Control
District 4
James D. Snyder (D)
Palm Beach Soil & Water Conservation
Group 5
Eva S. Webb (D)
Port of Palm Beach
Group 5
Peyton McArthur (D)
STATE
FEDERAL
COUNTY
JUDICIAL
COURT OF APPEALS (Merit Retention)
(Palm Beach County)
(Recommendation to retain all)
District 4
Alan O. Forst
Mark W. Klingensmith
W. Matthew Stevenson
Martha C. Warner
Calendar
2014 General Election Day
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Polls open: 7-7
Early Voting
Monday, October 20, 2014 -
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Polls open: 7-7
2014 Voter Registration
Deadline
Monday, October 6, 2014
2014 Mail Ballot Request Deadline
October 29. 2014
Spec i al Tax i ng Di st r i c t s
Palm Beach County has its share of Special Taxing
(Community Development) Districts. A Community
Development District (CDD) is a local, special purpose
government
Most of the tax districts have substantial budgets and
the monies are administered by Boards of citizens.
CDDs provide a mechanism for the financing and
management of new communities.
The community development district may impose
and levy taxes or assessments, or both taxes and
assessments, on the property.
These taxes and assessments pay the construction,
operation and maintenance costs of certain public
facilities and services of the district and are set
annually by the governing board of the district.
These taxes and assessments are in addition to county
and other local governmental taxes and assessments
and all other taxes and assessment provided for by law.
PubIIc EducuLIon oI CIIIdren, wIIcI pussed
with 71 percent of the vote.
ResLrucLurIng LIe SLuLe CubIneL, wIIcI reduced
the number of cabinet positions, including
the elimination of the secretary of state and
education commissioner from elected office.
The net change handed greater power to the
governor. This Amendment passed with 56
percent of the vote. (a 60% vote for passage
was not required until 2007)
BusIc RIgILs guve muIes und IemuIes equuI
right under the law, provided that nation of
origin cannot be a criterion to deny rights,
and changed physical handicap to physical
disability as a reason to be protected from
denial of rights. This passed with 66 percent
of the vote.
ocuI und MunIcIpuI ProperLy Tux ExempLIons
and Citizen Access to Local Officials. This
vote failed at 49.8 percent.
BuIIoL Access, PubIIc CumpuIgn InuncIng,
and Election Process Revisions. This passed
with 64 percent of the vote
Ireurms PurcIuses: ocuI OpLIon Ior CrImInuI
History Records Check and Waiting Period.
This law passed with 72 percent of the vote.
Democrats Represent Floridas Majority
These Amendments have been consequential to the
residents of Florida. The interests of the Constitution
Revision Commission reflect the alliances among its
members. Remember, staying home is not an option.
A non-vote will elect a Republican administration
an awful thought! ###
3
St ayi ng Home
I s Vot i ng
But Not For What You Want
Thi s El ec t i on I n Pi c t ur es
Vot e By Mai l
Women Vot e
Its Not Too Late To
Request A Vote-By-Mail Ballot
561-656-6200
4
ANNOUNCING
"THE ENLIGHTENED VOTER" NEWSLETTER
October 22, 2014 Issue
I MPORTANT NOTI CE:
THI S I S YOUR LAST FREE I SSUE!
Cont ent s:
At Stake #16: Constitution Revision Commission

by Debbie Kanter
Candidates On Your Ballot
This Election In Pictures
Sleepwalking Toward Plutocracy:
Chapter 9: Whos To Blame
What Is At Stake This November
by Barbra Streisand
THI S I S YOUR LAST FREE I SSUE!
I hope you've found the last four years of our free Voter Education
publications interesting and informative.
No Interruption In Delivery Although no longer free, starting December 1st, you can continue receiving
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Receive between 12 and 18 issues per year (depending on the number of elections held during the year).
Please Stay With Us I thank you for your interest and generous approval of our efforts over the
past four years. I look forward to having you remain in our readership.
BTW - You may read articles from every one of our previous issues in the archives on our website.
