Here's the e-mail I sent Governor Scott yesterday about the contumacious chair of the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission, tobacco and liquor lobbyist JASON UNGER:
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: Jack.Reid
Sent: Sat, Nov 26, 2016 11:24 am
Subject: Jason Unger resignation; Venue for 11/28 meeting; Please place letters of recommendation and all other Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission documents on Governor's website; my Open Records Request 2016-436
Dear Governor Scott, Mr. Reid and Ms. Gorman:
1. Will you please order the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission to meet in a government building such as the Palm Room at Orlando Public Library, and not at a louche lobbyist's lair (GrayRobinson office in Orlando)?
2. Will you please place on the Governor's website all of the letters of recommendation and other documents on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission?
3. JASON UNGER snail-mailed me a second thumb drive, containing letters of recommendation. I received it yesterday, the day after Thanksgiving, November 25, 2016. A few letters are PDFs, and readable. The majority are in UNIX, and not readable. This is not transparency.
4. JASON UNGER has never spoken to me by telephone. JASON UNGER is insensitive to transparency and public participation, ignoring my question about scheduling time for public comment during the Florida Supreme Court JNC meeting, which begins in a little more than 48 hours.
5. It is a conflict of interest and an appearance of impropriety for a tortfeasor, tobacco, liquor and municipal lobbyist to chair the Commission helping pick our next Supreme Court Justice. Don't you agree?
6. Will you please terminate today, or ask JASON UNGER to resign, as our Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission Chair?
7. Thank you again for placing the eleven (11) Supreme Court applications on the Governor's website -- I look forward to your promptly reversing the Berger and King redactions, which appear to violate Article I, Section 24 of our Florida Constitution and F.S. 119.
With kindest regards, I am,
 |
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: Jack.Reid
Sent: Fri, Nov 25, 2016 12:21 pm
Subject: Thank you for prompt response on Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission documents; my Open Records Request 2016-436
Dear Governor Scott, Mr. Reid and Ms. Gorman:
Thank you for placing all eleven Supreme Court applications on the Governor's Open Government website by 5:33 PM on November 23, 2016.
I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your promptness, kindness, courtesy and public service, in working to vindicate the peoples' Right to Know late on Wednesday afternoon, on the day before Thanksgiving.
This prompt action helps remedy the delays and desuetude by GRAYROBINSON lobbyist JASON UNGER, who chairs the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominations Commission. Mr. UNGER snail mailed me a computer thumb drive, never acting on my request to place it on a website. This was an appearance of impropriety.
Lobbyist JASON UNGER still refuses to schedule Supreme Court JNC meetings for a government building, insisting on meeting in the offices of GRAYROBINSON. This is an appearance of impropriety.
Please advise or instruct Florida Supreme Court JNC Chairman Unger to change the November 28, 2016 Florida Supreme Court JNC meeting location to the Orlando Public Library Palm Room.
I greatly look forward to hearing from your office soon on redactions. Please reverse Wendy Berger's and Brad King's redactions of the employer names for their spouse and adult offspring. Please remedy their apparent violations of Article I, Section 24 of our Florida Constitution and F.S. 119 before the Florida Supreme Court JNC meeting commences on November 28, 2016.
Thank you for all that you do!
Happy Holidays!
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: Jack.Reid
Sent: Wed, Nov 23, 2016 3:58 pm
Subject: (Corrected) EXPEDITED RELEASE OF Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission documents; my Open Records Request 2016-436
corrected
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: Jack.Reid
Sent: Wed, Nov 23, 2016 2:43 pm
Subject: EXPEDITED RELEASE OF Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission documents; my Open Records Request 2016-436
Dear Governor Scott and Mr. Reid:
1. Please direct the Supreme Court JNC to hold its 11/28 meeting in a government building, and not in the Orlando office at GrayRobinson.
The Orlando Public Library's Palm Room is both suitable and available. No further excuses are desired or required from Mr. Jason Unger, a tobacco and alcohol lobbyist who chairs the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission.
2. On November 15, 2016, I first requested from JNC Chair Mr. Jason Unger "copies of all the Supreme Court vacancy applications and recommendations."
3. Mr. Jason Unger did not refer my request to you, or acknowledge your authority as Governor, until today, eight (8) days later.
