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*TAKE ACTION*

Contact Governor Crist and Cabinet Members to demand truly automatic, paperwork-free rights restoration for all Floridians with fully completed sentences

IMMEDIATELY – by Thursday, April 5

A clemency reform plan will be approved on Thursday, April 5. The proposed plan fails to deliver true rights restoration to disfranchised Floridians. We need your help in demanding automatic rights restoration for all disfranchised Floridians.

Attend Clemency Board Hearing on April 5, 9AM

Currently, Florida’s Reconstruction-Era civil rights already blocks nearly one million Floridians out of the democratic process.

They, and those who lose their rights going forward, need to have their civil rights restored automatically and immediately.  Civil rights include the fundamental right to vote, right to hold public office and right to serve on a jury. Civil rights restoration also enables people to obtain certain state occupational licenses.

There is now an opportunity to lift this ban.

Florida’s ban is one of the three worst in the nation.  It is time for Florida to join the rest of the nation, and other western democracies, by restoring civil rights to citizens who have paid their debt to society.

Gov. Crist, with two other members of the Board of Executive Clemency (composed of Gov. Crist, CFO Alex Sink, Attorney General Bill McCollum, and Commissioner Charles Bronson) can make civil rights restoration automatic for all Florida citizens with completed sentences by signing an Executive Order or revising the Rules of Executive Clemency. 

Their plan as drafted does not automatically restore rights: it subjects applicants to different review processes based on offense, involves paperwork, and requires restitution. It is needlessly complex and unclear; burdensome; costly; and does not retroactively affect the nearly 1 million disfranchised.

This clemency reform plan will be approved at a special meeting of the Board of Executive Clemency on Thursday, April 5. The plan creates almost as many problems as it purports to remedy. The ACLU encourages supporters of clemency reform to attend the Clemency Board meeting. While the public is welcome, there will be no opportunity for public comment. We hope to see you there! The meeting details are:

  • Event: Special Meeting of the Board of Executive Clemency
  • Date: Thursday, April 5, 2007
  • Time: 9:00 a.m.
  • Location: Cabinet Room, The Capitol

TAKE ACTION NOW!

CONTACT GOVERNOR CRIST

  • By Telephone: (850) 488-3494; ask for Clemency Aide Robert Wheeler
  • By Email:  Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com and cc:  Rob.Wheeler.EOG@myflorida.com
  • By Letter:   Governor Charlie Crist
                       Office of Governor
                       The Capitol
                       Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001

Feel free to address these points in your communications to Governor Crist: 

  • We are encouraged that you have taken the lead and are seriously considering clemency reform 
  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision 
  • While an improvement, the proposed rules represent incremental progress but we remain far from the goal of truly automatic rights restoration: paperwork-free rights restoration for all Floridians who have completed their sentences. 
  • Requiring Floridians who have completed sentences for non-violent offenses to await official paperwork is unnecessary, burdens the individual, and serves as an impediment to voting. 
  • The proposed rules should, but do not, retroactively apply to the nearly one million disfranchised Floridians who have fully completed their sentences and who may on their own never become aware of the changes.

CONTACT CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER ALEX SINK

  • By Telephone: (850) 413-2824; ask for Clemency Aide Robert Tornillo
  • By Email: cfo@fldfs.com and cc: Robert.Tornillo@FLDFS.com
  • By Letter:   The Honorable Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer
                       Department of Financial Services 
                       The Capitol
                       Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0300

Feel free to address these points in your communications to CFO Sink:

  • We are encouraged that you have joined with Governor Crist and are seriously considering clemency reform 
  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision 
  • While an improvement, the proposed rules represent incremental progress but we remain far from the goal of truly automatic rights restoration: paperwork-free rights restoration for all Floridians who have completed their sentences. 
  • Requiring Floridians who have completed sentences for non-violent offenses to await official paperwork is unnecessary, burdens the individual, and serves as an impediment to voting. 
  • The proposed rules should, but do not, retroactively apply to the nearly one million disfranchised Floridians who have fully completed their sentences and who may on their own never become aware of the changes.

