FL: Removing non-U.S. citizens from voter rolls has majority support in Sunshine State
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— Sixty percent of Florida voters support Gov. Rick Scott‘s efforts to remove non- U.S. citizens from county voter registration rolls, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. The release of the poll on Wednesday coincides with the myriad of lawsuits filed against and on behalf of the governor’s campaign to enact…
FL: As state appeals pension decision, cities driven to reform
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA—In the Supreme Court of Florida on June 11, attorneys for Gov. Rick Scott filed the first brief in their appeal against a lower court’s ruling barring mandatory pension contributions from state employees. A 2011 National Bureau of Economic Research study first alarmed state officials to the magnitude of the pension problem, calculating that yearly contributions to…
OSSOWSKI: Obama’s pledge to halt deportations: A legal immigrant’s take
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — It was the memorandum heard around the world. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security sent out a letter outlining how young undocumented immigrants, whether enrolled in school or enlisted in the military, should not be subject to deportation proceedings and should be considered for work visas that would allow…
FL: Welcome to Fantasyland: America’s mayors come to Orlando, forget to discuss pension reform
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ORLANDO— Mayors from cities across the United States have traded the heated council meetings and stressful budget negotiations of their respective municipalities for the sunshine and amusement parks of central Florida. But despite the scores of elected municipal leaders attending the 80th annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Orlando, the official agenda forgoes…
FL: House candidate wants to deport illegal immigrants ‘taking American jobs’
By Yaël Ossowski and Marianela Toledo | Florida Watchdog PEMBROKE PINES — Speaking exclusively to Florida Watchdog, businesswoman Karen Harrington laid out her case for the Republican nomination in the battle for the Congressional District 23 seat against Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “The first thing we have to do is not spend more money than we take in,” she…
FL: Stalled by GOP convention committee, Ron Paul festival goes on
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — During the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, more than 10,000 supporters of Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paulgathered at a competing celebration they dubbed the “Rally for the Republic,” complete with speeches, music and campaign flair meant to clash with the official convention across town. The rally was organized…
FL: GOP Senate hopeful Connie Mack shrugs off primary opponents
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— While television viewers recover from last season’s ratings bonanza known as the GOP presidential primary debates, voters in Florida learned this week that the next season’s senatorial debates will be aired without the cameo of one of the most important contestants: Cornelius McGillicuddy IV. Two months to the…
FL: After attempts to reform voting and pensions, Gov. Rick Scott remains a perpetual defendant
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— In the state of Wisconsin, it took an $80-million recall election to validate Gov. Scott Walker‘s fiscal reforms on public-sector collective bargaining and pension requirements for state employees. In Florida, where similar legislation has been passed and signed into law, the biggest impediment to Gov. Rick Scott‘s agenda has not been…
FL: Rick Scott defends voter reforms on CNN, Fox News
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog Florida Gov. Rick Scott responds to questions about his voter reforms being blocked by the federal government during an interview Tuesday with Christine Romans, host of CNN’s “Starting Point.” TAMPA— In the past two days, Gov. Rick Scott has been busy on the national airwaves defending his attempts to legitimize voter…
Sunshine Staters: Meet your candidates for federal office
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — Florida‘s political season is ready to move full steam ahead. With the statewide primary for the Democratic and Republican parties set for Aug 14, voters in theSunshine State have been presented with a slate of 120 candidates for27 House congressional seats and 11 for the U.S. Senate. Of those…
FL: Congressional candidate calls himself “terrorist watchdog”
By Yaël Ossowski and Marianela Toledo | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— In an interview with Florida Watchdog, congressional candidate Joe Kaufman laid out his case for seeking the GOP nomination in Florida’s 23rd district, the newly-drawn seat held by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. Kaufman is a journalist and activist, concentrating on “combating bigotry and exposing the activities of radical extremist organizations,” according…
Supporters vow to fight on after Barrett concedes
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter MILWAUKEE— The crowd downtown was mum by 9 p.m. at the election night rally for supporters of Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tom Barrett. Eyes were glued to the large plasma screen television in the corner, where MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was breaking the news that projections from her own news…
Frustrations, excitement grip voters on election day in Wisconsin
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter MILWAUKEE — At Marquette University in downtown, the line to vote extended past the entrance of the door and turned left down a hallway of offices. Students with backpacks stood alongside dozens of parents towing child behind them, giving them a glimpse of the tranquil process that has been…
At small suburban elementary school in Wisconsin, Walker casts vote
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter MILWAUKEE— Voter number 51 at Jefferson Elementary School in Wauwatosa. As a testament to fair democracy, despite the sea of millions of ballots to be cast in the Badger State gubernatorial recall election Tuesday, this single vote is counted just like any other. Though the ballot cast was that of…
In final night, Walker supporters rally to end recall discord
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter MILWAUKEE — And so it comes to judgment day. All across Wisconsin, voters head to the polls to record their voice in what has become the most bitter battle for hearts and minds that the Badger State has ever known. On the eve of election day, just nine hours…
Union coalition makes push in last day before election
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter MILWAUKEE — At canvassing sites across Wisconsin, union-backed coalitions are preparing their final lists of identified voters determined to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. At a downtown field office, We Are Wisconsin, a grassroots voter education and mobilization group functioning as a political action committee, volunteers have erected large poster boards…
Preibus meets the troops in Wisconsin
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter WAUWATOSA — After the tea party tidal wave hit the national and state capitols during the mid-term elections in 2010, establishment Republicans seemed uncertain on what this grassroots energy would become once given the reins of governance. Less than 20 months later, the battle that initially set its eyes…
Walker, with SC’s Haley, builds on message at Sussex factory
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter SUSSEX — Among the humming of printing presses and beeps of forklifts in the distance, Gov.Scott Walker addressed a crowd of factory workers at the Quad Graphics plant here Friday afternoon, playing to a group eager to hear his message on job creation and fiscal restraint. They have lived in the real…
Political reindeer games, crime stats in WI recall race
By Yaël Ossowski | Wisconsin Reporter MILWAUKEE — At the zenith of the hotly contested and increasingly partisan campaign to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who knew the divisive political discourse would center on what constitutes a “violent” crime? This follows an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which determined that more than 500 cases of aggravated assault were downgraded…