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Please join us for a Candidate Meet and Greet with
Chief Financial Officer Candidate Adam Hattersley on
Friday, November 4, 2022 at 11:00a.m. at the CWA Union Hall at 2050 40th Ave, Suite 1, Vero Beach 32960
Please RSVP to [email protected] or call the office at (772)226-5267


**

BALLOT RECOMMENDATIONS

US Senate - Val Demings
US Congress – Joanne Terry
Governor – Charlie Crist
Attorney General – Aramis Ayala
Chief Financial Officer – Adam Hattersley
Commissioner of Agriculture – Noami Ester Blemur
State Representative District 34 – Karen Greb
School Board - Cynthia Gibbs

Supreme Court recommendations: Vote to retain:
------------------------------------------------------------
Canaday, Charles T. - NO
Couriel, John D. - NO
Grosshans, Jamie - NO
Labarga, Jorge - YES
Polston, Ricky - NO

Amendments: Recommendations:

No on 1
Yes on 2
Yes on 3
Yes on Bond to Acquire Lands to Protect Water Resources



"No one can do everything,
but everyone can do something."


VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

We need everyone to vote - only 36.7% of Democrats have voted as of this morning! Please tell your Dem neighbors to vote! Text all your IRC friends and tell them to vote Blue and to vote for Cindy Gibbs. Then tell them to text all their friends as well! We need turnout!

PLEASE HELP GET OUT THE VOTE!

We will deliver GET OUT THE VOTE information to Democrats in Wabasso and Gifford on Saturday, November 5 and Sunday November 6 9am - 4pm. We are reaching out to Democrats who have not yet voted in this election. Please contact us at the office if you are available to join the canvassing teams for any period of time between those hours this weekend.
Weekly GOTV Rallies

This Saturday, November 5 is the last Saturday before Election Day. We encourage you to go wave signs at an Early Voting location near you.
You can take your yard sign, or pull one up at the site and wave it.

Contacting Voters

Volunteers have contacted tens of thousands of Indian River County voters via text and postcards, and we continue to send text messages to thousands more potential voters in the remaining days before Election Day.

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!


CALENDAR


Saturday and Sunday November 5 and 6, 2022

9:00a.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Canvassing "Lit Drops" in Wabasso and Gifford. Contact the Democrats of Indian River County Office for more information.

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

ELECTION DAY 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Make sure you know WHERE you vote in your precinct. voteindianriver.org




[link removed]

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

[link removed] ([link removed])


ANNUAL BIG BIRD BLESSING

We are collecting donations at our office at 2345 14th Ave Vero Beach 32967 to help provide 1000 Holiday meals to those in need in Indian River County. Especially needed:

CANNED CHICKEN BROTH
EVAPORATED MILK
IDAHOAN MASHED POTATOES
STOVE TOP STUFFING
CANNED GREEN BEANS

Please visit [link removed] for more information, to volunteer, or to make CASH DONATIONS.

THANK YOU!


============================================================


Democratic Women’s Club

The DWC next luncheon on Saturday November 12 at the Bent Pine Clubhouse. To recognize the 50th anniversary of Title IX Legislation, Mr Greg Zugrave, the Athletic Director of St Edward’s School will be speaking on the History of Title IX and Its Impact on High School Athletics Today. RSVP is required by November 10th. Please identify your meal choice: Turkey Chef Salad, Beer Battered Cod Sandwich
Or Vegetarian option to ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
. Questions to Pat O’Hara at 772-388-2524. The cost is $25, payable at the door. Non-members may attend as a guest. A non-perishable food donation for the Fellsmere Fridge is requested.
Please consider attending!

The DWC Book Group will meet at the Indian River County Brackett Library at 6155 College Lane on Friday, December 2, 2022 from
2:00-4:00p.m. “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times” by Jane Goodall will be reviewed. Any questions about the book group can be addressed to Maryann and Rita at ** (mailto:[email protected])
[email protected]


YARD SIGNS

Please do not throw yard signs in the trash.

You can return them to our office and we will return them to the candidates or contribute them to the IRC RECYCLES project that recycles yard signs into fuel cells.

CANDIDATE DONATION SITES

** charliecrist.com ([link removed])

** valdemings.com ([link removed])

** JoanneTerry.com ([link removed])

www.KarenGreb.com

** [link removed] ([link removed])

Please donate to the Democrats of Indian River

We will appreciate any contributions you can make to help fund our GET-OUT-THE-VOTE efforts as we come down to the final stretch. You can donate at DemocratsOfIndianRiver.org or you can mail or stop by our office at 2345 14th Ave.