CONTACT COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE CHARLES H. BRONSON

  • By Telephone: (850) 410-6747; ask for Chief Cabinet Aide Jim Boxold
  • By Email:  commissioner@doacs.state.fl.us and cc: boxoldj@doacs.state.fl.us
  • By Letter: The Honorable Charles H. Bronson, Commissioner of Agriculture 
    Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
    The Capitol
    Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0810

Feel free to address these points in your communications to Commissioner Bronson: 

  • We are encouraged that you have joined with Governor Crist and are seriously considering clemency reform 
  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision 
  • While an improvement, the proposed rules are needlessly complex and thus unclear. By, among other things, differentiating applicants by offense, these rules will confuse officials and applicants and thus fail to serve their intended purpose of rights restoration. They will also result in the continued exclusion of eligible voters from the polls.
  • The proposed rules continue to perpetuate a burdensome and costly bureaucratic process that will require the review of hundreds of thousands of applications, as well as a hearing process for many. 
  • Restitution should be paid but should not be a precondition to rights restoration. Civil rights need to be restored and barriers to employment removed first, so that applicants are able to get jobs and pay court-ordered restitution. 

CONTACT ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL MCCOLLUM

Feel free to address these points in your communications to Attorney General McCollum: 

  • Join Governor Crist, CFO Sink and Commissioner Bronson in their efforts to implement clemency reform 
  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision 
  • While an improvement, the proposed rules are needlessly complex and thus unclear. By, among other things, differentiating applicants by offense, these rules will confuse officials and applicants and thus fail to serve their intended purpose of rights restoration. They will also result in the continued exclusion of eligible voters from the polls. 
  • The proposed rules continue to perpetuate a burdensome and costly bureaucratic process that will require the review of hundreds of thousands of applications, as well as a hearing process for many. 
  • Restitution should be paid but should not be a precondition to rights restoration. Civil rights need to be restored and barriers to employment removed first, so that applicants are able to get jobs and pay court-ordered restitution.  *TAKE ACTION*

IMMEDIATELY: by Monday, April 2

A Clemency Reform plan may be announced as early as Monday, April 2. That plan continues to perpetuate a system that disenfranchises people of limited financial means.

Contact Governor Crist and Cabinet Members

Demand Clemency Reform that automatically grants restoration of civil rights to all ex-offenders who have completed their sentence.

Restitution should be paid. But, civil rights need to be restored and barriers to employment removed first, so that ex-offenders are able to pay court-ordered restitution.

Close to one million Floridians can have their civil rights restored immediately. Civil rights include the fundamental right to vote, right to hold public office and right to serve on a jury. Civil rights restoration will also enable people to obtain certain state occupational licenses for meaningful employment opportunities.

Now, these Florida citizens are locked out of the democratic process by Florida?s Reconstruction Era civil rights ban.

Florida?s current civil rights ban is one of the three worst in the nation. It?s past time for Florida to join the rest of the nation, and other western democracies, by restoring civil rights to citizens who have served their sentences.

Gov. Crist, with two other members of the Board of Executive Clemency (composed of Gov. Crist, CFO Alex Sink, Attorney General Bill McCollum, and Commissioner Charles Bronson) can make civil rights restoration virtually automatic now for all Florida citizens. All they need to do is sign an Executive Order or revise the Rules of Executive Clemency.

A Clemency Reform plan may be announced as early as Monday, April 2. That plan continues to perpetuate a system that disenfranchises people of limited financial means. It would require full payment of restitution before a person becomes eligible for restoration of civil rights. Restitution should be paid; but most people cannot begin paying it until after their civil rights are restored, and this barrier to meaningful employment is removed.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

CONTACT GOVERNOR CRIST

By Telephone: (850) 488-3494; ask for Clemency Aide Robert Wheeler

By Email: Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com and cc: Rob.Wheeler.EOG@myflorida.com

By Letter: Governor Charlie Crist
Office of Governor
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001

Feel free to address these points in your communications to Governor Crist:

  • We are encouraged that you have taken the lead and are seriously considering clemency reform
  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision
  • Any plan for clemency reform must eliminate the requirement that restitution be paid before civil rights can be restored

*This requirement perpetuates a system that punishes the "have nots,"
and disenfranchises people because of their financial status

*Even ex-offenders who desire to pay restitution cannot do so
until their civil rights are restored and they are able to get meaningful,
good paying jobs

*Payment of restitution is important and that obligation should continue
after civil rights are restored

*By having their civil rights restored, ex-offenders will no longer face the
financial hurdles that prevent them from being able to pay their restitution
obligation

  • The Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force found that people who have not had their civil rights restored face "a significant barrier to employment, in part because of the difficulty in securing restoration." Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force, Key Findings and Recommendations Based on the Task Force's Analysis of the State Agency Responses to EO 06-89, January 18, 2007, p. 6.

