Politics
Mark Danish: Florida Should Embrace National Popular Vote, Make Gas Stations Help Disabled
Around the State
Rep. Mark Danish, D-Tampa
Date of Birth: Feb. 15, 1954
Birthplace: New York, N.Y.
Residence: Tampa
Education: City University of New York, Earth and Environmental Sciences with Secondary Education
Occupation: Teacher
Previous Public Office: None
Family: Wife, three children, two grandchildren
Did you know? Is an avid swimmer, typically stroking a quarter of a mile a day, four or five times a week.Hillsborough County’s newest Democratic state representative is shaping up to be one of the Florida Legislature’s most ambitiously progressive freshmen, but that’s not stopping him from confidently hoping some of his proposed legislation will survive the coming session.
“There’s a lot more bipartisan work happening in Tallahassee, and hopefully it lasts,” Mark Danish, D-Tampa, tells Sunshine State News. “I really do believe we need to compromise, and do what’s best for our state, and not look at whether a bill’s sponsor is Republican or Democratic.”
A middle-school science teacher, Danish says his chief priority will be the funding of Florida’s K-12 education system.
"The [education] budget has been so severely cut over the last couple of years, but now that we have a surplus in the [state] budget, we need to continue to put money back into education to restore it to what it was before the recession hit,” he tells the News. “We are way below where education funding was six years ago."
One of the two bills he’s already filed, but hasn’t yet been assigned to a committee, would require all K-12 schools to spend funds annually allotted by the Legislature for “supplemental academic instruction” to provide summer school programs for students who are at risk of academic failure, wish to take electives, or who come from families whose income is below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
Danish’s second bill already enjoys one Republican co-sponsor: Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. HB 469 (“Gasoline Stations”) is a disability rights measure. It would require all gas stations in Florida to provide signs at each of their pumps containing the phone number of the station; the disabled person could call the store number, and if two or more employees are on duty, one of them would have to come out and pour gas for that disabled person.
Danish says the measure has “worked well” in his Hillsborough County, which has had its own local ordinance mandating such an accommodation for about a year.
“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on it, and even the gas companies like the idea,” he says. “It’s a feel-good kind of thing to do, and it doesn’t really take much time or effort to do it, and it’s good for customer relations. The gas stations are getting positive feedback that they’re helping people, so the gas stations look good.”
In the coming weeks, Danish will be introducing other pieces of legislation, among them a “Homeowner’s Bill of Rights” which would streamline the home foreclosure process and guarantee homeowners certain due process protections.
“We need to make sure this is done fairly and that people will have their day in court if there’s a reason they shouldn’t be foreclosed upon,” Danish tells the News, while declining to comment on specific measures the bill would contain, because it is still being drafted. “At the same time, I want to make sure that the banks are able to foreclose as needed when there’s no real opposition.
Danish tells the News he will also be introducing a bill that would require the state to compile and publish a list of between 50 and 100 chemicals “of high concern” to pregnant women and children.
“There’s a lot of different chemicals out there in our society, and some of them are of a danger and a lot of people don’t realize that,” Danish says, adding that his proposed list would probably be published on the website of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, for easy access and download.
Danish’s final proposal will probably be his least popular. He wants Florida to pass a law committing itself to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. If passed, and if eventually joined in this compact by enough states whose electoral vote total numbers at least 270, the measure would commit Florida to assigning all of its electoral votes to whomever wins the national popular vote in a presidential election, even if that candidate does not win the popular vote in Florida.
So far, seven states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina) have joined the compact, but they share only 132 electoral votes between them.
Appropriately enough, given his background as an educator with an undergraduate degree in earth and environmental sciences, Danish has been placed by House Speaker Will Weatherford on the important House Education Commission and the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee, assignments he’s especially pleased with. He also sits on the Economic Affairs Committee and the Government Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.
Asked just how he plans to get his bills through a Republican-dominated Legislature whose conservative members might find some of it paternalistic or (in the case of the national popular vote measure) culturally radical, Danish cites the success he’s already achieved in getting Fasano to co-sponsor his gas station bill. He also says he has a Republican (whom he was not ready to name) willing to sponsor it in the Senate. He also cites what he says is a new atmosphere of bipartisan cooperation in the Florida Legislature.
Still, he’s not blind to the challenges facing him.
“I know I won’t get all of them done,” he admits. “But there’s always next year.”
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
Birthplace: New York, N.Y.
Residence: Tampa
Education: City University of New York, Earth and Environmental Sciences with Secondary Education
Occupation: Teacher
Previous Public Office: None
Family: Wife, three children, two grandchildren
Did you know? Is an avid swimmer, typically stroking a quarter of a mile a day, four or five times a week.
“There’s a lot more bipartisan work happening in Tallahassee, and hopefully it lasts,” Mark Danish, D-Tampa, tells Sunshine State News. “I really do believe we need to compromise, and do what’s best for our state, and not look at whether a bill’s sponsor is Republican or Democratic.”
