Dear friends,
Please join the Democratic Women's Club of Bonita & Naples as well as the Florida Democrats and Pax Christi Naples in a statewide

Pax Christi Naples protests
—Governor Jeb Bush's support of the death penalty in Florida.
Pax Christi unequivocally opposes the death penalty and requests that Governor Jeb Bush stay the execution of Paul Hill this Wednesday as well as abolish the death penalty in Florida.  FAST FACT:  No country in the Western alliance, except the United States, kills its own citizens. Florida executes more people and has more prisoners on death row than any other state except Texas.

—Exclusion of legitimate voters from the polls.  Florida refuses to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that requires "if an individual declares that he or she is a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which they are attempting to vote but their name does not appear on the official list of eligible voters, they are to be permitted to cast a provisional ballot.”  Tens of thousand of eligible legitimate voters were wrongly purged from the Florida voter rolls prior to the 2000 Election. They still have not been returned to the voter rolls since the 2000 Presidential Election despite a successful lawsuit settled against Katherine Harris as FL Secretary of State by the NAACP. These voters were denied their civil rights in 2000 and again in 2002. They will again be denied the right to vote in 2004 because Florida legislature refuses to appropriate the funds needed for FL to conform to the HAVA requirements.  For more details see the Floridians Deserve the Vote letter on our website at http://www.pcnaples.org under John's Letters.

—Refusal to decrease class sizes, despite the Florida Constitutional Amendment #9 (which passed with a 53% vote) mandating a reduction.
Instead of reducing class sizes and providing Florida students with quality education, Governor Bush has reduced high school graduation requirements by six whole credits, in effect, depriving Florida students of an entire year of education.  Moreover, classes sizes  have increased an average of 10 students per class in our local high schools.  

—Refusal to build the high-speed rail.  Two years ago, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring FL to begin construction on a high-speed rail system linking FL's five largest cities.  The legislature has failed to provide any funding to its $20 billion cost.

—Refusal to raise taxes to fund the reduced class sizes and rail Amendments.  The executive office of Governor has a responsibility to provide leadership to the legislature in order to effect changes mandated by the voters.  Mr. Bush has failed to provide that leadership.

—Refusal to raise the minimum wage.  300,000 Floridians work for minimum wage, which is $5.15 per hour or $10,000 per year.  Governor Jeb Bush opposed raising the state minimum wage.