Many thanks to all of you who have donated in this current election cycle. It is very much appreciated!

VOTE BLUE in 2022!

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

What Happened to Indian River County GOP Integrity?


The complaints began in late March 2021, when the ** local GOP website listed Donald Trump as president ([link removed])
, despite Joe Biden’s inauguration two months before.
Ed Barenborg, legislative aide for ** state Rep. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach ([link removed])
, since her election in 2016, is a lifelong Republican, including 34 years in Florida.

But he is unable to remain silent about what’s happening to his party — at least in Indian River County.

“When are we going to get to the point when integrity and character are more important than the letter (R or D) after your name?” Barenborg told me the other day after being particularly incensed at a fundraising letter he saw from a candidate running for school board.

It was the latest complaint I've heard from longtime loyal Republicans about the local GOP. It came shortly after the Republican Executive Committee sent out a flier endorsing various candidates, including recalled Sebastian City Council member Damien Gilliams.
Jeannette Riel was the “kindest, gentlest and most competent” leader Republicans had back in the day, acting as the “Mother Superior” of the local party, according to Vero Beach attorney Chester Clem.

“Jeanette would put a calming hand on things,” said Clem, a Southern Democrat in the 1960s before serving Vero Beach in the state House as a Republican 1972-76 and subsequently seeking the party’s nomination for governor. “That’s the kind of person I miss.”

Its decision to endorse candidates — even in nonpartisan races — has split the party and allowed “renegades,” as County Commissioner Joe Flescher called them, to run roughshod in the community.

“They’ve become a cabal, an unruly mob,” said Flescher of folks who have gained influence in the local party.

Frank Sosta, who left the committee as vice chairman in 2021 and ran the Republican Club of Indian River for 14 years, agreed.

“I didn’t like the way the organization was going and seeing how people were being treated,” he said, noting he was tired of Republicans screaming and yelling at meetings. “Do your cause and do it professionally."

Barenborg has seen the vitriol his wife, the school board chair, has endured from fellow Republicans (even though she is one) at board meetings and at campaign events. She recently was re-elected.

“It’s personal now,” he said. “At what point are we going to say integrity matters?”

Among his latest beefs: the GOP executive committee’s continued support of Jackie Rosario, a school board member seeking re-election, despite ** questions about her financial and professional background ([link removed])
(as he said are documented on an anonymous “conservatives” website questioning Gov. Ron DeSantis’ endorsement of her) and reported by local news organizations, ** including this one. ([link removed])

Then there’s the two-page letter Barenborg showed me. He claims, based on several people who told him they received it — including someone who does not vote in Indian River County — the Rosario campaign sent the letter to folks who had donated to Barenborg’s wife's campaign.

The kicker, Barenborg said, is the letter suggests — incorrectly, based on people he spoke with — the recipients already had financially supported Rosario and should do so again. Such solicitation is unethical, he said.

What’s more, the letter claims Rosario was the only board member to vote against putting ** 150 “pornographic” books ([link removed])
back on shelves, he said. She voted not to put books back on shelves; but whether they were pornographic is another question. The fact is, not all of the challenged books even discuss sex. The board voted on a committee recommendation.

Rosario, who switched her Democrat affiliation to Republican in Indian River County in 2016, said she did nothing wrong.

“Like all candidates, I reach voters and donors through direct mail,” she said in an email, noting many of Barenborg’s supporters might be hers, too. “It is not my job to track Mrs. Barenborg’s supporters. I am focused on my own campaign.”

As for the "conservatives" website, she said, “When there is no source, there is no legitimacy.”

Well, some of the items cited, such as Rosario's bankruptcy and unreported mortgage, certainly were accurate. They are among reasons ** our editorial board recommended Rosario's opponent ([link removed])
, Cynthia Gibbs.

Then there's the GOP endorsement of Gilliams for a council seat in Sebastian. After his election, city residents didn’t like the way he operated and began an effort to recall him. In 2020, after he and two others held a meeting the city manager had canceled, ** more than 93% of city residents voted to recall him. ([link removed])

That came even before a ** jury found him guilty ([link removed])
of seven perjury and sunshine law charges connected with the meeting. He was sentenced to about six months in jail, but allowed to remain free pending an appeal ** under the condition he would not get within 100 feet of several city officials. ([link removed])

Flescher said the committee’s endorsement of Gilliams hurts all GOP candidates. After all, how can one trust party leaders’ judgment if they recommended someone with Gilliams’ history?

