Poll of the Day > Matt Gaetz Demands CRIMINAL CHARGE against BLOOMBERG paying off FELON DEBTS!!!

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Racist Crybaby, Matt Gaetz is calling for a CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION against billionaire Mike Bloomberg who is paying off 20 MILLION in debt for more than 31,000 convicted felons in Florida so they can VOTE!!

Bloomberg, who is worth more than 50 billion is raising more than 20 million to pay off fines, court feets, and restition for felons and pledged another 100 million to help Joe Biden win Florida

Gaetz tells Fox News "I believe there may be a criminal investigation already underway of the Bloomberg connected activities in Florida" claiming he's attempting to buy off votes!!

Gaetz has contacted Florida AG Ashley Moody, a Republican to investigate if it violates Florida Law which under the law say it's a 3rd degree felony for someoen to either directly or indirectly provide something of value to impact whether or not someone votes.

He said "If Michael Bloomberg was offering to pay off people's credit card debt, you would obviously see the value in that. When you improve someone's net worth by eliminating their financial liabilities that's something of value. Normally, it would be very difficult to prove that was directly linked to impacting whether or not someone was going to Vote but they literally wrote their own admission. This is a specific inducement to specific segment of voteres, to get them to vote in a certain way, and i think that could be a crime"

Bloomberg said the right to vote is fundemental to their democracy and no american should be denied that right as they worked with Florida Rights Restoration Coalition that is determined to end disenfranchisement and discrimination

Florida is a huge swing state and Democrats are narrowly losing which could give them a boost that allows more citizens the ability to vote. In that a state that decided elections by just 537 votes in 2000, the fight for voters continues on

The move comes just after Ron DeSantis won a court victory to keep felons from voting until all their fines, restitution and court fees are paid before they are allowed to vote.

Do you think what Bloomberg did was a "crime"?.

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"vote democrat and i'll pay your bail"


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Lol at Gaetz. Complaining that only certain people who have done their time are having fines paid so they're able to vote. If it weren't for him and people like him, they all WOULD be able to vote without the fine holding them back in the first place.

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Wanded posted...

"vote democrat and i'll pay your bail"

If the fines are paid off before the voting even happens...

... And there's then no reward or incentive OR punishment for them to vote one way or another...

Then how can you claim votes are being bought?

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By the way the people of Florida voted to have felons' voting rights reimplemented, then the Florida republicans just tacked on this ridiculous fines thing to stop people from voting.

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While there's no strict "If I, then you" component, it certainly *seems* like an ethics violation that must conflict with some law. Other monetary benefits to get people to vote are already illegal, albeit poorly enforced.

https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2012/11/voting-related-giveaways-clash-with-federal-law-148481

The only kinda gray area is that it's not happening on election day whereas those laws more specifically target election day shenanigans.

Clench281 posted...

If the fines are paid off before the voting even happens...

... And there's then no reward or incentive OR punishment for them to vote one way or another...

Then how can you claim votes are being bought?

So basically you're arguing that if somebody gave you a hundred dollars to vote for a candidate a month before an election, that should be legal? >_>


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I'm curious where you're getting confirmation that fines are being paid based on party affiliation, anyway.

Bloomberg isn't paying peoples' fines directly. He's pledging money to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which has existed for years, with plenty of donations before Bloomberg. And the coalition says fines are paid indiscriminately.

So why is it suddenly a problem, and only a problem for Bloomberg?

Do you think that donating to pay off fines should be illegal in any and all cases?

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This is ignoring the fact that putting a financial barrier on voting is pretty despicable. No problem voting after serving your time, as long as you're wealthy enough! Too bad for the poor.

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Denying people the right to vote just because they owe money should be fucking illegal.

Good for Bloomberg, and fuck DeSantis and Gaetz for making this a situation in the first place.
"Damn it, now those citizens we illegally tried to steal the voting rights from are gonna be able to exact their anger on us at the polls! No fair! Waaaaa!"

No way this can be illegal.

They can't vote until the fines are paid off and after the fines are paid off they have no obligation to vote. Now if they tried to have a contract where they were required to vote or had to pay him back or some other breach of contract term then yes there could be some criminal liability, but there is simply no way I'm seeing for this to anywhere in the court of law.

Not as though things like that have ever stopped republicans. They don't care about the law they just care about putting on a show.

Clench281 posted...

If the fines are paid off before the voting even happens...

... And there's then no reward or incentive OR punishment for them to vote one way or another...

Then how can you claim votes are being bought?

would you say the same about lobbying?
that if an oil company donates to republicans that's a-okay by your books because that doesn't necessarily mean republicans would then favor oil companies in return?

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BlackScythe0 posted...

No way this can be illegal.

They can't vote until the fines are paid off and after the fines are paid off they have no obligation to vote. Now if they tried to have a contract where they were required to vote or had to pay him back or some other breach of contract term then yes there could be some criminal liability, but there is simply no way I'm seeing for this to anywhere in the court of law.

Not as though things like that have ever stopped republicans. They don't care about the law they just care about putting on a show.

same^

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Wanded posted...

would you say the same about lobbying?
that if an oil company donates to republicans that's a-okay by your books because that doesn't necessarily mean republicans would then favor oil companies in return?

Well first off, lobbying and campaign donations are separate things. Lobbying can simply involve hiring an individual or group to try to convince lawmakers to support their side of an issue. And I don't think that there's something wrong with that.

When it comes to donations or contributions, I nor others tend to have issues with small donations from individuals. Deciding where to draw the line in the sand for being unacceptable? That's not easy to do, hence why it's just universally acceptable/protected by free speech. I think it's awful that it costs so much money to win elections, but it's a sad fact that it does. Campaign maximum could help this, if enforced, but then we get into issues of different areas requiring different amounts to campaign... It's a complicated issue and I'm not an expert, so I can't come down and make a ruling for what should or should not be allowed.

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Why aren't Republicans running on vows to cut taxes considered to be "buying votes"?

Seems like the easiest way to stop Bloomberg from "buying" votes (pretending for a moment that's what's going on here) would be to stop making it so people need more money to be able to vote. He won't be able to give people money to enable them to vote if they're already able to vote, after all.

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It's almost like felons should be allowed to vote in the first place

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Lokarin posted...

It's almost like felons should be allowed to vote in the first place

Or that being fine w/ felons voting but forcing them to pay for it first is literally a poll tax