DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER
 

 

Democratic Women’s Club

 

Democratic Club of Indian River

The next Democratic Club Meeting is October 20^th
at 6 p.m. at the Heritage Center, 2140 14^th Ave. 
Vero Beach. [email protected]

 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

 

Current GOP seems driven by MAGA movement, not democratic principles

 

Letters to the Editor links: 


TCPalm:
https://static.tcpalm.com/forms/?wid=q1jkscld1v7h87e

 

Hometown News:
https://www.hometownnewsirc.com/site/forms/online_services/letter_editor/


Vero News.com:

https://www.veronews.com/site/forms/online_services/letter/

or via email:

Vero Beach 32963, Vero News & Sebastian River:
[email protected]


 

FEDERAL



Rubio Ads "Mostly False"

 

Many viewers have asked for a fact check of Marco Rubio’s recent attack ad against Val Demings. His ad claims that Demings votes with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time. But it only cites the 116th congress, or 2019-2020, and that claim is true.

However, it does not mention the 115th congress 2017- 2018 where Demings disagreed with Pelosi on 35 votes. It also doesn’t mention Pelosi as house speaker who only votes on about 10% of the bills which are considered major.

So we rate the claim as misleading.

The ad continues by stating Demings votes with Pelosi to allow radical abortions, even at the moment of birth. Demings has said repeatedly she supports abortion after the child can survive outside the womb, but only if it threatens the health or life of the mother. Demings did co-sponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act, codifying Roe vs Wade, which said states could restrict abortion except for the life or health of the mother.

Demings denied the claims in Rubio’s ad. “This is just the next step in Marco Rubio’s fight to ban abortions with no exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and sexual abuse.”

His claim is mostly false.

The ad claims that Demings joined Pelosi to give a billion dollars in stimulus checks to convicted criminals and illegal immigrants. during the pandemic. However, you needed a social security number in order to receive a check, so undocumented immigrants didn’t qualify.

The claim is false.

It is true that qualifying inmates received payments from the American Rescue Plan, which Demings supported. His ad leaves out that Rubio previously supported Covid relief bills which also included inmates getting stimulus checks. 

His claim is misleading.

The ad concludes saying Demings even voted to allow transgender youth sports and teaching radical gender identity. The ad refers to the 2019 Equality Act which gave LGBTQ folks added federal protections against discrimination. Demings did support it, however, the bill did not call for teaching radical gender identity as the ad claims.

His claim is false.

Based on all of the facts overall, we’re going to rate the entire ad as “Mostly False.”



Dave Elias
NBC2


 

STATE

 

 

PEN America report shows Florida has 2nd highest number of school-related book bans

Jonathan Friedman, report author and PEN America's director of free expression and education programs, said the trends show book bans are a targeted effort. "These are not just individual complaints about books that parents are complaining about because their children are bringing them home," Friedman said. "Overwhelmingly, we are seeing people Google ‘what books have LGBTQ content whatsoever,’ even just a book that has an illustration of a same-sex interracial couple gets thrown onto one of these lists and ends up banned in some districts in Florida.”

“‘More’ is the operative word for this report,” PEN writes, comparing the latest analysis to the preliminary one. “More books banned. More districts. More states. More students losing access to literature.” The trend’s proponents have also gotten more savvy – and more creative – in their book challenging strategies.

“Over the 2021-22 school year, what started as modest school-level activity to challenge and remove books in schools grew into a full-fledged social and political movement,” PEN writes. That movement, according to PEN, has been powered by at least 50 activist groups as well as politicians who have pressured or chilled schools into restricting children’s access to certain books. 

PEN describes the recent spate of efforts to restrict books as an “evolving censorship movement.” While the tensions leading up to it had been percolating for a while, the current trend can be traced back in part to last year. 