“They should have never gotten involved in backing candidates,” Sosta said, a position echoed by Clem. “You’ve got a different breed in there now.”

The Indian River County GOP must decide whether it will be the party of past leaders — espousing integrity and character — or risk long-term relevancy.

** Editorial Board recommendation 2022:
Indian River School Board ([link removed])

Laurence Reisman, Treasure Coast Newspapers






LOCAL



Indian River State College continues free tuition program for Treasure Coast 2023 grads


** Indian River State College ([link removed])
will continue its Promise Program for a second year, offering free tuition to local 2023 high school graduates.

The IRSC Foundation Inc. agreed unanimously Monday to continue the program for a second year. The college hopes to expand the 2023 program by reaching more students who might not have considered college as a possibility and possibly offering more course options, IRSC spokeswoman Suzanne Seldes said.

"We're going to cast the net a little bit wider," Seldes said. "Our goal is to look at the success of the program and build on that (success) every year."

The $1.4 million program, launched in March, attracted 2,200 Treasure Coast graduates to pursue the no-risk chance to earn an associate degree.

Any 2022 public school graduate was eligible, regardless of family income or high school grade point average.

** Free tuition? Did IRSC's new Promise Program bring more high school grads to its campuses? ([link removed])

** A degree for free: More than 6,000 high school grads could earn free associate degrees at IRSC ([link removed])


Requirements were simple: Students in the program pledge to take at least 12 credit hours per semester, maintain a 2.0 GPA and make progress toward the associate degree.

In exchange, IRSC made free tutoring and resources available to help students succeed. The college also helped students apply for federal financial aid to help with books and living expenses while in college.

The program boosted the college's enrollment to its highest-ever freshman class of 3,236 students. Overall enrollment at the college increased by 8.9%, from 4,139 in fall 2021 to 4,508 for fall 2022, the college said. Total enrollment also improved at the college, from 14,601 students to 15,390.

** Colleen Wixon ([link removed])

Treasure Coast Newspapers


STATE


Turnout is Low Among Black and Latino Voters


Democratic candidate for Governor Charlie Crist greets Gadsden County voters during a Strolls to the Polls event on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022.

Standing outside a community center in Florida’s only ** majority Black county, ([link removed])
May Andrews said that many of her friends and family members feel ** targeted by the policies ([link removed])
of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis’ push for a ** redistricting plan ([link removed])
almost certain to eliminate a Black-held congressional seat, along with making it harder to get** mail-in ballots, ([link removed])
has rattled many in her home of Gadsden County, Andrews said. Then there was the ** arrest in August ([link removed])
of 20 felons — almost all of them Black — for wrongfully voting, after they were assured by elections officials that they could. “I thought, ‘That can’t be true,’” Andrews said. “I feel so sorry for those people who were feeling great about themselves, getting their lives back together. And then, they find themselves in custody again.”

But even with these concerns, the retired probation supervisor said she’s not hearing that much talk about the upcoming election.

“It’s not a big topic,” said Andrews, shortly after listening to DeSantis’ opponent, Democrat Charlie Crist, speak to about 150 voters gathered inside the community center. “It just seems the economy, finding a good place to live, and dealing with the high price of food, schools and everything else is more what’s on people’s minds right now,” she added.

Black people amount to 13% of Florida’s 14.5 million registered voters and form a key part of the Democratic electorate, voting overwhelmingly for the party’s candidates. But it’s becoming clear that Black voter turnout in Florida may not reach the high-level Crist and other Democratic candidates need to avert what is looking likely to prove an historic Republican sweep of statewide offices in the state, leaving Florida Democrats with less influence than at any point in the state’s modern history.

“Black voters are just like all voters right now,” said Bertisha Combs, South Florida regional director for Florida Rising, a get-out-the-vote organization pushing to increase turnout. “A lot of people are tired of all the back and forth.”

Combs, though, said she was staying optimistic.

“People are aware of what’s at stake,” she said. “They know they have to turn up at the polls. They’ll show up. But we know Republicans are going to be turning out too.”

Uphill battle:** Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio hold big leads over Democratic opponents ([link removed])
.

Democratic slate cast to appeal

The Democratic lineup of candidates in Florida was seen as appealing to minority voters. Val Demings, a former Orange County sheriff, is a three-term Black member of Congress challenging U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and a former prosecutor, Aramis Ayala, also Black, is looking to unseat Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Even Crist, a former Republican governor who has served three terms as a congressional Democrat, drew relatively strong support from Black voters in past campaigns.

