By JOHN HACKWORTH
Sun Managing Editor
03/21/08
Charlotte Sun

She is first Democrat to file in legislative race

Betty Gissendanner wants to make sure people have an opportunity to vote for their District 71 state legislator in November.

Gissendanner, 57, plans to announce her candidacy for the District 71 seat at an 11:45 a.m. news conference on the steps of the historic Punta Gorda Courthouse today. She will be the first, and perhaps only, Democrat in the race.

"I think more than anything else," she said of her reasons for running, "is that we have a two-party system that has served us well" and we need to preserve it. "As we look at the system right now, it has not been very balanced."

continued

Hello Charlotte County Democrats! Let’s bring in a Blue Year!

I am Judy “JJ” Juliano, Candidate for State Representative, district 72 that includes portions of Charlotte, Lee and all of DeSoto County.

I am a proud first-generation Italian American. Both sets of Grandparents and my Parents emigrated from Calabria, Italy by way of Ellis Island. They became American citizens, overcoming language barriers and the cultural differences they faced. I am very proud of what Frank and Rose Juliano accomplished in order for their family to have a better life in their adopted country.

I have been working as a medical professional for 23 years in Florida, as a Registered Nurse. During this time, I have cared for, stood up for, and advocated for patients, their families and friends. I have done the same for my family and friends my entire life. Being an advocate for people is what I do best and that is exactly what I will do in your behalf as State Representative.

As a caring person and Nurse, I understand the needs of many. To listen, to find out the needs, and then to address them are among my most important qualities.

For me it's about “People, not Power”.

I am running because I care about the direction of our Communities and our State.

We need a Representative who will stand up and advocate to make the changes we need to streamline our health care costs, improve education, preserve our unique Florida's environment, and keep Florida affordable for all it's citizens . We need a stronger voice to advocate on behalf of the middle class people of our district.

The issues we face are many and varied, much like the characteristics of our District.

People deserve a State Government that is honest, responsive and accountable. We need Representatives who are willing to put our needs above all other interests, including holding onto their own power or personal agenda. It's time to shake up the old conviction in S.W Florida that being a Republican is an entitlement program for election or re-election in our region.

During this time of the New Year, we often think of making changes for ourselves, our families and our community. It is time to make changes in our State; we cannot afford to continue the direction Florida is headed.

I am asking for your vote & your support in whatever way you can afford to help: hosting a fundraiser, offering financial support, or even just walking and talking with me during this election cycle.

I look forward to meeting many of you as I go around our district and hear your concerns and your hopes for the future. I ask you to stand with me so we may walk together towards victory in “08”.

It’s time to turn the “page”, and together, we will!

With warm wishes, I am

“JJ”

Judy Juliano, Candidate, for State Representative

Please visit Julianoforstaterep.org

The Charlotte County Democratic Party is pleased to announce that our State Committee Woman Judy "JJ" Juliano has announced she has filed for Candidate, State Representative District 72.

District 72 includes all of DeSoto and portions of Charlotte and Lee Counties.

Contributions are welcomed, checks payable to : Juliano Campaign

Contact information:

Judy Juliano
P.O. Box 510149
Punta Gorda 33951
941-626-4659

JJ's web site - JulianoforStateRep.org - will be launched soon.

CNN.com
June 13, 2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Subpoenas are being issued to two former White House officials, the first to be subpoenaed in the fired U.S. attorneys investigation.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday issued a subpoena to Sara Taylor, former White House political director. About the same time, it was announced that the House Judiciary Committee will issue a subpoena in the same case to former White House counsel Harriet Miers.

Both committees say they will also subpoena documents from the White House, also a first in the investigation.

The committees have issued subpoenas for officials and documents from the Justice Department. The committees are investigating whether the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year were politically motivated and whether the White House was involved.

[ continued ]

State's plan for '08 is paper ballots with scanner for counting

- Abby Goodnough, Christopher Drew, New York Times

Friday, February 2, 2007
San Francisco Chronicle

(02-02) 04:00 PST Delray Beach, Fla. -- Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of Florida's largest counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election.

Voting experts said Florida's move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic machines. If, as expected, the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nation's biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting, which was widely embraced after the 2000 recount as a state-of-the-art means of restoring confidence that every vote would count.