More than two dozen states already had begun considering — and in some cases passing — legislation to restrict discussions about race, sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms. The legislative efforts were fueled by Republican resistance to so-called “critical race theory,” a graduate-level legal concept that examines how racism continues to permeate policy and society. The critical race theory backlash morphed into a broader push to eschew conversations about LGBTQ+ issues from classrooms. The wave picked up momentum last fall when activists and conservative policymakers intent on reforming curricula began focusing much of their energy on books. 

In Florida, many of the bans have been accelerated by the passing of new laws that have emboldened parents and community members to speak out against library materials. 

In March, Gov. Ron DeSantis approved House Bill 1467, which gives parents and members of the public increased access to the process of selecting and removing school library books and instructional materials, and signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics, that prohibits school instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. 

In anticipation of the new laws, the Palm Beach School District pulled and reviewed 31 books in addition to other learning materials to make sure they were complying with the new laws. While the dozens of books made it back onto library shelves, those that mainly focused on gender identity or sexual orientation are now restricted to grades four and above.  

Large majorities of Americans oppose book bans — at least 70% of both Democrats and Republicans, according to one poll. 

However, dozens of groups have often disseminated lists of books and have mobilized members to testify at school board meetings. At the forefront of these efforts are  Moms for Liberty, US Parents Involved in Education, No Left Turn in Education, Parents’ Rights in Education and Florida Citizens Alliance, a nonprofit that aims to improve education for children by empowering teachers, students and parents.

The alliance has compiled a list of 58 books in Florida's school libraries they deem "pornographic" and has called on Florida's school districts to remove them. The group also pushes for the elimination of sex education in K-12 schools, and is responsible for bans in school districts in Jackson, Orange, St. Lucie, Polk and Walton counties. It also is responsible for advisory labels placed on 115 books in the Collier County School District that contain LGBTQ+ characters, transgender characters, characters of color and sexual content.

These "parents' rights" groups, most of which have formed since 2021, have developed new tactics for restricting book access. For example, some have taken to scrutinizing and interfering in district book purchases and digital library apps. 

Roughly 40% of the bans documented during the 2021-22 school year “are connected to political pressure exerted by state officials or elected lawmakers.” 

“The unprecedented number of challenges we’re seeing already this year reflects coordinated, national efforts to silence marginalized or historically underrepresented voices and deprive all of us — young people, in particular — of the chance to explore a world beyond the confines of personal experience,” said Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, president of the American Library Association. 

Nationwide, 2,532 book bans were enacted, affecting 1,648 individual titles. Books that are by authors of color, deal with racism and/or feature LGBTQ+ relationships are overrepresented on the lists. 

“We are clear that those who are advocating on this issue are within their rights — freedom of assembly, mobilization, using their voices. That’s perfectly appropriate," Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America said last week. "But when the end goal is censorship, as a free expression organization, it’s our obligation to call that out and to point out that even the use of legitimate tactics of expression can sometimes lead to a censorious and speech-defeating result.”

 

Alia Wong 
Nikki Ross 



 

(Editor's note: In-depth discussion with librarians, editors and educators on public radio 1A show Wednesday about book banning, censorship and defunding libraries. "Moms for Liberty" refused to participate.) 

 

LOCAL
 

 

Indian River Lagoon Top Priority in State House 34 Race

 

Both candidates for Florida House District 34 said they rate the Indian River Lagoon among their priorities. Republican Robert "Robbie" Brackett, currently mayor of Vero Beach, and Democrat Karen Greb, a Sebastian resident and a board member on the Indian River Neighborhood Association, compete to replace Erin Grall, who moves to the state Senate without opposition. 

Brackett said he wants the state to find the best practices for combating stormwater runoff and pollution into the Indian River Lagoon. He supports state mandates on municipalities for stormwater runoff reduction. 

Greb sees her role as preventing corporations who seek favor with politicians in Tallahassee from avoiding environmental accountability. 

