Dear Editor of Common Dreams:

Your preview article of the coming Nation article (http://www.commondreams.org/news2001/0412-02.htm) is very good. I see one mistake, however, that may just very well prove quite significant:

"Nation contributor Gregory Palast documented Florida's improper purging of out-of-state felons, whose right to vote had been automatically restored, in a report in the February 5, 2001 issue of The Nation, which can be accessed at www.thenation.com. Subsequently, Florida changed its policy."

Florida did not change its policy. The policy had already been to allow exonerated felons from other states to vote in Florida elections, as required by (I think federal, law). The policy "change" was not a change at all. Rather, it was merely a reiteration of what SHOULD have been happening before the election. Jeb Bush enforced an illegal program of making exonerated felons reapply for rights they had already had, despite Florida court rulings to the contrary, which rulings Bush surely must have known about.

I've cc'd Gregory Palast here. I'm sure he could reconfirm what I am pointing out. His article makes this eminently clear.

Thanks,
Michael Rectenwald,
Citizens for Legitimate Government
http://www.legitgov.org

Greg Palast's response to Mike's Letter

Exactly!!! That was the whole point of my original article ... And on 23 feb the state, under federal pressure, caved in. You try to explain that to my editor. I can't seem to get it across. And I should say, Jeb flipped because of the nation article which I spent much time explaining and documenting to CRC behind the scenes.
Gp