But heading into the closing days of the campaign, all of the Democrats seeking statewide office are far behind their Republican opponents, polls show.

Republicans are positioned to control the governor’s office, all three Cabinet posts, and both seats in the U.S. Senate for the first time in Florida history.

An unexpected surge in Black support may be the only political Hail Mary left for the Democratic Party’s slate of candidates.

A recent University of North Florida poll showed Crist is the favorite of 78% of Black voters, compared to 13% for DeSantis. Still, CNN exit polling from the 2018 election showed that DeSantis’ opponent that year, former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who is Black, drew 86% of the Black vote, a mark Crist looks unlikely to reach.

In addition, Gillum in 2018 helped drive a sizable turnout, with 61% of Black voters casting ballots that year — close to matching the 63% statewide turnout, overall. In Gadsden, he beat DeSantis, 68%-31%, with 68% turnout of its nearly 30,000 registered voters.

DeSantis won four years ago by 32,463 votes — or less than 1 percentage point. With the Republican governor eager for a resounding re-election win in advance of an expected presidential run in two years, DeSantis is looking to dramatically increase his victory margin on Election Day.

Race 'neutral' or neutralized?:** DeSantis wants 'race neutral' North Florida district — a move that dilutes Black vote, helps Republicans ([link removed])

Democratic activists acknowledge that the party nationally has done little to help in Florida.

Voter mobilization, staff and the bulk of Democratic TV spending has gone to battleground contests elsewhere — not Florida — leaving state Democrats and allied labor unions underfinanced and in charge of most get-out-the-vote efforts.

Demings gets 80% support among Black voters in the UNF poll. But earlier surveys showed that both Demings and Ayala, making their first statewide runs in Florida, still are not well-known to many voters.

Crist making his seventh run as a statewide candidate, can’t expect to match the support Gillum had among Black voters, supporters said.

“If the Crist campaign is banking on Gillum numbers for Black voters, that’s not a good strategy,” said Roxey Nelson, executive vice-president with the Service Employees International Union Local 1199, which is helping to mobilize voters.

Some say a more realistic number for Crist to expect among Black voters can be traced to his earlier run for governor as a Democrat.

In 2014, like this year, a presidential midterm election, Crist narrowly lost to then-Gov. Rick Scott.

Black turnout that year was 45.6%, below the overall statewide voter turnout of 51%, according to analysis by Matthew Isbell, a Tallahassee data consultant.

“Turnout may be lower than usual, but Black voters get it,” said Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project, a national organization focusing on racial justice issues that is working to get younger minority voters to cast ballots this year.

“They know that things that are on the line are things they care about,” she added.

ProPublica:** How Gov. DeSantis blew up Black-held congressional districts in Florida's redistricting fight ([link removed])

DeSantis alarms Black Floridians

Dianis said that DeSantis’ advancing of cultural issues including bans on the discussion of critical race theory in schools and workplaces has alarmed many Black Floridians, worried it’s an effort to downplay or erase Black history. And the arrests of 20 felons for casting ballots despite being barred from voting because they were convicted of sex crimes or murder continues to resonate among Black voters. Most of those arrested had been told they could vote by state officials and were issued voter cards. DeSantis announced the arrests in Broward County, the county with the largest Black population in Florida. At least 15 of those arrested are Black.

While the governor touted the action by his newly created Office of Election Crimes and Security, the first man charged with casting an ineligible vote ** recently had his case dismissed ([link removed])
by a Miami judge who ruled the prosecutor lacked appropriate jurisdiction.

The election crimes office was created earlier this year, part of a second installment of voting law changes spearheaded by DeSantis.

In 2021, DeSantis signed into law a measure adding new requirements on mail-in ballots, drop boxes and registration efforts, which a federal judge ruled discriminated against Black voters, a conclusion later rejected by an appeals court that reinstated much of the law. It's still being appealed.

DeSantis’ takeover of redistricting this year also resulted in the Republican-led Legislature agreeing to new electoral boundaries that positions the GOP to win 20 of the state’s 28 congressional districts, a four-seat increase that could help his party gain control of the U.S. House in November.

As part of the plan, a North Florida congressional district, held since 2016 by Black Democratic ** U.S. Rep. Al Lawson ([link removed])
, a Gadsden County native, was dramatically changed. Lawson is running against ** U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn ([link removed])
, a Panama City Republican, in a district that includes Gadsden County, but now leans decidedly Republican. DeSantis’ redistricting plan scattered 370,000 North Florida Black voters once in Lawson’s district across four districts all expected to elect Republicans.

