** MEDIA ADVISORY FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 11:30 AM **RSVP HERE
TOMORROW: Venezuelan Community Leaders To Discuss Rubio’s Failure On Key Immigration Issues
Tomorrow at 11:30 AM, Venezuelan community leaders from across Florida will hold a virtual press conference with the Florida Democratic Party to discuss Marco Rubio’s failures on key immigration issues and the growing opposition to Rubio within the Venezuelan community.
Florida is home to the majority of Venezuelan immigrants with temporary protected status. As Venezuelan leaders have pleaded for support from Rubio, he’s been too weak to step up and support meaningful immigration reform. Rubio recently went a step further and opposed a path to permanent status for TPS recipients, stating that he wanted them to eventually return to Venezuela. Venezuelan leaders have since called out Rubio’s abandonment of the community.
WHAT: Virtual press conference via Zoom with Venezuelan leaders discussing Marco Rubio’s immigration positions and the stakes for the 2022 election. Press Q&A to follow.
WHO:
- Samuel Vilchez Santiago – former Democratic candidate for the Florida House in 2020
- William Diaz – Founder of Casa De Venezuela
- María Antonieta Diaz – Business owner from South Florida
- Ade Ferro – Venezuelan advocate from South Florida
- Abel Ibarra – Teacher from South Florida
WHEN: November 3 at 11:30 AM
WHERE: Registration available here
Marco Rubio Can’t Hide From His Votes For Corporate Tax Cuts And Opposition To Creating Millions Of Good-Paying Jobs
In a recent speech to the National Conservatism Conference, Marco Rubio tried to cast himself as a critic of big corporations and an ally of American workers. There’s only one problem: Rubio has a years-long record of supporting corporations and the wealthy at the expense of Florida working families.
“Marco Rubio has spent his time in the Senate voting to give handouts to corporations and his wealthy donors while opposing plans that lower costs and cut taxes for working families. Rubio’s latest speech is just another sign that he’ll say anything to advance his political ambitions while leaving hardworking Floridians behind as he prepares for another failed presidential campaign,” said Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Grant Fox.
Rubio voted for the 2017 Tax Cuts And Jobs Act, which added $1.9 trillion to the national debt by slashing taxes for corporations and the wealthiest Americans. In the wake of the tax cuts, economic data showed corporations benefited even more than projected while wealthy shareholders – not workers – reaped the bulk of the rewards.
Rubio now stands opposed to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act and Build Back Better agenda, which will continue to lower costs for working families by making health care and child care more affordable, extend tax cuts for the middle class, and invest in infrastructure projects that will create millions of good-paying jobs.
Opinion Pieces in National and Florida for Denying Professors Permission to Testify in Voting Access Court Case
Criticism of the University of Florida’s decision to bar three political science professors from testifying in a court case challenging Florida’s controversial Senate Bill 90 has been swift and forceful. Here is a round-up of opinion pieces in major newspapers addressing the university’s misguided actions.
ORLANDO SENTINEL: A choice for the University of Florida: Academic freedom or government stooge | Editorial
By the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board
“Rest in peace, academic freedom, because the University of Florida has decided faculty members may speak their minds only when it’s in the best interests of the Gators and the governor.
“In effect, that means no university-sanctioned criticism of state government, its laws or the GOP leaders who make them.” “The University of Florida’s reputation as an institution that values truth is going to sustain lasting damage if it doesn’t reverse this disastrous decision to silence its professors because of politics.” TAMPA BAY TIMES:
UF’s big mistake on academic freedom | Editorial
By the Tampa Bay Times Editorial Board
“By any reasonable definition, “academic freedom” should mean that University of Florida professors could testify in a voting rights court case in which they are, quite literally, experts. They have the First Amendment right to do so, and they should have the academic freedom to do so, too. It makes sense. But in Florida things don’t always make sense these days.”
“It’s not hard to guess what’s going on, a combination of political pressure and some state funding hanging in the balance.”
MIAMI HERALD: University of Florida gags three faculty members — and violates their 1st Amendment rights | Opinion
By Linda Neider, Jonel Newman and Helen Bramlett.
“When faculty members see other members of our profession being denied their First Amendment rights and rights to academic freedom, it casts a pall over our own professional work and has a chilling effect on our engagement with the larger community.
“When the public sees such actions, it justifiably undermines public confidence in the integrity of universities as places of scholarship, learning and truth-seeking.”
WASHINGTON POST: Opinion: Why did Florida ban state professors from challenging Ron DeSantis’s voting law?
By Greg Sargent
“The DeSantis angle here is potentially very troubling. DeSantis, it turns out, has top allies at the university, such as Morteza Hosseini, who is both head of the university’s board of trustees and a big GOP donor and close DeSantis adviser.”
“With conservatives regularly railing against allegedly rampant liberal censoriousness on college campuses, how Republicans and their media allies approach this should prove instructive. Fox News will be all over this, right?”
