Collision Course [The real reason Al Gore lost FL in 2000 - forget Palm Beach and hanging chads...]

The Miami New Times ^ | Nov. 23, 2000 | Jim DeFede

[summer]

About "Collision Course"

To FR, from summer:

"Collision Course" is the 2nd news article listed on "no airport", a FL environmental activist website I mentioned in my newest editorial about Governor Jeb Bush.

This news article - "Collison Course" -- details Al Gore's extremely serious problems with FL environmental activists and other FL voters involved in a certain FL environmental issue, prior to Election Day 2000.

The wide rift resulted when Gore refused to take a stand on whether or not the USA Homestead Airforce Base, located in Homestead near Miami, should be developed into a potentially lucrative commercial airport -- and thereby, potentially threaten the Everglades:

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Feature Story published November 23, 2000 in "The Miami New Times":

"Collision Course"

by Jim DeFede



Award-winning columnist Jim DeFede chronicles how the Gore campaign tried and failed to muster support from South Florida environmentalists prior to election day due to Gore's political pandering to developers and power-hungry Democrats.

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3 Excerpts:

1. WHY FL PROTESTERS FORCED GORE TO CANCEL PLANS FOR A CAMPAIGN RALLEY IN FL

....McGinty [Gore's environmental issues campaign consultant] revealed that Gore was contemplating a campaign rally in South Florida that would emphasize his lifelong defense of the environment and the Clinton administration's efforts to restore the Everglades. If the vice president were to hold such a rally in South Florida, McGinty wondered, would there be protesters?

The answer she received was unambiguous: You can count on it.

According to those present, McGinty replied, "It breaks the vice president's heart" that he can't schedule an environmental event in South Florida for fear of being embarrassed by protesters over the Homestead issue.

"There were a lot of questions about whether he could risk showing up down here," recalls Chinquina. "And our answer was no. Unless he is coming to announce his position on the air base, don't come."


2. THE REAL REASON GORE FAILED TO WIN FLORIDA

As the meeting drew to a close, after more than two hours of debate, McGinty tried to end on a positive note. "Win or lose, the vice president wants you to know that he cares about you," she reportedly said.

"Well, take our friendship back to the vice president," Chinquina replied, "and tell him that only a true friend will tell you what you don't want to hear. And what you don't want to hear is that you are going to lose this election because of Homestead. Because no matter what we say, a lot of our folks are going to vote for Nader.

Chinquina was right. Forget about hanging chads and butterfly ballots. Forget about confused voters and missing ballot boxes. Forget about recounts and lawsuits. If Al Gore loses Florida's 25 electoral votes, and with them the presidency, he can blame himself for refusing to stand in opposition to an airport at Homestead Air Force Base.

Ralph Nader received more than 96,000 votes in Florida. In the final week of the campaign, he visited Miami and hammered away at the vice president's silence regarding Homestead. "Al Gore is waffling as usual," Nader exclaimed. "He refuses to take a position as usual."

On the eve of the election, Nader sent out a letter to environmentalists across the state, attacking both Gore and Bush but singling out Gore for particular scorn. "On the Everglades, currently a key issue in a hotly contested state...."Gore has not opposed a proposed commercial airport on the site of the former Homestead Air Force Base, despite the protest of local people working for conservation and his own EPA. There are no airports situated on the border of national parks in America; the Everglades is the last place to consider changing that fact. In general, work to restore the Everglades should be done for the public, and for future generations, not on the basis of debts called in by the sugar industry and local power brokers."


3. HOW THE DEM LEADERS CONSISTENTLY FAILED TO SUPPORT FL VOTERS ON THE FL ENVIRONMENT - BUT, CERTAIN GOP LEADERS DID SUPPORT THESE FL VOTERS ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

...In 1996, for instance, The New Times reported that [ US-DEM Sen. Bob] Graham pressured Sen. John Chaffee (R-Rhode Island) to withdraw a request he had made to the General Accounting Office for an investigation into the Homestead airport proposal.

County Commissioner Katy Sorenson says she also has been disturbed by Graham's actions. "I've been frustrated with Senator Graham's position on this issue," she reports. "I've talked to him myself and met with members of his staff. At first he was noncommittal, then he was more pro-airport. I don't think he's ever been with the environmentalists on this issue."

Adds Alan Farago: "Bob Graham has left a trail of anger and disappointment over the Homestead Air Force Base. It is a terrible disappointment that this issue will now be a lasting part of his legacy and will seriously tarnish his reputation as an environmentalist."