Dan Isaacson, Editor and Publisher
The Enlightened Voter
The Democratic Voter
The Voter Publications, Inc. / Voter Education, Inc.
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Give A Gift To A Friend especially in this coming holiday season. Sign your friends
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6
Sl eepwal k i ng Towar d
Pl ut oc r acy
Marshall C. Whitfield (1935-2012)
for Buzzflash At Truthout
Chapt er 9
Whos To Bl ame
[Continued from Issue 14-11]
Who? So whos really respon-
sible for this crippling of America?
Some pundits, finally waking up
to the hijacking, are blaming Cor-
porate Greed. They are apparent-
ly unaware that corporations are
intended to be greedy.
How Much Profit Is Enough?
Follow the bouncing dollar sign
here: every investor has a natural,
legitimate desire to make money
on his/her investment. This holds
true not just for Wall Street hedge
funds, but also for millions of
small investors all across America.
If youve ever bought a few shares
of stock, ask yourself how much
profit is enough? Ill bet that
visions of Microsoft or Google
flash across your mind, and your
honest answer is Well, as much
as I can get. Why not?
Never Enough The Plutocrats
top executives are hired hands,
paid to deliver that profit. No
matter how outrageously theyre
paid and how powerful they
appear, they can be locked out of
their offices in less than 24 hours
if they fail to perform. And no level
of profitability is ever enough.
Moral? Shareholders and
the stock market always want
more from them. The pressure
for profits is unrelenting and
implacable, driving corporations
to do anythinganythingwithin the law to deliver.
Morality? Patriotism? Sorry. Not even in the
corporate dictionary.
Evil? Despite the enormous damage the Plutocrats
have done to our country, we cannot call them evil. It
was not their deliberate plan to hollow out industrial
America by shipping jobs overseas. Nor is it their
personal intent to impoverish working Americans and
destroy the environment. They are simply doing their
job: producing profits for themselves and return on
investment for us shareholders.
The Solution Is Hijacking Toward that goal,
and with the same brilliance and ruthlessness that
made them global leaders, they found a legal way to
control their government environment and maximize
their profits: the hijacking.
Unsuitable To Control Human Society To
sum up, the core problem of the hijacking is not in the
legitimacy of corporate profits. Nor does it lie in the
legality of the hijackings methods; massive political
contributions are, sadly, within the law. Its the cold,
inhuman amorality of corporations. Thats what
makes them unsuitable to be in control of any human
society -- especially American democracy. Thats what
made Lincoln tremble for the safety of my country.
[Look for the final installment of Sleepwalki ng,
in issue 14-14]

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men for so long, it was understood more as a mans
disease. Meanwhile, heart disease is the number
one killer of women... killing more women than
all cancers combined... killing more women than
men. This is just one example of why representing
womens issues in the governing body that
doles out NIH grants is extremely important to
our everyday health. It seems like women are still
second-class citizens.
But this is far from my only area of concern. By
the way, if not for Republicans austere budget
cuts, the NIH could have possibly had an Ebola
vaccine by now. Unbelievably, I never thought
wed see the day when contraception was once
again controversial, but this is what is happening.
Full Legal Rights To A Fertilized Egg
We are still fighting to have control of our own
bodies! The right-wing is pushing these so-called
personhood initiatives and bills in Congress and
the states, which take away rights from women
and give full legal rights to a fertilized egg! The
GOP Senate candidates in Iowa and Colorado
sponsored legislation to that end.
Restricting Health Care For Women
Furthermore, repressive state laws are shutting
down Planned Parenthood clinics that provide a
wide range of health screenings for low-income
women and men. In Texas just this month,
the court upheld the restrictive state law that
drastically reduced the reproductive health care
clinics from 40 to 8, leaving some women to now
drive 150 miles to access health services.
It is not just health issues, but how conservatives
work against the majority of womens interests.
The facts speak for themselves:
Minimum Wage Increase A whopping 70%
of women (compared to less than half of men)
support a minimum wage increase. The Republican
House (which is 89% male) voted against it.
