Gov. Rick Scott’s clemency process should be criminal | Another view
HBO talk show host John Oliver may be known as a comedian, but his recent report on Florida’s Jim Crow-era culture of felon disenfranchisement was more poignant and painful than it was funny.
And it should be mandatory viewing for all Floridians who value freedom, justice and the rule of law.
Oliver starts by explaining how most states have automatic systems for voting rights restoration that kick in when felons successfully serve their full sentence. The debt is paid. The rights are restored. That should be a universally shared concept of justice. Not a point of political division.
That our state does not have an automatic restoration system is especially shameful, and as Oliver points out, “The fact is that Florida is the disenfranchisement capital of America.”
“Almost 1.5 million of its citizens or nearly 10 percent of its adult population have completed sentences for felony convictions but still cannot vote,” Oliver explained. “And given the inequities of our justice system, that burden is disproportionately felt by African Americans ... in Florida, more than 1 in 5 black adults cannot vote.”
In other words, Florida’s system for voting rights restoration isn’t just legally wrong. It’s rigged to be racially and morally unjust.
In order to get those rights back after serving a sentence, Floridians are forced to seek arbitrary approval from the state clemency board made up of the governor, the agriculture commissioner, the attorney general and the chief financial officer. To make that bad system worse, Gov. Rick Scott intentionally burdened the process with additional waiting periods and applications to make rights restoration slower and more unfair than it was under previous governors.
For comparison, former Gov. Charlie Crist restored voting rights to nearly 155,000 Floridians over four years, yet Scott has averaged just about 400 per year.
The most damning segment from Oliver’s piece is a clip of a black man named Leon Gillis who had served time for robbery and drug convictions. Oliver explains that Gillis had been clean eight years and was even running a drug rehab program in 2011 when he made his case to the board to get his right to vote back. Gillis’ interaction with Scott went like this:
Scott: So at this point I’m going to deny your restoration of civil rights.
Gillis: Can I ask you a question?
Scott: Yes sir.
Gillis: How long is that?
Scott: I’m not sure. And if, um, you know it, um, I think every case is different.
Gillis: Well what should I do with my life then? If I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do, and I’m trying and I’m making sure that I do everything I’m supposed to do, then how long am I supposed to wait?”
Scott: I couldn’t tell you that answer but if, uh, today, I don’t feel comfortable doing it.”
He doesn’t “feel” comfortable?
There you have it. A common man has done everything required of him by the state. Yet the state’s top authority figure refuses legal rights based on personal "feelings." That’s not America. That’s aristocracy.
Thankfully, this November, Floridians will have a chance to seize power back from Scott’s big-government policies that have gone out of control. A report last week from Fox News explained how the “Voting Restoration Amendment,” also called Amendment 4, “would automatically restore voting rights to felons — murderers and sex offenders not included — who have done prison time, completed parole or probation and paid any restitution.”
All jokes aside, Oliver’s biting piece offers a comedic and crystal clear look at Florida’s clemency process. It might be the way things are done here in Florida. But in any decent society under the rule of law, it should be criminal.