"We've talked to Senator Graham many times," says Ocean Reef's David Ritz, "and we have not been very successful. He is more concerned with the airport issues than he is with the environmental issues. It does surprise me that he is not leading the charge to protect this national resource."

....Environmentalists find it ironic that, with regard to this subject, their strongest allies have often been Republicans while their fiercest opponents have been Democrats. Outgoing Republican Sen. Connie Mack, for example, opposes the development of a commercial airport at the air base. One of Mack's Republican colleagues, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, tried to guarantee that the proposed airport would not hinder plans to restore the Everglades.

On the other hand, redeveloping the base as a commercial airport has been supported over the years by Graham and fellow Democrats such as Penelas, Congresswoman Carrie Meek, former Gov. Lawton Chiles, Senator-elect Bill Nelson while he was state insurance commissioner, and State Sen. Daryl Jones...



Click on the source link if you would like to read the entire article.

[summer]

You may also be interested in reading this brief, related editorial that I wrote, as this essay (a) explains the final outcome of the proposed Homestead airport, and (b) has already received a majority of enthusiastic thumbs-up from FR posters:

The Jeb Bush Nobody Knows - Part 8: Why Some FL Dem Voters May "Never Forget" -- and, vote for Jeb

[summer]

And, here'e what happened just today involving both GW and Gov. Jeb Bush!

Thursday, January 10, 2002

Florida Times-Union

Bushes help Everglades - $7.8 billion in restorations

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, signed an agreement Wednesday to guarantee water for a major effort to restore the Florida Everglades.

The blueprint envisions spending $7.8 billion over 30 years to restore about 2.4 million acres of the Everglades ecosystem.

"I think it has been referred to as the agreement between the Bushes," the governor joked afterward to reporters. "It's an $8 billion project, that's a lot of money and the taxpayers want to get a return on this, so we're going to do it in the right way."

He added, "It was really nice to be in the Oval Office and make this agreement."

A water resources bill passed by Congress two years ago required the president and the Florida governor to sign a pact ensuring there is sufficient fresh water available to restore the Everglades. The measure sets up a cost-sharing partnership between the federal government and Florida. It will make available an extra 1.7 billion gallons of fresh water each day in south Florida.

Later, Bush gave his younger brother an assist by appearing at a fund-raiser for the Florida governor at a Washington hotel. The president told donors that the Everglades agreement essentially certified that Florida was honoring its obligation to ensure ample water for Everglades park.

"That was easy to sign because I know that deeply ingrained in Jeb's heart is a desire to protect the natural beauty of the state of Florida," the president said.

Environmental advocates cheered the plan even though they were skeptical due to concerns that Florida officials may route the new water to utilities through water use permits.

"There's this big fear, and it's legitimate, the state would issue 20-year water permits," said Brad Sewell, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York. "This agreement was to make sure the state didn't permit it all ahead of time to the utilities."

Frank Jackalone, Florida staff director for the Sierra Club, said environmentalists hope the governor will not issue more water permits before the plan can be implemented. "There is a danger that the municipalities and farms and other users are going to line up at the trough before the details are worked out in the next couple of years," Jackalone said.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., had urged the Bushes to sign the agreement by Feb. 15. He praised them Wednesday for beating that deadline, and called on federal and state officials to ensure the water meant for restoration is used that way.

"Both state and federal government involvement, as well as congressional oversight, will be needed to determine how the state will both carry out its obligation to reserve water saved by the restoration process and fully incorporate this obligation into its permitting process," Graham said.

Still, the agreement is a positive development, said National Audubon Society spokesman Sean McMahon. "It opens the door for meaningful Everglades restoration. It is important to bear in mind that it's a first step," McMahon said.

Wednesday's agreement was the first of two actions by the president this week to focus attention on his environmental role. Friday, Bush planned to visit Conshohocken, Pa., to sign legislation on cleaning up brownfields, abandoned industrial sites in urban areas.

Bush's fiscal 2002 budget included roughly $219 million for Everglades restoration, an increase of more than $58 million over the previous year. Those funds include $15 million for the Interior Department to help Florida acquire land for restoration projects.

But a year later, environmentalists are still battling to keep the project on track against demands from agriculture, utilities and development interests for water supply and flood control.

The project includes more than 60 initiatives spread over three decades aimed at restoring the sawgrass marshes, cypress stands and swamplands that have shrunk in half.

Portions of the Everglades have been drained since the Army Corps of Engineers began working 50 years ago to make way for farms, urban development and flood protection.

