With Florida’s Corrine Brown, family does come first

Florida’s ethically challenged politicians (and we specialize in these) includes a democrat from up north. She is Rep. Corrine Brown (from the Jacksonville area), who represents Florida’s 3rd congressional district, a gerrymandered political district if there ever was one.

Check out the map, Ms. Brown’s district starts in Jacksonville and snakes its way down south of Orlando for hundreds of miles. The district is often tied together (and not compactly as the law states) by bridges, streams or railroad tracks. It’s all done to assure Corrine the black voters she needs to almost assure her a political victory every time she runs.

Corrine’s district is the result of the 1990 redistricting process where black politicians in Tallahassee negotiated a deal in Florida’s capital assuring them of winning districts (which at the time included the now retired Carrie Meek’s) in exchange for democrats losing power over the state – something they had held since the beginning of time.

Ms. Brown and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart recently sued (and lost in court) to have the new laws (approved by more than 60% of Florida voters) on the redistricting process thrown out. You see, Corrine and Mario both benefited at some point with this ultimately political and definitely faulty process known as redistricting.

It’s why the latest on Corrine is not surprising. Not to me, anyway. It deals with a study conducted by The Washington Post where members of Congress earmarked bills that seemed to help them or family members directly. In the case of Ms. Brown, The Washington Post reported that “Between 2005 and 2010, Brown helped secure $21.9 million for six clients of a lobbying firm where her daughter works. The clients paid the firm more than $1 million to represent them before Congress. Brown was the sole sponsor of $1.79 million in earmarks sent to a seventh client, the Community Rehabilitation Center, while her daughter worked as a lobbyist on behalf of the center, the Florida Times-Union reported in 2010. The congresswoman declined requests for an interview. Her daughter did not respond to requests for comment.”

Ahhh, our Congress. It really is the best money can buy. There’s a big list of these politicians… See it for yourself by clicking here.

Alvaro F. Fernandez