I recently got my hands on a copy of the compensation bill that Rep. Ellyn Bogdonoff (R) Ft.Lauderdale has filed with the legislature this year. In true form, Ellyn will be trying to pass what will now only be referred to as the “Bullshit Bullshit Bullshit Bill.” She is proposing a bill that would not include a SINGLE FLORIDA DNA EXONEREE, literally. The bill looks wonderful until you get down to page five where she buries inserts her “clean hands” provision. In fact if you blink, you might miss it. Add to that this classic quote from Ellyn:
“There doesn’t appear to be a huge appetite from the public to give money to folks who have a rap sheet,” Bogdanoff said.”It’s not going to help everybody, but it’s geared toward those people whom the public is most offended by governments wrongful action.”
WoW. Really Ellyn??? Once again with this truely misleading and prejudicial bullshit. I mean basically what you are saying is that if you are unfortunate enough to get caught STEALING A CASE OF BEER when you are a teenager, you better not be wrongfully convicted of a horrific crime years later because if you are, the state absolves itself of any responsibilty because that CASE OF BEER basically voided your civil rights. Ellyn says that these exoneree’s will be able to sue the state individually to seek compensation but this is again, total pandar and platitude, because she knows better than anyone, that it is nearly impossible to sue the police, state, government and win. The burden of proof is enormously high and egregious intent has to be shown. Most often it is poor police work, bad witness identification and overzealous District Attorneys looking to close cases that lead to wrongful convictions and they are given an enormous amount of protection under the law.
On the matter of “most people dont want to compensate folks with rap sheets,” I would like to see the “myriad” of constituants that Ellyn consulted with who told her they felt this way, knowing the facts. The vast majority of these exoneree’s are not in any way violent people or career criminals. But the reality is that anyone who has been arrested and had a mug shot taken for ANY crime leaves them more vulnerable to a wrongful arrest and conviction for another crime because the police use THOSE very pictures when asking victims to try to identify someone who looked like their assailant. Literally, they will bring a victim in, sit them in a room with a book of pictures and say, “Who did he look like.”
Ellyn Bogdonoff is notorious for pandering to one group of people, verbally pacifying them, while secretly working on the behalf of the groups in power, people who hold purse strings and people who can advance her career. She did it with an earlier bill she proposed to eliminate No Fault insurance. Her bill was written in large part by StateFarm insurance and she was clearly working NOT for the people she represents but for the interests of the Insurance Industry Lobbyists. She is at it again, only this time, she wants to make sure that the state doesnt find itself responsible for compensating innocent men whose lives were turned upside down, who were victims of an egregious injustice. What’s most offensive about Ellyn Bogdonoff isn’t her opposition to Exoneree Compensation (and yes Ellyn proposing a bill that would compensate NO exoneree’s is equal to being against it) but her complete hypocrisy and unwillingess to be honest about where she stands.
Please don’t let her have a teenage son who makes a poor juvenile decision to steel some beer with friends one day. God forbid he is picked up off the street years later because he looks close enough to someone’s rapist. And god forbid he should find himself convicted for someone elses crime.
But then, Ellyn would be able to afford the best attorneys around to make sure that didnt happen. Wouldn’t she.
If only Al Crotzer were that lucky.
4 months ago