4. Please provide the records today. Again, JNC meets 11/28 (Monday), in five (5) days. Mr. Unger delayed my request.
5. Mr. Jason Unger has provided eleven redacted applications, but no other records.
6. Mr. Jason Unger wrongfully withheld the employer names of two candidates' adult offspring and spouse, respectively.
7. These are our records -- please release them today.
Happy Thanksgiving.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Reid, Jack
To: Ed Slavin
Cc: Gorman, Amanda
Sent: Wed, Nov 23, 2016 1:41 pm
Subject: Re: Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission meeting; Open Records Request Redactions
Good Afternoon Mr. Slavin,
Governor Rick Scott’s Office of Open Government received your request for records, a copy of which is below for your reference. A search for responsive records will be initiated and someone from this office will be back in touch with you soon. If the search produces a volume of records which indicates that there will be a fee associated with your request, you will be provided with a fee estimate for your review. Thank you for contacting the Executive Office of the Governor, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Jack Reid
Director, Office of Open Government
Executive Office of Governor Rick Scott
PL-04 The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399
(850) 717-9248
Please note that Florida has a broad public records law, and that all correspondence to me via email may be subject to disclosure. Under Florida law email addresses are public records.
Learn more about how Governor Rick Scott is creating an environment where private-sector jobs can grow and Florida’s schools prepare students for college and careers. Sign up to receive Governor Scott’s e-mail updates at www.FLGov.com/newsletter.
From: Jason Unger
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2016 12:05 PM
To: Ed Slavin
Cc: Reid, Jack
Subject: Re: Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission meeting; Open Records Request Redactions
Thank you Mr. Slavin, and Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. I've copied Jack Reid from the Governor's Office of Open Government so he can review your request. The Governor's Office is custodian of the records, and has the original, unredacted applications in its possession.
Sent from my iPhone
Jason Unger | Managing Shareholder
G R A Y | R O B I N S O N
301 South Bronough Street, Suite 600 | Tallahassee, Florida 32301
T: 850-577-9090 | F: 850-577-3311 | D: 850-577-5489
E-mail | Website | Bio | vCard
Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
On Nov 23, 2016, at 7:30 AM, Ed Slavin
Dear Mr. Unger:
A. Our Florida Open Records Act exemptions are "narrowly construed." The two quoted sections you sent me from your iPhone yesterday at 3:26 PM both appear to be inapplicable. F.S. 119.071(4)(d)(2)(c) and F.S. 119.071(4)(d)(2)(d).
B. Did you speak to Judge Berger and Mr. King? Did you do any research? Are you personally asserting the exemptions? Is JNC? Is Judge Berger? Is Mr. King? Have you or anyone else received any legal advice from Assistant Florida Attorney General Pat Gleason? From someone else? Please provide all pertinent documents the invocation of these two exemptions. Again, our Florida Open Records Act exemptions are narrowly construed. Some of the information for which you assert "exemptions" is:
1. already published in one of the two applications, or
2. already published in newspapers (along with Larry Berger's photo), or
3. already published on the Florida Bar website.
This makes your November 22, 2016 e-mail -- and its unreasoned, undocumented, unexplained, unadorned and uninformed ukase asserting exemptions -- at best, facetious.
C. Please cease and desist from obstructing, blocking and resisting publishing online the text of the eleven applications on a website.
D. Kindly stop blocking public access to data concerning possible conflicts of interest by applicants Brad King and Wendy Berger.
E. Kindly disclose by 3 PM today:
1. the name of CEO/EVP Larry Berger's corporate employers;
2. the name of Sheriff's Deputy Chase King's specific Sheriff's Department employer;
3. the name of the specific Court of Appeals Judge for whom Andrew King clerks at the 1st DCA in Tallahassee.
Then we'll be done.
F. The names of one spouse and two adult offspring in quo are already disclosed. I merely asked you for the identity of their employers, not "addresses" or "places of employment." Your rote invocation of inapplicable "exemptions" is violating the rights of 20 million residents of Florida and our constitutional Right to Know. Florida Const., Article I, Section 24. This violates our First and Ninth Amendment rights.
G. We, the People all have an indefeasible Right to Know about potential conflicts of interest, self-dealing and nepotism by all applicants who aspire to be our Florida Supreme Court Justices.
I. Judge Berger's husband, Larry Berger, is admittedly a corporate CEO and EVP, thus potentially seeking government favors and contracts without disclosing for what corporations he works. For which corporations? Keeping that information secret has no valid public function. It is deeply offensive -- it would deprive journalists of the ability to report the news. It would deny potential witnesses of the right to provide information to JNC on November 28th. It would deny potentially affected parties of the right to file recusal motions and ethics complaints. Fifth Circuit State's Attorney Bradley King's son, Chase King, is a Sheriff's Deputy. For what Sheriff's Department? Keeping the name of the Sheriff's Department for which Deputy Chase King works secret from public knowledge likewise has no valid public function. It is unseemly. It is unAmerican. As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote, "… secrecy is for losers." Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Secrecy: The American Experience (1998).
