Hillary Clinton Re: Michael Brown "We can't ignore the inequities that persist in our justice system

[Baitball Blogger]

77. You may have stepped in it now.

Bill Clinton's methods of drumming up money were always criticized. There were also questions about his pardon choices because there were correlations between donations and the choices he made. I assume because he is an example of a Thirdway candidate we can use this example to demonstrate the problems. Even if he did nothing wrong as a president, he set a pattern that others would try to exploit.

For example, the links to family members of one of the parties to the local fiasco included one relative who told a prisoner that he could get him a pardon for a sum of money. I think that amount was $50,000. The FBI stopped that one, that's how the issue made it into the St. Pete Times. The guy claimed he had a family member who had connections.

The other article involved an individual whose name was similar to another family member of this local party. This person didn't even live in Florida, but the governor of his state was Republican and the individual wrote a bitter letter because he felt he didn't get enough public money for a public works project he was granted. In the letter he wrote how he could get more from the Democrats with his campaign donations. The governor was so incensed that he had the letter published. That's how I came across it.

I know that there are others on DU who can do a far more competent job of giving you specifics of how Thirdway is not too particular about the people they are negotiating with. And as an aggrieved American, who was victimized by local shenanigans, I have to start wondering why the criminal justice authorities always decided to give a pass into looking into this issue when it could clean up a lot of problems we have in Central Florida. I keep coming down to one refrain: All politics is local.

I wouldn't belittle the problems of one little measly homeowner when that homeowner can show how our private community was co-opted by the city government through our HOA board. It is something that should be a concern for everyone, especially when we see how campaign donors are expecting something in return for their campaign money. For example, what happens when something goes terribly wrong with the construction of infra-structure when the board members of the engineering firm includes politically connected individuals? Or, if the list of board members of the developing company includes an ex-city commissioner? Or if the local lawyers who are only too happy to offer their services to the clueless homeowners happen to hide a conflict of interest that ties them to the city?

My community expose will reveal that HOA problems are very intricately connected to local political issues, especially in Florida where the real estate business is God. And since these people have been known to make a mess of the government process, it is a concern when we have politicians at a national level who are not too particular with who they negotiate on the ground.