Florida:
Because of the strength of the animal enterprise lobbies, it is hard to get laws passed that offer animals even a modicum of protection. Animal advocates have come to rely on ballot initiatives, which bypass the lobbyists and give the people what they want. And the people generally want to end egregious animal cruelty.
The lobbyists are fighting back with Amendment 3. Please read the HSUS alert below, and forward it to all of your friends and family who care about animal cruelty, urging them to get out and vote against Amendment 3's assault on democracy.
You can watch ads against Amendment 3, currently running Florida, on line at
https://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=3759877 OR http://tinyurl.com/y9mfna
Here is the HSUS alert:
Vote NO on Amendment 3, Protect Your Rights!
Election Day is just six days away, so I wanted to be sure to remind you to vote no on Amendment 3 on Nov. 7!
Amendment 3 would gut the citizen initiative process in Florida by creating a supermajority passage requirement for ballot measures.
Currently, Florida citizens have had the right to bring proposed laws -- like the 1992 "Save our Sea Life" amendment and the 2002 measure to halt the inhumane confinement of pigs on factory farms -- directly to the people after special interests in Tallahassee block consideration of these popular reforms. If Amendment 3 passes, you can still propose initiatives, but they'd have to get 60 percent of the vote to pass -- even though a politician needs just a simple majority of 50 percent to be elected!
That's not fair.
Just think: the anti-factory farming measure -- which stopped the use of tiny crates that do not allow pregnant sows to turn around -- would have been "defeated" even though it received 55 percent of the vote!
Trust the Voters is a coalition of citizen, environmental, and other groups, including The Humane Society of the United States. We are working to oppose the supermajority ballot initiative and preserve the rights of Florida citizens.
With Nov. 7 just around the corner, we need your help to spread the word. Share this link with your friends and family and ensure that Floridians' right to practice direct democracy is upheld.
I hope you will join our forces and help defeat Amendment 3. Don't let Tallahassee politicians and the developers and agribusiness interests that fund their campaigns take away your rights!
Sincerely,
Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States
(End of HSUS alert)
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Date: Thu Nov 2 14:38:24 2006