J. I have not asked for:
c. The home addresses, dates of birth, and telephone numbers of current or former justices of the Supreme Court, district court of appeal judges, circuit court judges, and county court judges; the home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and places of employment of the spouses and children of current or former justices and judges; and the names and locations of schools and day care facilities attended by the children of current or former justices and judges are exempt from s. 119.07(1).
d.(I) The home addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, dates of birth, and photographs of current or former state attorneys, assistant state attorneys, statewide prosecutors, or assistant statewide prosecutors; the home addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, photographs, dates of birth, and places of employment of the spouses and children of current or former state attorneys, assistant state attorneys, statewide prosecutors, or assistant statewide prosecutors; and the names and locations of schools and day care facilities attended by the children of current or former state attorneys, assistant state attorneys, statewide prosecutors, or assistant statewide prosecutors are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.
(II) The names of the spouses and children of current or former state attorneys, assistant state attorneys, statewide prosecutors, or assistant statewide prosecutors are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.
(III) Sub-sub-subparagraph (II) is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15, and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2018, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
F.S. 119.071(4)(d)(2)(c) and F.S. 119.071(4)(d)(2)(d).
K. Where will the November 28, 2016 meeting of the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission be held? In the Palm Room at the Orlando Public Library? That's what I suggested by November 20, 2016 e-mail, to which you did not respond. If not, why not?
L. Or will FSCJNC still be meeting in your GrayRobinson lobbyist/law firm offices in Orlando? If so, why?
M. What makes you so insensitive about conflicts of interest and appearances of impropriety as to insist on meeting in the offices of a 300 lawyer corporate law firm? After you criticized courthouse operating hours, I responded. I gave you an attractive, accessible and easily attainable alternative -- Orlando Public Library's Palm Room, open until 8 PM. That alternative easily avoids the appearance of impropriety of the Florida Supreme Court JNC meeting in the offices of your 300 lawyer corporate law firm, one where you work as Managing Shareholder, and where you daily do lobbying work for liquor, tobacco, municipal, health care and other special interests.
N. Will public comment be taken at the JNC's November 28, 2016 meeting? Please place it on the agenda.
O. I have asked the staff of the new Speaker of our Florida State House of Representatives, Rep. Richard Corcoran, to investigate our Florida Supreme Court JNC's actions as part of the Speaker's anticipated crackdown on the undue and corrupting influence of lobbyists in Tallahassee. I have shared this e-mail with Speaker Corcoran.
P. Please call me to discuss, today. As RFK once wrote to Sen. James O. Eastland, "Repent now, there's still time."
Happy Thanksgiving, Chairman Unger.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Unger
To: easlavin
Sent: Tue, Nov 22, 2016 3:26 pm
Subject: Re: Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission meeting; Open Records Request Redactions
Mr. Slavin,
Please see exemptions under F.S. 119.071(4)(d)(2)(c) and F.S. 119.071(4)(d)(2)(d). A website link is provided below for your convenience. Thank you.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0100-0199/0119/Sections/0119.071.html
Sent from my iPhone
Jason Unger | Managing Shareholder
G R A Y | R O B I N S O N
301 South Bronough Street, Suite 600 | Tallahassee, Florida 32301
T: 850-577-9090 | F: 850-577-3311 | D: 850-577-5489
E-mail | Website | Bio | vCard
Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
On Nov 21, 2016, at 3:09 PM, Ed Slavin
Dear Mr. Unger:
Thank you for the thumb drive containing the eleven (11) applications. I received it today.
A. Please note the following questionable redactions or material omissions of fact, which I have noticed thus far:
1. The names of the employers of Brad King's adult children (which Sheriff? Which DCA Judge? Which State's Attorney? All are public records.)
2. The name of Wendy Berger's husband, where he is employed as CEO and EVP (she does not list those corporations among likely recusals in response to Q34).
Since Judge Berger's husband's name (Larry)(and photograph) appeared in the newspapers upon her inauguration as DCA judge, there is no legitimate purpose served in omitting either that or the name of his current corporate employers.
B. These omissions may suggest a lack of openness and candor on the part of these two applicants and require further scrutiny.
C. Please provide the requested information today, pursuant to F.S. 119 and Article I, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Unger
To: easlavin
Cc: Cynthia Angelos
Sent: Sat, Nov 19, 2016 11:41 am
Subject: RE: Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request
Thank you Mr. Slavin. I have no documents responsive to your request below as the venue selection was done orally at our October meeting.