[summer]

FYI! :)

Thursday, January 10, 2002

Orlando Sentinel

Accord protects Everglades

By William E. Gibson And Neil Santaniello

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, signed an unprecedented federal and state agreement Wednesday to devote water to restore the Everglades. The agreement triggers federal spending for a 30-year project to restore about 2.4 million acres of the marshland.

The signing ceremony in the Oval Office was designed to burnish the Bush brothers' environmental credentials while fending off worries that the $8 billion project would be exploited to serve farmers and urban developers at the expense of nature.

"It's an historic part of a long-term process for restoration of America's treasure, the Everglades," Jeb Bush said afterward.

The signing was required by the Water Resources Development Act of 2000, which calls for a binding agreement in which the state promises that nature will have first claim to new water supplies. Much of the Everglades in past decades was drained to benefit development, farming and flood control.

The project is expected to capture about 1.7 billion gallons of water a day that now is channeled out to sea.

Environmentalists who had been clamoring for the agreement said they were generally pleased with the signing. Rock Salt, executive director of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, called the agreement "an incredibly significant document. It provides a foundation for our success."

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., had urged the Bushes to sign the agreement by Feb. 15. He praised them for beating that deadline, and called on federal and state officials to ensure the water meant for restoration is used that purpose.

[summer]

Bumping for index

[summer]

And, yet another great move by Gov. Jeb Bush -- a new plan to pay for FL's share while keeping FL debt-free:

Bush Proposes Debt-Free Everglades Restoration Funding

By: Amanda Riddle, Associated Press The Naples Daily News

January 4, 2002

WEST PALM BEACH - Gov. Jeb Bush proposed new debt-free funding sources Thursday that he said would secure Florida's $100 million annual commitment to Everglades restoration through 2010.

The year-old Everglades plan calls for the state and federal government to share the $7.8 billion cost of restoring the wetlands over the next 30 years.

The state had been taking most of its $100 million share from the general revenue budget, but that proved risky after the recession caused the budget to shrink by $1 billion this year.

Bush, in a videotaped speech that will be broadcast Thursday night at an Everglades conference in Fort Lauderdale, said his proposal uses "reliable, secure, debt-free dollars."

He is calling for tapping cash that is held in reserve to guarantee the debt of Florida Forever. The state would then instead insure that conservation program's debt through surety bonds.

Bush said redirecting revenues from a current tax would provide the remaining portion of the state's share each year.

The proposal is an alternative to a legislative bill that would allow the state to borrow money by issuing bonds.

Environmentalists and several lawmakers support the bonding proposal, which would allow the state to issue up to $125 million in bonds annually over the next eight years.

They say that would prevent land acquisition from falling behind schedule.

"A bonding approach gives you a lot more flexibility about how much you're going to spend and how you're going to spend it," said Eric Draper, policy director for Aububon of Florida.

Bush said he would support bonding if it becomes necessary, but he doesn't want to increase the state's debt.

The annual Everglades Coalition conference comes a little over a year after the restoration project became law.

Another issue that will be debated during the four-day meeting is a draft of rules that provide a general plan for restoration. The draft was released last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Environmentalists say the broad rules are too weak because they lack deadlines, timelines and other interim goals to measure progress.

They also complain that the blueprint gives the Corps and the state too much discretion to develop project specifics and doesn't bind them to the goals they set.

The corps will seek opinions on the draft at the conference. It must create the rules to begin implementing the plan in December 2002.

"This is an initial draft, a first cut," said Stu Applebaum, the Corps' chief of the restoration project. "We've put a process together that will allow for a lot of comment."

Environmentalists fear the agencies, influenced by agriculture and utility interests, won't make repairing the fragile Everglades ecosystem their top priority in a project also intended to boost drinking water supplies and provide flood control.

"The Everglades is the fundamental reason we're doing this, and we can't let it be hijacked by big agriculture business and by sprawl developers or we're all going to lose," said the Sierra Club's Jonathan Ullman.

In his speech, Bush also said he would sign an agreement with his brother, President Bush, that promises the state won't permit away water intended to restore natural water flows in the Everglades before water-generating projects are complete.

The agreement is mandated in the Everglades bill and the coalition has been impatiently waiting for it to be signed, Estenoz said.

Bush spokeswoman Lisa Gates said she anticipates Bush will sign the agreement in the next month or so to ensure "the Everglades "is going to be the number 1 priority for getting the water."

[summer]

BTW, the Homestead Airforce Base had been devastated by Hurrican Andrew in the early 1990's, and the question of how to re-develop it continued until late 2001. If you like, read my editorial linked in my reply #1 to find out what finally happened.

