This letter is regarding the essay by Paul Lopez and Jake Blumstein, “Minimum wage exception bill is a lifeline for small businesses.” Despite the fact that the Florida Constitution prescribes a minimum wage, the Legislature will pass a contrary law to make “exceptions” — all voluntary, of course (in House Bill 221).
Never mind that the minimum wage amendment was approved by more than 60% of voters. Republicans in the Legislature will gut it, just like they did on allowing ex-felons to vote and the initiative to protect pristine land and water. Watch the rubber-stamp posers on the state Supreme Court, as they create an exception to say it’s legal “textualism” whenever what the Constitution actually says is contrary to what they want.
In the “free state of Florida” we have freedom as long as it’s what the GOP and its lobbyists say we’re free to do, meaning screwing the will of supermajorities of voters.
James Carbone, Fort Lauderdale
Broward County Commissioner Beam Furr is proposing a sewage wastewater sludge dryer in west Pompano, fueled by methane from the Monarch Hill dump. Sludge dryers are combustible and methane is highly flammable, yet they refuse to provide specifics regarding location and mode of transportation after asking eight months.
There’s a benefit to reducing the volume of sewage sludge to pellets, but Furr would argue this is a good arrangement as it puts methane from the landfill to good use. Captured methane is being used to fuel homes. He might also argue that the dried sludge and residual ash could be used for fertilizer, but that’s dependent upon the grade, and studies show it’s contaminated with carcinogenic PFAs and heavy metals.
The problem lies with the two possible locations: the old hazardous waste dropoff site on Powerline Road, south of Sample Road, and an undeveloped lot on Blount Road adjacent to Florida’s Turnpike next to a school, up the road from Centura Park and Wynmoor.
The county’s silence on this issue portends an ominous outcome for west Pompano, Deerfield Beach and Coconut Creek. If Furr is such a diehard for a sludge dryer, then why not experiment with it in his own home of Hollywood?
Tammy Lettieri, Coconut Creek
Our democratic society is seriously threatened by big money. In 2014, political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page observed that the public has little influence over the policies our government adopts as policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans.
Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United helped get us here. Super PACs and wealthy individuals contribute so heavily to campaigns that they have become more influential than voters.
Nursing home executives’ $4.8 million gift to President Trump’s campaign, resulting in favorable outcome for them, is one of the least egregious examples you could cite. The situation is so much worse. There is a long list of big time donors to Trump’s super PAC that resulted in pardons costing the government (the people) close to a billion dollars in unpaid fees defendants had been ordered to pay as part of their sentences and eroding the people’s confidence in our constitutionally guaranteed right of equal protection under the law.
The rot goes deeper. It’s not only powerful businesses and affluent Americans influencing government policies; foreign actors are also involved. While only American citizens (and immigrants with green cards) can contribute to federal PACs, foreign companies set up PACs to collect contributions from their American employees with no limits on foreign donations to our education systems, where policies are incubated and young minds are shaped.
Holly Rothkopf, Boynton Beach
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