CONTACT CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER ALEX SINK

By Telephone: (850) 413-2824; ask for Clemency Aide Robert Tornillo

By Email: cfo@fldfs.com and cc: Robert.Tornillo@FLDFS.com

By Letter: The Honorable Alex Sink, Chief Financial Officer
Department of Financial Services
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0300

Feel free to address these points in your communications to CFO Sink:

  • We are encouraged that you have joined with Governor Crist and are seriously considering clemency reform
  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision
  • Any plan for clemency reform must eliminate the requirement that restitution be paid before civil rights can be restored.

* This requirement perpetuates a system that rewards punishes the "have
nots," and disenfranchises people because of their financial status

* Even ex-offenders who desire to pay restitution cannot do so until their civil
rights are restored and they are able to get meaningful, good paying jobs

* Payment of restitution is important and that obligation should continue after
civil rights are restored

* By having their civil rights restored, ex-offenders will no longer face the
financial hurdles that prevent them from being able to pay their restitution
obligation

  • The Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force found that people who have not had their civil rights restored face "a significant barrier to employment, in part because of the difficulty in securing restoration." Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force, Key Findings and Recommendations Based on the Task Force's Analysis of the State Agency Responses to EO 06-89, January 18, 2007, p. 6.

CONTACT COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE CHARLES H. BRONSON

By Telephone: (850) 410-6747; ask for Chief Cabinet Aide Jim Boxold

By Email: commissioner@doacs.state.fl.us and cc: boxoldj@doacs.state.fl.us

By Letter: The Honorable Charles H. Bronson, Commissioner of Agriculture
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0810

Feel free to address these points in your communications to Commissioner Bronson

  • We are encouraged that you have joined with Governor Crist and are seriously considering clemency reform
  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision
  • Any plan for clemency reform must eliminate the requirement that restitution be paid before civil rights can be restored.

* This requirement perpetuates a system that punishes the "have nots," and
disenfranchises people because of their financial status

* Even ex-offenders who desire to pay restitution cannot do so until their civil
rights are restored and they are able to get meaningful, good paying jobs

* Payment of restitution is important and that obligation should continue after
civil rights are restored

* By having their civil rights restored, ex-offenders will no longer face the
financial hurdles that prevent them from being able to pay their restitution
obligation

  • The Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force found that people who have not had their civil rights restored face "a significant barrier to employment, in part because of the difficulty in securing restoration." Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force, Key Findings and Recommendations Based on the Task Force's Analysis of the State Agency Responses to EO 06-89, January 18, 2007, p. 6.

CONTACT ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL MCCOLLUM

By Telephone: (850) 414-3300; ask for Director of Cabinet Affairs Kent Perez or Senior Cabinet Aide Rob Johnson

By Email: AG McCollum's office does not provide his email address; use the online form: http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Attorney_General email

also: kent_Perez@oag.state.fl.us or Rob_Johnson@oag.state.fl.us

By Letter: The Honorable Bill McCollum, Attorney General
Department of Legal Affairs
The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050

Feel free to address these points in your communications to Attorney General McCollum:

Join Governor Crist, CFO Sink and Commissioner Bronson in their efforts to implement clemency reform

  • Meaningful clemency reform should grant automatic civil rights restoration to all ex-offenders once they have completed all non-monetary terms of their sentence and supervision
  • Any plan for clemency reform must eliminate the requirement that restitution be paid before civil rights are restored.

* This requirement perpetuates a system that punishes the "have nots,"
and disenfranchises people because of their financial status.

* Even ex-offenders who desire to pay restitution cannot do so until their civil
rights are restored and they are able to get meaningful, good paying jobs

* Payment of restitution is important and that obligation should continue after
civil rights are restored

* By having their civil rights restored, ex-offenders will no longer face the
financial hurdles that prevent them from being able to pay their restitution
obligation

  • The Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force found that people who have not had their civil rights restored face "a significant barrier to employment, in part because of the difficulty in securing restoration." Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force, Key Findings and Recommendations Based on the Task Force's Analysis of the State Agency Responses to EO 06-89, January 18, 2007, p. 6.