“These voter suppression tactics are by design,” said Moné Holder, ** director of advocacy and programs for Florida Rising ([link removed])
. In Gadsden County, a rural, formerly tobacco-growing region where 56% of residents are Black, a feeling of inevitability seems to shadow this election season.

“We’re under siege right now,” said Ronny Butler, 61, who retired as a utility worker in nearby Tallahassee. “But, you know, we’ve felt that way a long time. Ron DeSantis, he’s a bully. But I’m skeptical of all politicians this year.”

John Kennedy,
USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau.




FEDERAL


Women in states with abortion bans are turning to telemedicine

Just two years ago, about 250,000 people had abortions in the U.S. states where the procedure is now banned or severely restricted, or probably soon will be. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, allowing those prohibitions to take effect, women are increasingly using telemedicine to get abortion pills. The method is safe and effective, though in states with bans, the delivery mechanism is not legal.

In 27 states, abortion is now banned, likely to be banned or allowed only during the first six weeks of pregnancy. Requests to Aid Access for pills has risen to about 218 a day since the court released its decision at the end of June through September. The largest increases in queries came from states that enacted total abortion bans, as this chart shows:
Data is from Sept. 1, 2021 to June 23, 2022 and from June 24 to Sept. 30, 2022, before and after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. | Source: Aid Access

Clinics in states like Colorado, Illinois and New York have also seen more patients as women travel out of state for abortions. But the shift to telemedicine makes sense for practical reasons. First, having an abortion with pills at home, which has the physical effects of miscarrying, is as safe and effective in the first trimester as going to a clinic.

Second, a quarter of women of childbearing age in the United States live — or will soon live — at least 200 miles from an abortion clinic. That distance is likely to pose an insurmountable obstacle for a significant number of people, especially those with low incomes. The telemedicine option is far cheaper than traveling. Aid Access asks patients for $105 to $150 and will accept less or nothing from people who can’t afford to pay. By contrast, a trip out of state for an abortion often ** takes a few days ([link removed])
and can run to $1,500 or more.

It’s also notable that abortion by telemedicine has risen in states that have not restricted abortion access, suggesting that more women are choosing it for “comfort and privacy” as well as necessity, said Abigail Aiken, a public health researcher at the University of Texas at Austin and a co-author of the study of the Aid Access data.

But providing abortion pills via telemedicine, across state lines, raises legal questions. The Dutch physician Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of Aid Access, writes prescriptions for abortion pills for women in red states, using her Austrian medical license. “I just want to scream, ‘This is a public health emergency!’” one of the doctors, Linda Prine, texted me while I was reporting. Abortion opponents, on the other hand, say their state laws should bind out-of-state providers.

Doctors like Prine, who is 71 and lives in New York, want their home states to shield them from out-of-state prosecutions, lawsuits and threats to their medical licenses. So far, several blue states have passed laws that seek to shield providers who perform abortions for women who travel from states with bans. Over the summer, Massachusetts went a step further, passing a law that aims to shield its providers when they offer telemedicine abortions to people within red states.

A basic premise of the federalist system in the U.S. is that states help enforce each other’s laws. Whether blue states can refuse to do so, on behalf of abortion providers, is an open question.

The bottom line

The answer depends on politics as well as law. Republicans have expected to pay a price for the end of Roe in Tuesday’s midterm elections. If they perform better than expected, legislators and prosecutors in red states may be more likely to aggressively pursue doctors like Prine if they follow through on defying the state abortion bans. They could also try to punish women who receive abortions via telemedicine, though abortion opponents currently say that’s not their plan.

** Emily Bazelon ([link removed])

Staff Writer, NYT Magazine


ALSO in the news:
* Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked a House committee ** from gaining access to Trump’s tax returns ([link removed])
.
* The Supreme Court rejected Senator Lindsey Graham’s request ** to avoid testifying ([link removed])
in a Georgia investigation into Republican efforts to overturn 2020 election results.
* The suspect in the assault of Nancy Pelosi’s husband followed ** extreme right-wing conspiracy theories ([link removed])
for years and told police that he had other targets.



VIDEO of the WEEK

"Arizona is the Florida of the Southwest" Kari Lake tells Judy Woodruff of PBS Newshour in SNL Cold Open skit.

[link removed]



Office Hours

Monday through Friday 10am to 3pm

2345 14^th Ave. Suite 7
Vero Beach 32960

(772) 226-5267

[email protected]


STAY SAFE OUT THERE!


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