[summer]

Hurrican = Hurricane

[summer]

FYI.

[knarf]

bump

[summer]

Thanks, knarf! :)

[summer]

FYI! :)


Gov. Jeb Bush waiting in the background
as President GW Bush gives a speech for
Jeb at a DC fundraiser.

[katherineisgreat]

Impaled upon your own sword Al, n'est pas? HAHAHAHA.

[summer]

I could not have said it better myself, katherineisgreat. Thanks for your insightful post about Al Gore -- Mr. Sometimes Environmentalist.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Good one, summer. Do you mind if I add a few other serious reasons why Gore lost....they didn't stuff quite enough ballot boxes or get enough illegal voters counted or military votes trashed. (^:

Explicit statistical EVIDENCE of MASSIVE BALLOT tampering in Palm Beach, FL
Knock and Drag: Ryan Lizza reveals how Dems. got out the black vote
And the most recent truth revealed:
GOP Was the Real Victim in Fla. Vote, John Lott-LA Times story, Black Republican ballots invalidated in Dem. precincts:

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The new findings show that African American Republicans who voted in Florida were in excess of 50 times more likely than the average African American to have had a ballot declared invalid because it was spoiled.

These results take into account a wide range of factors that influence spoiled-ballot rates, including education, gender, income, age, number of absentee votes, voting-machine type, ballot type and whether votes were counted at the precinct or centrally.

In other words, it is the isolated fact of being a Republican that makes an African American vastly more likely to have his or her ballot declared invalid.

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After being accused of racism as a Florida Republican by AG Bob Butterworth, J Jackson, DNC, Kwasi and the NAACP, the UN, various international papers that picked up the story, Mary Frances Berry's racist USCCR's "study"- we want this exposed. ***** Hugs. (^:

[okie01]

Thanks for the post, summer. There is some real insight here as to what really happened in the Florida election.

If the press had been paying attention, rather than focussing where the DNC wanted them to focus, they would have understood why Algore lost in Florida.

And it had nothing to do with hanging chads, butterfly ballots and the military vote. Or the felon vote, for that matter.

Nader got 96,000 votes in an election the Democrat lost by less than 500. And nobody noticed!

Heist on his petard, indeed...

[summer]

RC, thanks for taking the time to add links and more info to this thread! :)

[summer]

I agree with you, okie01. And, it infuriates me to know that Al Gor KNEW this when he was demanding a recount. He KNEW he had angered a block of what should have been his voters to the point that he could not even hold a campaign ralley without those voters protesting!

Furthermore, why couldn't he support these voters on this particular issue? According to the article, both GOP Senator Connie Mack supported these FL voters in their efforts to protect the Everglades -- as did President Clinton.

Why the h*ll did Al Gore refuse to support these voters in their effort to preserve the Everglades? It makes me wonder how much money he somehow stood to gain from the potential building of a commercial airport.

He deserved to lose in 2000. And if he's their candidate in 2004, it will be his 2nd loss.

[summer]

BTW, National Public Radio did broadcast a documentary about these FL voters angered by Gore and Election 2000. Here's how one FL voter interviewed by NPR explained her vote in Election 2000:

"I think that if Al Gore had taken a stand on (the Homestead Airport), I might have considered being part of that 50 percent margin that left Nader at the last minute and went and voted for Gore."

Hillary Gerber
Ralph Nader supporter

This FL voter's comments were originally broadcast in late November as part of NPR's "Living on Earth" series The question asked by this radio news documentary was:

"Did Al Gore's silence on the controversy over plans to build a major airport near the Everglades cost him crucial votes in Florida?"

The "no airport" website I mentioned and linked to at the top of this post has more info about this NPR broadcast.

Too bad major media was not picking up this story. I guess it was just too embarassing for Gore, what with his much touted environmental record. Yet, that is why he lost -- he could not be an environmentalist on an issue he should have been.

[okie01]

"Why the h*ll did Al Gore refuse to support these voters in their effort to preserve the Everglades?"

The second great question raised by this thread.

Why, indeed? It can only be because he was in the pocket of somebody who wanted another commercial airport. The airlines, the developers, somebody.

He took their money. And willingly walked away from "his" voters. Some kinda guy.

The whole sordid episode says so much about so many things -- Algore, the Democrat Party and its principles, plus the media.

[ghostrider]

Even though I suspect that you are in reality the "Jeb For Governor Command Post" operating in disguise, I do enjoy most of your posts - especially those which ding the Demos. Good Read.