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2009 June 22

Daily Archives: June 22, 2009

Supreme Court upholds core provision of the Voting Rights Act

"In a decision announced this morning, the Supreme Court upheld the 1965 Voting Rights Act - a law that has done more to expand and strengthen our democracy than any other," said Donna Brazile, who learned first hand as Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000, the first election stolen by George W. Bush, mostly by suppressing the Black vote. "It's good news - but the fight to protect voting rights doesn't end there. Attacks on this critical law will not stop. And voter suppression tactics will continue to plague our elections."

Save the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Few events reflect the priorities of elected officials more vividly than a budget crisis. It is during a budget crisis that policy-makers are forced to choose between the interests of powerful or popular constituencies and the needs of the less powerful and most vulnerable citizens. Presently, this drama is being played out in San Francisco, where social and legal services to the poor are being slashed while Police and Fire Department budgets are being protected. This Faustian bargain is displayed in Mayor Newsom's proposal $1.9 million cut to the Public Defender's budget, while adding $18 million to the Police Department budget.

Haiti’s voters support Lavalas, boycott election

Haiti's largest political movement and party, Fanmi Lavalas, organized a second successful boycott of Senate elections yesterday, posing a serious challenge to their credibility. President Rene Preval's handpicked Conseil Electoral Provisoire (CEP) excluded the Fanmi Lavalas party from participation in the elections on a technicality.