Several counties around the country, including Cuyahoga in Ohio and Sarasota in Florida, are moving toward exchanging touch-screen machines for ones that provide a paper trail. But Florida could become the first state that invested heavily in the recent rush to touch screens to reject them so sweepingly.

"Florida is like a synonym for election problems. It's the Bermuda Triangle of elections," said Warren Stewart, policy director of VoteTrust USA, a nonprofit group that has advocated optical scanners as more reliable than touch screens. "For Florida to be clearly contemplating moving away from touch screens to the greatest extent possible is truly significant."

http://www.sfgate.com/..

February 1, 2007
christinejenningsforcongress.com

Thank you, Governor Crist

Today was a very important day in the fight to create safe, reliable, and accurate elections in Florida as Gov. Charlie Crist, joined by Congressman Robert Wexler, unveiled a proposal to ensure paper trails for all voting in Florida.

It’s time to remove the black eye that surrounds elections in Florida, and I applaud Governor Crist and Congressman Wexler for showing such leadership on this issue.

The fight to find out what went wrong in the District 13 election is about more than who won or lost an individual election - it’s about fixing a broken system. This is an important step in that process, and I am hopeful that Congress will soon pass paper trail legislation for the entire nation.

Contact your legislators today (http://www.flsenate.gov/..) - tell them to protect our democracy by supporting Gov. Crist's plan for a paper trail.

Thank you for your support,

Christine

by Amy Goodman
January 25, 2007
Seattle Post-Ingelligencer

The new head of the Senate Judiciary Committee was angry. Sen. Patrick Leahy was questioning U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about a man named Maher Arar.

Arar is a Canadian citizen the U.S. detained without charge then sent to Syria in 2002. Leahy fumed: "We knew damn well, if he went to Canada, he wouldn't be tortured. He'd be held. He'd be investigated. We also knew damn well, if he went to Syria, he'd be tortured."

Leahy was responding to Alberto Gonzales' comments that "there were assurances sought that he would not be tortured from Syria." Assurances? From the country that President Bush recently described as the "crossroads for terrorism"? From the country that Bush has vilified and threatened to attack? But before we point the finger at other countries, we have to look here at home.

http://www.commondreams.org/..

Guess who is opening, reading your mail
OUR OPINION: CONGRESS MUST HOLD HEARINGS ON SIGNING STATEMENTS

Editorial
Miami Herald
1/9/2007

The postal legislation that President Bush signed into law last month seems innocent enough. It gives the government the right to open mail without a warrant if there is suspicion that it may contain a bomb, anthrax or some other threatening substance. President Bush said the law gives the government no power that it doesn't already have. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service agrees. But the law isn't as benign as it seems.

This law is more like the Trojan Horse of Greek mythology, in which the Greeks used a hollowed out giant wooden horse to invade and conquer Troy. President Bush attached a ''signing statement'' to the law that allows a president to authorize a search of mail in an emergency to ''protect human life and safety'' and ``for foreign intelligence collection.''

750 signing statements

http://www.miami.com/..

Editorial
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, January 4, 2007

NANCY PELOSI'S election as speaker of the House will bring a moment of history today, to be followed by 100 hours of furious legislative activity.

First, let's pause to recognize the historic significance of the first woman and first Californian to assume a position that will put her second in succession to the presidency of the United States.

http://www.sfgate.com/..

ELECTION 2006: SARASOTA RECOUNT
Analysis: Ballots favored Dems

Sarasota's 'undervotes' were examined in 5 state races.

Jim Stratton | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted November 22, 2006

The group of nearly 18,000 voters that registered no choice in Sarasota's disputed congressional election solidly backed Democratic candidates in all five of Florida's statewide races, an Orlando Sentinel analysis of ballot data shows.

Among these voters, even the weakest Democrat -- agriculture-commissioner candidate Eric Copeland -- outpaced a much-better-known Republican incumbent by 551 votes.

The trend, which continues up the ticket to the race for governor and U.S. Senate, suggests that if votes were truly cast and lost -- as Democrat Christine Jennings maintains -- they were votes that likely cost her the congressional election.

full story at OrlandoSentinel.com