Florida's Legislative Black Caucus to Black Folk : "Hey, We Tried"

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Category: Politics

Published: Wednesday, 24 June 2015 19:27

by Lawrence A. Robinson
Here is a status update that Jasmine Burney made concerning Sen. Geraldine Thompson's press release article in the 'SaintPetersBlog':
"When members of Florida's black caucus met with Gov. Scott about diversity in his cabinet "He indicated (then) that he would only appoint people who thought like him. Apparently, that mindset also applies to approving appropriations for communities where people by and large do not think like him."- Sen. Geraldine Thompson. We still have 3 and half more yrs with this man"

Jasmine Burney: He's the governor he has the pen to make final decisions so for the next 4 yrs he will

have this power. We may have found a silver lining in the fact that he also vetoed a few if his "friends" budget appropriations. They will remember this moment.

SaintPeteBlog article Here 

Lawrence A. Robinson: Thanks for trying Senator Geraldine Thompson, I appreciate your efforts. With 3 more years of Scott in office, are we forced to continue to accept his vetoes or is there an alternative roadway that we can follow? Maybe there is a new path that can be explored or forge?

I don't think that waiting for Gov. Scott's 'friends' turned 'frienemies' to help us is a good strategy. We have got to do this ourselves. It looks like neither Sen. Geraldine Thompson or the Legislative Black Caucus is up to task of actually working for their constituents. Their operating procedure is to introduce a bill and wait for Gov. Scott to veto the bill and then issue a scathing press release saying how they tried.

Rep. Bruce Antone also blamed Gov. Scott for his (Antone's) lack of accomplishment. He told me during a town hall meeting a few years ago, that Scott would promise to sign a bill then later veto that legislation. Rep. Antone told of three separate incidents where Gov. Scott promised then reneged.

Do you not see a pattern, Bruce? How many times does it take before you understand what is happening and work a different strategy?

This is the game that the Central Fl. Black Caucus of Locally Elected Officials play as well. They are very good at the game of pretend. They meet. They talk. They take pictures. They pretend. They ignore. They blame their failures on someone or something else.

Even after being in public office for years, Sen. Geraldine Thompson and Rep. Bruce Antone are playing the same game and have no strategy to make government work for the Black people.

President Obama found ways to get things done even while facing overwhelming opposition. I can't believe that Black Floridians have no choice but to wait three and a half years for Gov. Scott to leave office. Maybe we need to rethink our strategy and take a page from President Obama's playbook.

Or, maybe Sen. Geraldine Thompson, Rep. Bruce Antone the entire membership of the Central Fl. Black Caucus of Locally Elected Officials and the Legislative Black Caucus are just not right for those jobs.