"I definitely have an environmental orientation to just about everything," said Greb, who has lived in Sebastian for two years after spending five years in Martin County. "For the folks here, that really is a nonpartisan issue. And when people find out that every single one of our elected representatives in the five counties along the Indian River voted on behalf of polluting special interests, I hope that message will wake a few people up."

She’s supported “low impact development” and at her campaign’s Facebook page, praised the Sebastian City Council for delaying a vote on the proposed Graves Brothers 1,984-acre annexation project.
Brackett entered politics in 2018, winning a seat on the Vero Beach City Council, then became mayor in 2020. 
Greb has never held public office, but has been involved in Florida politics since she moved here seven years ago. She moved to Stuart from California, retiring after a career in financial services. After relocating, she became a trained citizen lobbyist and was engaged in persuading voters to pass Florida's 2018 amendment to end greyhound racing.

The cost of politics

Campaign finance records show between December 2021 and Sept. 9, Bracket has loaned his race $5,000 and had collected $172,300 from 284 donors. After spending $164,664 on his campaign, he had $7,636 cash on hand as of Sept. 16. Since Aug. 24, Bracket raised $11,050 from seven contributors, which included $10,000 from the Florida House Republican Campaign fund and $500 from the Tallahassee lobbyist group Florida Osteopathic Medical Association (FOMA) Political Action Committee (PAC). He’s spent $200 since Aug. 24, to cover advertising expenses.

Greb had no competition in the Democrat primary but did no substantial fundraising in anticipation of the general election. State election records show Greb in June loaned her campaign $5,000 and collected $250 from three people. Greb has spent $2,281 since she began her campaign in June, leaving her with $2,969, according to campaign finance records. 
She said her goal is to run an environmentally conscious campaign free of special interest support. She's avoiding street signs, mailers and other material means of campaigning in lieu of public appearances and digital outreach, such as her campaign's Facebook page. 

"I'm not accepting any donations from (political action committees}, or corporations, or large donations for that matter," Greb said. "We have got to get the special interest money out of politics."

 

Lamaur Stancil
Treasure Coast Newspapers

 

 

CALENDAR




Saturday, October 1, 2022


11 a.m. - SIGN WAVING for TEACHERS at the corner of St. Rd 60 and 58th Ave.

You can make a sign that says  We Love our Teachers,  Pro-Teacher,  Education is FUNdamental,  Teachers Rock,  Thank Teachers,  Teachers are First Responders!  Hug a Teacher...



Tuesday, October 4, 2022



9:00 a.m. - Vero Beach City Council, City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1053 20^th Place, Vero 32960.

For agenda and meeting information go to https://covb.org/AgendaCenter 

Watch at: https://www.covb.org/341/CTYVB-13---City-of-Vero-Beach-Official-T




9:00 a.m. - Indian River County Commission, County Administration Offices – Council Chambers, 1801 27th Street, Building A, Vero Beach 32960-3388
 
For agenda and meeting information go to: https://ircgov.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
 



Wednesday, October 5, 2022


6:00 p.m. - Nonpartisan Candidates Forum at the Gifford Community Center, 4855 43rd Ave, Vero Beach, FL 32967. Sponsored by the Indian River County NAACP, Faith in Florida Treasure Coast, and The Links, Incorporated. All qualified candidates for School Board District 2 and Florida House of Representatives District 34, were invited to participate. 



Thursday, October 6, 2022

 
7:00 p.m. - Fellsmere City Council, 22 S. Orange St, Fellsmere, FL 32948
For agenda and meeting information go to www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil



Friday, October 7, 2022


11:30 a.m. - Taxpayers Association Luncheon at the Vero Beach Yacht Club at 3601 Rio Vista Blvd, Vero Beach, FL 32963 Reservations are required by Wednesday morning at their website.    $22



Saturday, October 8, 2022


11:30 a.m. - DWC of IRC luncheon at the Bent Pine Clubhouse. 6100 Clubhouse Drive, Vero 32967 RSVP to Julie Barone (718) 916-0682 or at [email protected]   $25