Women Paid Less Most women are paid
about .84 cents for every dollar a man makes.
Single working mothers can be caught in a cycle
of poverty.
Vote Against Paycheck Fairness This
past spring all Republicans in the Senate voted
against the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would
hold employers more accountable for wage
discrimination against women.
Against Long Term Unemployment Benefits
Republicans also voted against providing long-
term unemployment benefits, which undermined
many families finances in a time of struggle.
Against Birth Control Benefits The
Affordable Care Acts birth control benefit has
saved women in the U.S. $438 million, and
conservatives in Congress want to take that away.
Restrict Contraception Coverage The
Hobby Lobby decision by the Supreme Court
allowed certain corporations, on religious
grounds, to restrict contraception coverage under
the healthcare mandate.
71% of women voters say politicians who support
the Hobby Lobby decision are focused on the
wrong issues and priorities.
Republicans Voted Against It Senate
Democrats introduced a bill that would restore
employers responsibility to provide contraception
coverage for all women. The bill failed to gather the
necessary 60 votes; 42 Republicans voted against it.
In a few weeks it is our chance to be heard about
legislation and politicians limiting our rights and
economic opportunity. When we vote, we win.
Dont stay home on Election Day, November 4th.
PLEASE EXERCISE YOUR POWER... ALL YOU
HAVE TO DO IS SHOW UP!
[Streisand, continued from page 9]
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October 22, 2014 No. 14-13E
November Gener al El ec t i on I ssue #3
You Can Change Thi s!
Dont Wai t For
El ect i on Day!
[Continued on page 8, Streisand]
What I s at St ake Thi s
November ... and Why t he
Count r y Needs Women t o
Vot e
by Barbra Streisand
Reader Supported News
American women, the country needs
to hear from you! Do you know how
powerful your one voice can be? How
powerful your one vote can be?
537 Votes In Florida Remember, it only
takes a few votes to make all the difference. In the
presidential election of 2000, 104 million people
voted and only 537 votes in Florida triggered events
that changed the world. Would we have become
involved in the unnecessary war in Iraq if Al Gore
became President? Would America be falling so far
behind on tackling climate change?
Women Have The Power To Control Con-
gress According to Edison Research, women
specifically have the power to control Congress. In
2012 women made the difference in determining
the outcomes in 22 of 23 Senate races.
Republicans Block Common Sense Policies
Republicans in Congress are blocking common
sense policies from raising the minimum wage to
modest background checks for gun owners. Some
conservative state legislatures are passing laws to
make it more difficult to vote. This should particu-
larly concern women who spent almost 150 years
fighting to earn this right. This is why its impor-
tant to vote not only for Presidents, but also down
the ballot for governors and state legislators who
have a great deal of influence over your quality of
life.
We Need More Representation At a time
when domestic violence is on the front pages, it
took Congress a full year and a half to reauthorize
the Violence Against Women Act. 160 Republicans
voted against it! Women make up 51% of the
country, but only 19% of Congress. We need more
representation!
Women Are Still Second Class Citizens
I am particularly concerned with womens health.
Because research on heart disease focused solely on
Women will usually vote for the things that make
a difference in everyday life. It is women who do
most of the shopping and are on the lookout to
provide healthier food for their families.
Less Interested in Agro-Business They are
less interested in the priorities of giant agro-busi-
ness and factory farms that are promoting unsafe
use of antibiotics and the overuse of GMOs and
pesticides. Women are trying to make the world
a healthier place for generations to come, while
Republicans are often on the receiving end of the
torrent of campaign contributions from these cor-
porations.
Too Many Women Stay Home During off-
year elections, too many women stay home when
their votes are needed. In 2010, the last midterm
election, 10 million unmarried women who voted
in 2008 did not show up! As a result, conservatives
swept to power and eviscerated policies aimed
at supporting American women, especially in
healthcare.
We will face another mid-term election in several
weeks. Will your voice be heard?
9