I appreciate your concerns and will call you as requested, but law firm offices are typically used for such interviews because JNCs are independent, constitutionally created bodies with no state funding. Government buildings and courthouses can be problematic in that they generally close by 5:00 pm (interviews and deliberations will continue well past 5:00 pm) and don't have dedicated staff to assist JNCs with the copying/printing of documents, etc.
The interviews on November 28th are open to the public and, per the Florida Channel, will be broadcast live throughout the state.
Jason Unger | Managing Shareholder
G R A Y | R O B I N S O N
301 South Bronough Street, Suite 600 | Tallahassee, Florida 32301
T: 850-577-9090 | F: 850-577-3311 | D: 850-577-5489
E-mail | Website | Bio | vCard
Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
From: Ed Slavin [easlavin@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2016 9:35 AM
To: Jason Unger
Subject: Re: Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request
Dear Chairman Unger:
1. Please respond to my questions about your scheduling the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission meeting at GrayRobinson offices.
2. GrayRobinson is a 300 lawyer corporate law firm that represents government contractors, various seekers of government favors and alleged polluters, fraudfeasors, oligopolists, white collar criminals and other influential special interests who dominate our government.
3. Picking the next Florida Supreme Court Justice in a meeting in your Orlando GrayRobinson law firm office shows very poor judgment. Your venue selection is, at best, unseemly. Can you imagine how your six Supreme Court Justice recommendations to Governor Scott might be viewed by all of the people who are plaintiffs or defendants in cases where GrayRobinson represents a party? Put yourself in their shoes. Show transparency, please. Show empathy, respect and consideration for the majority of the people in the State of Florida, who are not rich, powerful or corporate officers.
4. As our Florida House of Representatives Speaker-elect Richard Corcoran has said, it is a "disgrace" that Florida city and county governments hire lobbyists in Florida, or to feel that they are obliged to hire a bagman-fundraiser-lobbyist-bundler to be heard by our legislators in Tallahassee.
5. You, sir, are the Managing Shareholder of GrayRobinson and are the registered lobbyist for at least three (3) Florida city governments and numerous special interests, including liquor and tobacco companies.
6. For a lobbyist to chair the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission is bad enough, but holding the JNC meeting in your own GrayRobinson law firm office is a stench in the nostrils of our Nation. It is freighted with the odor of special interest domination of the judicial selection process for the next Justice of our Florida Supreme Court.
7. Why did the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission ever even think of scheduling the meeting for a corporate law firm office instead of a public building, like a Courthouse?
8. Who authorized it in the Governor's office? Anyone? Please provide documents.
9. Who suggested it on the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission? Was it you? Was there a vote to pick the venue, or did you decide unilaterally? Please provide all documents on the selection of your chosen venue, which is, at best, an appearance of impropriety.
10. Will you and the other members of the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission kindly agree to relocate the November 28, 2016 meeting of the Commission to an actual Courthouse or other suitable government building, regardless of your assertions about alleged "logistics?
Please call me to discuss.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Slavin
To: Jason.Unger
Sent: Wed, Nov 16, 2016 1:34 pm
Subject: Re: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request
Dear Mr. Unger:
1. Please send thumb drives.
2. Please place all documents on judicial, Florida Bar or Governor's website.
3. Please identify specific F.S. 119 statutory exemptions for each redactions with a Vaughn index.
4. Please answer my question and kindly change meeting location from GrayRobinson offices.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Unger
To: easlavin
Sent: Wed, Nov 16, 2016 1:18 pm
Subject: RE: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request
Mr. Slavin,
There is no Florida Judicial Nominating Commission website. The Florida Bar does have certain JNC information posted on its website, but the Supreme Court JNC has no control over The Florida Bar. The Governor’s Office is in receipt of the applications and may be placing them on the Governor’s website for easier access. That link is:
http://www.flgov.com/judicial-and-judicial-nominating-commission-information/
I have redacted applications and letters of recommendation available for inspection and/or copying, or I can mail you thumb drives. Thank you again.
From: Ed Slavin [mailto:easlavin@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 8:46 AM
To: Jason Unger; nildapedrosa@gmail.com; cynthiagangelos@gmail.com; karlinskyf@gtlaw.com; dnordby@shutts.com; jpanuccio@foley.com; ireyes@reyeslawfirmpa.com; jeanne@jtatelaw.com.
Cc: scottopengov@eog.myflorida.com; pat.gleason@myfloridalegal.com; susancoopereastman@gmail.com; jim.sutton@staugustine.com; ankersen@law.ufl.edu; hamann@law.ufl.edu; little@law.ufl.edu; mills@law.ufl.edu; rosenbury@law.ufl.ed; Teresa Barreiro; judgelitt10@gmail.com; waltbog@nytimes.com
Subject: Re: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request
Dear Mr. Unger:
Thank you.
