Florida Family Action
Fighting for Life, Marriage, Family and Liberty Florida Family Action is the state's premier social conservative organization
Coalition of Faith Leaders Oppose Casino Gambling Expansion
Tallahassee – On Tuesday, November 1, 2011, in Tallahassee, leaders of four statewide organizations joined voices in opposing the expansion of gambling and specifically legislation that would authorize some of the largest casinos in the world to set up in Florida. Representatives from the Florida Catholic Conference, the Florida Baptist Convention, the Florida Family Policy Council
and Casino Watch all expressed their concern over the negative consequences the explosion of gambling in new mega casinos would bring to Florida.
The conference was opened by Bill Warren, Director of Policy and Communications of Florida Family Action. State Represenative Dennis Baxley and Rachel Burgin were both in attendance to show support and make statements.
John Stemberger, President of Floirida Family Action, the lobbying arm of the Florida Family Policy Council said that the 
organization would hold elected officials accountable for gambling votes through a number of means including: tracking
votes on a hall of shame and hall of fame; asking legislators to sign a “No Casinos Pledge”; and following the money of which members are taking gambling PAC money. Stemberger said, “We will not sit idly back as the gambling industry attempts to buy out Florida and her elected officals with the corrupting influence of gaming money that is floating around Tallahassee like a bad flu bug.” Stemberger’s full statement can be found here.
The Florida Catholic Conference has a long standing record of opposing new gambling in Florida. D. Michael McCarron, Executive Director of the Florida Catholic Conference, argued that casinos prey on the neediest of our society. “For those
who are struggling to make ends meet, casino gambling can provide an attractive means to relieve financial burdens, which ultimately only leads to crushing debt and personal crises. We oppose the current proposals in view of the potential
harm to the common good of the residents of our state.”
Bill Bunkley with the Florida Baptist Convention also appeared and had the most passionate presentation. Bunkley stated, “If left unchecked this tidal wave of gambling expansion, in our state will leave in its wake pain and destruction in the lives of countless people especially the poor and the elderly.”
Mark Andrews, Chairman of Casino Watch, which regularly exposes the dark side of gambling, has witnessed the impacts of gambling in his former home state of Missouri and is committed to working to prevent those same results here. “A recent study by one of Florida’s sheriffs warns of an escalation in crime and the cost of addressing it. Surely this kind of study should be taken
seriously before we jump from the frying pan into the fire.”
Tea Party Vitriol Could Come Back to Bite the GOP
788 days
by admin
in In The News
Tamara Lytle
(March 24) — Republican leaders have distanced themselves from the tea party activists who hurled racist and homophobic invective at lawmakers during the health care debate over the weekend. But the images could still hurt the GOP because it has courted the outraged conservatives of the loose tea party movement.
“It’s very dangerous for the Republicans to be associated with hate rhetoric,” Jane Elmes-Crahall, a professor at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and an expert on political rhetoric, told AOL News. If political debate stays so heated, it will have a boomerang effect, driving people who see themselves as moderates away from the “us versus them” choice that conservatives have presented, she said. “It will turn on Republicans.”
Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Republican leaders have made it clear that some of the actions of protesters are inexcusable. But the message from most of the rest of the protesters is one that jibes with Republican values, namely that “government is spending too much. It’s taxing too much, and it’s not producing the jobs it promised,” he said.
The debate got more personal last weekend as House members worked through the landmark health care reform bill. Outside the Capitol, protesters spit on one African-American lawmaker and reportedly yelled racial and anti-gay epithets at others.
“You are going to see some fringe in every movement,” said conservative activist John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council. “You can’t control who comes to a rally. It’s the nature of an open process.” (more…)
Supreme Court pick blasted by conservatives
TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointment of Circuit Judge James Perry, who is black, to the Florida Supreme Court cheered civil, gay and abortion rights groups but drew criticism Wednesday from social conservatives who had lobbied for another nominee.
The announcement gives the seven-member high court a second black justice and keeps with Crist’s high-profile push for more diversity in Florida’s judicial system. Besides Perry and Chief Justice Peggy Quince, who also is black, the Supreme Court has one other female, Justice Barbara Pariente, and one Hispanic, Justice Jorge Labarga.
“We have a very diverse state and I think it’s important that our court understands all the perspectives that make Florida a beautiful place to live,” Crist said.
Perry, 65, of Sanford, has served in the 18th Circuit covering Brevard and Seminole counties since 2000, including a term as chief judge. He is Florida’s fourth black justice. His wife, Adrienne Perry, is a Stetson University law professor. (more…)
Gov Crist Rejects Lawson Most Qualified Candidate for Supreme Court- Appoints Perry
Florida Governor Charlie Crist Rejects Most Qualified Supreme Court Nominee Endorsed by PBA, Law Enforcement, NRA, Right to Life and other Pro-Life / Pro-Family Groups
Instead Appoints Judge Endorsed by Planned Parenthood and Homosexual Activists
(Tallahassee, FL) Today, Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist announced the appointment of Judge James E.C. Perry of Sanford and rejected Judge Alan Lawson for the Florida Supreme Court. Governor Crist received an estimated 25-30,000 e-mails, faxes, phone calls and letters in support of Lawson from the people of Florida on this fourth and final appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Judge James Perry was heavily supported by Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States; Equality Florida, the leading homosexual activist group in Florida (and the leading opponents against Amendment 2, the Florida Marriage Amendment); the NAACP; and several other left leaning groups.
