Background Briefing: November 12, 2018

On By gram

 

Demagoguery and Florida’s Incomplete Vote Count

We begin with the contested electoral results in Florida amid increasingly nasty charges by Governor Scott who is clinging on to a narrow lead in the race for the U.S. Senate calling Senator Nelson “a sore loser” and alleging “he’s just here to steal this election” while President Trump weighs in with outrageous lies that “large numbers of ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged”. Dr. Susan MacManus, the Distinguished University Professor of Political Science at the University of South Florida who served as the Chair of the Florida Elections Commission joins us to discuss the lawsuits flying around the vote tallies which are incomplete with a likely recount by hand pending in the close race for the U.S. Senate. Once again as was the case with the infamous butterfly ballot in the Florida 2000 election debacle, the formatting of the ballot in heavily populated Democratic-leaning Broward County seems to be another case of the Democrats shooting themselves in the foot. The confusing layout of the ballot in Broward County prepared by the election supervisor who is a Democrat and approved by the local Democratic Party might explain why there was an under-vote for Senator Nelson on the same ballots with votes cast for the Democrat for Governor Andrew Gillum.

 

What is Causing California’s Devastating Wildfires

Then we look into the wildfires in California with a lot of attention focused on the destruction of homes belonging to celebrities in Malibu while the worst loss of life occurred in the burnt-out Northern California town of Paradise where over 200 are still unaccounted for. Leroy Westerling, the co-director of the Center for Climate Communication at the University of California, Merced joins us to discuss the role of climate change in the increasingly parched state of California and the management of forests which President Trump blames for the devastating fires. Citing without evidence poor forest management which many see as Trump parroting the talking points for lumber companies who want to harvest protected forests.

 

Beto’s Example of Small Donations is the Way Forward for Democrats to Run Against Corruption

Then finally we speak with Lawrence Lessig, a Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School and founder of EqualCitizensUS, a non-profit dedicated to reforms that will achieve citizen equality. He joins us to discuss his article at The Guardian “Beto O’Rourke’s biggest blind spot cost him Texas. Democrats take note”, and how the strongest message Democrats could run on is anti-corruption with Beto’s successful example of record fundraising from small donations being the way forward to sever the corrupt ties of big money in our politics.