Need more proof of the League of Women Voters' liberal leanings? Have a look, as I just did, at the Florida chapter's "2016 Session: Capitol Report Wrap-up."
It's a ringing condemnation of virtually every conservative principle or issue that arose during the legislative session just ended.
I wrote about the League's laughable claims of nonpartisanship and independence two years ago. But since the LWVF redistricting "team" won in court, replacing gerrymandered Republican seats with gerrymandered Democratic seats (apparently two wrongs make a right), it's grown really creepy out there. LWVF leaders strut the Capitol's corridors so far out of the closet with their liberal agenda, they don't care who notices. You have to see it to believe it.
I promise you, Sunshine State News is more nonpartisan than the left-loving LWV -- and we admit to being right of center. The League admits to nothing.
I just wish they would remove the nonpartisan claim from their bio. They're not fooling anybody.
I can't recall more than two, maybe three issues in recent years in which the League has taken even a mildly conservative view.
Perhaps the strongest and most recent evidence that the League's flirtation with the Democratic Party has crossed over to downright romantic obsession is its support letting citizens’ commissions rather than state legislatures draw the boundaries for congressional and state legislative districts. This concept has increasingly become a cause célèbre for Dems nationwide as Republicans have taken control of both houses of legislatures in more than half the states. A recent Supreme Court case upheld the power of such commissions to handle redistricting, with the League of Women Voters joining in on the side of the plaintiff with a friend-of-the-court brief.
It wasn't always like this. Somewhere in the last 20 years, the organization's leadership decided it was OK to take sides and aggressively alienate half the "women voters" in this state and nation -- and many male voters, too.
Don't take my word for it, look at "Capitol Wrap-up" -- subhead: "What a difference a map makes!" written by Debbie Harrison Rumberger, LWVF Legislative Liaison, and signed by LWVF President Pamela Goodman. Here are a few nuggets:
-- "Hammering down on the NRA" ... "What began as an onslaught of dangerous gun bills moving rapidly through the House and Senate Committee meetings ended with not one successful outcome. National Rifle Association (NRA) representative Marion Hammer, the powerful icon of the gun lobby, ended the session with not one gun bill passed through the Legislature. ... A clean sweep -- Campus Carry: dead, Open Carry: dead, SYG amendments: dead. And the lesson: Voters are more valuable than campaign contributions."
-- "Fracking in Florida" ... "Voters also became more powerful than the oil and gas lobby once the new maps were established. ... The final committee stop (for Republican Sen. Garrett Richter's fracking bill) was Senator Tom Lee's Appropriations Committee, where the bill stalled, was heard, was defeated, was called back for reconsideration, and finally, recognizing the waning desire to have a vote for fracking on senators' records, withdrawn and declared dead for the 2016 session."
-- "Education" ... "Is Florida's public school system about educational competency, or corporate greed? The 2016 legislative session began with a continuation of the decade-long attack on Florida's public school system. Last year saw the passage of the corporate tax diversion to voucher schools of choice -- 'schools' that are not held to the same teaching or assessment standards, are often religious in nature, and do not require certified teachers in the classrooms." ... No point in my reminding Goodman and others of the number of women voters in Florida -- parents and teachers included -- who strongly disagree with the LWVF on vouchers.
-- "Solar Tax Exemption" ... "As warming temperatures, erratic weather patterns and rising seas become a visual reality in our state, the Legislature has taken a step to begin leveling the playing field for renewable energy. The measure (HJR 193) will place a constitutional amendment on the August 30 ballot exempting taxes on renewable energy infrastructure for both commercial and residential properties. ... LWVF strongly supported this bill."
-- "Anti-Corruption" ... Probably the only item in the league's report on which both Republicans and Democrats can agree: "An anti-corruption bill (HB 7071) designed to make it easier to prosecute public officials and government contractors for bribery and bid rigging (passed) ... LWVF supported this good bill."
Nothing wrong with these issues, particularly if you live in the blue camp. But for conservatives, there is herein a lot of favored policy trampled on, or missing from this list altogether, and a lot on it they would raise a ruckus over.
I was for many years in the 1980s and 1990s a huge supporter of the League of Women Voters. Why wouldn't I be? Eighteen years ago the LWV presented me with the Susan B. Anthony Award, and I felt truly honored. As a journalist, I was ethically comfortable with that because in Martin County, Fla., in those long ago days, the LWVF was a calm in every election storm. It honored its core, official position, that it is "strictly nonpartisan," neither supporting nor opposing candidates for office at any level of government.
The Stuart News and Port St. Lucie News, when I was managing editor, partnered with the League -- an oracle of election-related wisdom year after year -- to present very successful local candidate forums.
I'm telling you this, as I did in a previous commentary, because I only feel I was partially hoodwinked into thinking the League is a non-ideological, good-government group. Partially, because I'm convinced it once was.
Its changes were subtle until, somewhere during the 1990s, League leaders began to emphasize their "other" role -- claiming the organization is "wholeheartedly political and works to influence policy through advocacy."
"But being nonpartisan does not mean we lack opinions, or the willingness to express them," states the national League of Women Voters website. "Our opinions are formed after research, study and consensus. We are passionate advocates -- both women and men -- who work to influence policy on specific issues by speaking out and putting pressure on our elected leaders."
So, let's see ... nonpartisan, but advocates for specific policy.
Now, that would be a pretty tough line to walk to maintain a reputation for fair play, even if you were a group seen to study all sides of an issue before putting out a policy statement. But when you roll out edicts on handpicked hot topics of the day, and your "specific policy" consistently falls on the same side of the ideological line, then you aren't nonpartisan anymore. You aren't even close.
I was just a little late in accepting it.
What began 96 years ago as a group with the goal of assisting women in exercising their newfound right to vote has become just another interest group that inevitably comes down on the left-of-center side of the big political issues of the day.
Underestimate this organization at your peril. With more than 1,000 local chapters nationwide and 50 state Leagues (and even chapters in the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong), a national headquarters in Washington D.C., and a budget of some $5 million-plus, the League of Women Voters (full name: League of Women Voters of the United States) is a force to be reckoned with. The group is registered as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, which means one of its primary purposes is lobbying. Donations to the League cannot be deducted from income taxes.
I think it's safe to say leaders of the Florida chapter got the lobbying message and are not people who give the folks on the other side of the political fence much of a look and listen. They're embedded right where they are. On the partisan left.
The League is all about transparency in government -- and on that score, good for them. What a shame, though, that they don't turn transparency around on themselves, be honest and change their name to reflect who they really are. They are the League of Liberal Women Voters.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
