I support the President's March 20, 2023 ESG law veto, which House Republicans vainly tried to override on Thursday.
Biden has the strength of his convictions. Biden has character. I am proud that he is our President.,
In sharp and marked contrast, five Republican County Commissioners voted to ban consideration of ESG factors in our corrupt County's investments, without opening the motion up to public comment.
They violated Sunshine law, and City Attorney DAVID MICHAEL MIGUT remained silent, like 300 pounds of ugly pomposity greasing a chair.
Pity putative reform County Commissioner Kristra Keating-Joseph and her four fellow Commissioners for wallowing in wealthy Dull Republican apparathik's talking points and not caring about public comment.
This is not a good look, Commissioners. You didn't care what citizens thought. You didn't have the item on your agenda. You showed fawning obeisance to the ideology that doesn't give a fig about the future of our planet. You make lousy decisions all the time. Like falling for the propaganda emanating from DeSANTIS about ESG. I pity people who run for office, only to break most, if not all, their promises, selling out the citizenry, e.g. by voting to retain an incompetent County Administrator, and all his works and pomps. In the words of the Matt Damon character in the movie, The Rainmaker, "Do you even remember when you first sold out?"
Nest time you take a vote ask for public comment, as required by Florida Statute 286.
I know this may be difficult for some of our undereducated unsophisticated Dull ME-publican Commissioners to understand, like the two tedious termagant TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON cronies who currently encumber the positions of St. Johns County Commission Chair and Vice Chair -- watch battery technician CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST (center) and his mendacious mini-me, SARA ARNOLD (yellow dress with five inch heels). Neither WHITEHURST nor ARNOLD has ever matriculated. Both are cognitive misers "who know not that they know not that they know not," like the HUTSON family and their other enablers and public serpents) in the immortal words of my friend and former client, EPA and HUD Office of Inspector General Senior Special Agent Robert E. Tyndall.
Watching Governor ROBNALD DeSANTIS's latest unenlightened uncouth unqualified homophobic Commission appointee, the former Republican County Chair, DeSANTIS's former Congressional hey-boy and acolyte, ROY ALAIMO, JR. make a motion without prior notice or seeking public comment before the vote, reminds me that no matter what they say, every single one of our St. Johns County Commissioners in this century has been a Republican.,
Republican elected officials here in St. Johns County are weak on ethics, woeful on the environment, and did not even invite public comments on ALAIMO's motion. My dad thought I had ESP, but I'm not required too anticipate dumb 'ole Dull Republicans' devious motions in speaking on public comment.
These are sneaky, sleazy, oleaginous, untrustworthy unjust stewards of the public interest and environmental law.
From The National:
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden issued the first veto of his presidency Monday in an early sign of shifting White House relations with the new Congress since Republicans took control of the House in January — a move that serves as a prelude to bigger battles with GOP lawmakers on government spending and the nation's debt limit.
Biden sought to kill a Republican-authored measure that would ban the government from considering environmental impacts or potential lawsuits when making investment decisions for people's retirement plans. In a video released by the White House, Biden said he vetoed the measure because it “put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country.”
His first veto represents a more confrontational approach at the midway of Biden's term in office, as he faces a GOP-controlled House that is eager to undo parts of his policy legacy and investigate his administration and his family. Complicating matters for Biden, several Democratic senators are up for re-election next year in conservative states, giving them political incentive to put some distance between them and the White House.
The measure vetoed by Biden would have effectively reinstated a Trump-era ban on federal managers of retirement plans considering factors such as climate change, social impacts or pending lawsuits when making investment choices.
The veto could also help calm some anger from environmentalists who have been upset with the Biden administration for its recent decision to greenlight the Willow oil project, a massive and contentious drilling project in Alaska.
“The president vetoed the bill because it jeopardizes the hard-earned life savings of cops, firefighters, teachers, and other workers," White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said.
But critics say so-called environmental, social and governance investments allocate money based on political agendas, such as a drive against climate change, rather than on earning the best returns for savers. Republicans in Congress who pushed the measure said environmental or social considerations in investments by the government are just another example of being “woke.”
“In his first veto, Biden just sided with woke Wall Street over workers," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)., tweeted on Monday. “Tells you exactly where his priorities lie.” He said "it’s clear Biden wants Wall Street to use your retirement savings to fund his far-left political causes.”
Biden's veto is likely to prevail. Just three Democrats in Congress — one in the House, and two in the Senate — supported Republicans in the matter, making it unlikely a two-thirds majority in both chambers could be assembled to overcome Biden's veto.
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) was the sole Democrat to back the resolution in the House, while Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) supported it in the Senate. Golden is a perennial target of Republicans seeking to oust him from his conservative district, while Tester and Manchin are both up for re-election next year.
“This administration continues to prioritize their radical policy agenda over the economic, energy and national security needs of our country, and it is absolutely infuriating," Manchin said in a statement.
Though Biden swiftly vetoed the investment resolution, other measures coming from Capitol Hill in the weeks and months ahead could be a tougher call for the White House.
The administration initially signaled that Biden would reject a Republican-authored measure that would override a crime measure passed by the District of Columbia Council, but the president later said he would sign it and did so Monday. He also signed a bill directing the federal government to declassify intelligence related to the origins of COVID-19.
Biden's immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, vetoed 10 bills during his term in office, while Barack Obama vetoed 12, according to the the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Both had one of their vetoes overridden by Congress.
The president with the most vetoes was Franklin Delano Roosevelt — who was elected to four terms before a constitutional amendment limited all presidents to two — with 635 vetoes. Six U.S. presidents never vetoed any legislation in office.
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