Please place on the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission website so all can read it.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
Box 3084
St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
Jason Unger | Managing Shareholder
G R A Y | R O B I N S O N
301 South Bronough Street, Suite 600 | Tallahassee, Florida 32301
T: 850-577-9090 | F: 850-577-3311 | D: 850-577-5489
E-mail | Website | Bio | vCard
Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Unger
To: Ed Slavin
Cc: scottopengov
Subject: RE: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request
Mr. Slavin,
I can have all Supreme Court applications for this vacancy (with legally exempt information redacted by the applicants) copied to a thumb drive and mailed to you today. Please advise as to the mailing address. I will ask my assistant to create a second thumb drive of recommendation letters and send that to you as well early next week. Thank you for your patience.
Jason Unger | Managing Shareholder
G R A Y | R O B I N S O N
301 South Bronough Street, Suite 600 | Tallahassee, Florida 32301
T: 850-577-9090 | F: 850-577-3311 | D: 850-577-5489
E-mail | Website | Bio | vCard
Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
This e-mail is intended only for the individual(s) or entity(s) named within the message. This e-mail might contain legally privileged and confidential information. If you properly received this e-mail as a client or retained expert, please hold it in confidence to protect the attorney-client or work product privileges. Should the intended recipient forward or disclose this message to another person or party, that action could constitute a waiver of the attorney-client privilege. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is prohibited by the sender and to do so might constitute a violation of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. section 2510-2521. If this communication was received in error we apologize for the intrusion. Please notify us by reply e-mail and delete the original message without reading same. Nothing in this e-mail message shall, in and of itself, create an attorney-client relationship with the sender.
From: Ed Slavin [easlavin@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 5:35 PM
To: Jason Unger; nildapedrosa@gmail.com; cynthiagangelos@gmail.com; karlinskyf@gtlaw.com; dnordby@shutts.com; jpanuccio@foley.com; ireyes@reyeslawfirmpa.com; jeanne@jtatelaw.com.
Subject: Florida Judicial Nominating Commission meeting in office of corporate law firm, GrayRobinson; Open Records request
Dear Chairman Unger and Florida Judicial Nominating Commission members:
1. Why are your November 28, 2016 interviews of Florida Supreme Court applicants being held in the offices of a corporate law firm, GrayRobinson, a 300 lawyer corporate law firm with 13 locations in Florida, representing ?
2. I object to this corporate law firm meeting location as, at best, an appearance of impropriety.
3. As Juan Ortega y Gasset said, "yo soy mi y mis circumstancias." ("I am me and my surroundings.")
4. Meeting location is important and symbolic, just like polling place location.
5. As Adrien Davich wrote in The New York Times Magazine:
Ever since the 2000 election, Democrats and Republicans alike have complained that our voting system is vulnerable to fraud and manipulation. They have scrutinized “hanging chads,” “hiccupping” and “choking” voting machines, miscounted absentee ballots and e-votes that leave no paper trail. Now, though, they may have something more subtle to worry about: the location of polling stations. This year, Jonah Berger, Marc Meredith and S. Christian Wheeler, researchers at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, released a study suggesting that where you vote may significantly influence how you vote.
After analyzing data from Arizona’s 2000 general election, the Stanford researchers found that voters were more likely to support raising the state sales tax to support education if they voted in schools. This bias remained even when results were controlled for voters’ political views and demographics. In a follow-up laboratory study, subjects were asked to vote on a number of initiatives, including California’s 2004 stem-cell-research financing proposition. Before casting a vote, each subject was primed with a picture of a school, church or generic building. Voters were less likely to support stem-cell initiatives when presented with images of a church.
It’s a discomfiting insight: a person’s vote, a hallmark of democracy, may be biased by polling environment. Yet this has nothing to do with dirty politics or foul play. Rather, it’s a fairly basic principle of psychology — the idea that environmental cues can trigger ideas and affect our behavior without our being conscious of it. If you’re voting in a school, then the part of your brain that values kids and education might be activated, whereas if you vote inside a church, your ideas about spirituality might be invigorated. For some people, it seems, a change in location is enough to change a vote.
"Voting-Booth Feng Shui," by Adrienne Davich, New York Times Magazine (December 10, 2006).
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section4.t-4.html
6. From this day forward, please hold all Florida Judicial Nominating Commission interviews and meetings in courthouses or other ADA accessible, neutral, government building.
7. Please send me copies of all the Supreme Court vacancy applications and recommendations.
Thank you.
With kindest regards, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Ed Slavin
904-377-4998
www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com
www.edslavin.com
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