House GOP "racially insensitive," Sands charges

By at 1 December, 2009, 10:25 am

House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, warned that the Legislature’s Republican leadership is verging on being “racially insensitive” for scheduling a special session on days conflicting with a national conference of black legislators taking place in Fort Lauderdale. Sands on Tuesday asked House Speaker Larry Cretul to postpone the session (focused on transportation issues) until next week, which would mean scuttling floor sessions scheduled for Thursday and Friday. The National Black Caucus of State Legislators runs Wednesday-Saturday at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Harbor Hotel, a big deal for Florida’s 26-member black legislative caucus. “Rather than allowing the Florida House of Representatives to be admonished as exclusionary

or your leadership being criticized as racially insensitive, we urge you to take action now to minimize the blowback from the scheduling mistake,” Sands wrote. On Monday, Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, who is vice chairman of the national conference, said he’d ask House Democrats to boycott the special session in solidarity with the black caucus. Sands’ letter didn’t mention a boycott, but Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West, a key Democrat, said he agreed with Gibbons and wouldn’t be coming to Tallahassee until the black legislative conference ends over the weekend.

Here is the original post:
House GOP "racially insensitive," Sands charges

Categories : Florida | Tallahassee




No comments yet.

Leave a comment