A middle-school science teacher, Danish says his chief priority will be the funding of Florida’s K-12 education system.
"The [education] budget has been so severely cut over the last couple of years, but now that we have a surplus in the [state] budget, we need to continue to put money back into education to restore it to what it was before the recession hit,” he tells the News. “We are way below where education funding was six years ago."
One of the two bills he’s already filed, but hasn’t yet been assigned to a committee, would require all K-12 schools to spend funds annually allotted by the Legislature for “supplemental academic instruction” to provide summer school programs for students who are at risk of academic failure, wish to take electives, or who come from families whose income is below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
Danish’s second bill already enjoys one Republican co-sponsor: Rep. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. HB 469 (“Gasoline Stations”) is a disability rights measure. It would require all gas stations in Florida to provide signs at each of their pumps containing the phone number of the station; the disabled person could call the store number, and if two or more employees are on duty, one of them would have to come out and pour gas for that disabled person.
Danish says the measure has “worked well” in his Hillsborough County, which has had its own local ordinance mandating such an accommodation for about a year.
“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on it, and even the gas companies like the idea,” he says. “It’s a feel-good kind of thing to do, and it doesn’t really take much time or effort to do it, and it’s good for customer relations. The gas stations are getting positive feedback that they’re helping people, so the gas stations look good.”
In the coming weeks, Danish will be introducing other pieces of legislation, among them a “Homeowner’s Bill of Rights” which would streamline the home foreclosure process and guarantee homeowners certain due process protections.
“We need to make sure this is done fairly and that people will have their day in court if there’s a reason they shouldn’t be foreclosed upon,” Danish tells the News, while declining to comment on specific measures the bill would contain, because it is still being drafted. “At the same time, I want to make sure that the banks are able to foreclose as needed when there’s no real opposition.
Danish tells the News he will also be introducing a bill that would require the state to compile and publish a list of between 50 and 100 chemicals “of high concern” to pregnant women and children.
“There’s a lot of different chemicals out there in our society, and some of them are of a danger and a lot of people don’t realize that,” Danish says, adding that his proposed list would probably be published on the website of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, for easy access and download.
Danish’s final proposal will probably be his least popular. He wants Florida to pass a law committing itself to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. If passed, and if eventually joined in this compact by enough states whose electoral vote total numbers at least 270, the measure would commit Florida to assigning all of its electoral votes to whomever wins the national popular vote in a presidential election, even if that candidate does not win the popular vote in Florida.
So far, seven states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina) have joined the compact, but they share only 132 electoral votes between them.
Appropriately enough, given his background as an educator with an undergraduate degree in earth and environmental sciences, Danish has been placed by House Speaker Will Weatherford on the important House Education Commission and the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee, assignments he’s especially pleased with. He also sits on the Economic Affairs Committee and the Government Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.
Asked just how he plans to get his bills through a Republican-dominated Legislature whose conservative members might find some of it paternalistic or (in the case of the national popular vote measure) culturally radical, Danish cites the success he’s already achieved in getting Fasano to co-sponsor his gas station bill. He also says he has a Republican (whom he was not ready to name) willing to sponsor it in the Senate. He also cites what he says is a new atmosphere of bipartisan cooperation in the Florida Legislature.
Still, he’s not blind to the challenges facing him.
“I know I won’t get all of them done,” he admits. “But there’s always next year.”
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
Comments (8)
Pathetic . . . .
Pathetic . . . .
By gender, support for a national popular vote was 88% among women and 69% among men.
By age, support for a national popular vote was 79% among 18-29 year olds, 78% among 30-45 year olds, 76% among 46-65 year olds, and 80% for those older than 65.
By political affiliation, support for a national popular vote was 88% among Democrats, 68% among Republicans, and 76% among others.
Most Americans don't care whether their presidential candidate wins or loses in their state or district . . . they care whether he/she wins the White House. Voters want to know, that even if they were on the losing side, their vote actually was directly and equally counted and mattered to their candidate. Most Americans think it's wrong for the candidate with the most popular votes to lose. We don't allow this in any other election in our representative republic.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.
When the bill is enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes– enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538), all the electoral votes from the enacting states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and DC.
National Popular Vote would give a voice to the minority party voters in each state. Now their votes are counted only for the candidate they did not vote for. Now they don't matter to their candidate.
And now votes, beyond the one needed to get the most votes in the state, for winning in a state are wasted and don't matter to candidates. Utah (5 electoral votes) alone generated a margin of 385,000 "wasted" votes for Bush in 2004. 8 small western states, with less than a third of California’s population, provided Bush with a bigger margin (1,283,076) than California provided Kerry (1,235,659).
The presidential election system that we have today was not designed, anticipated, or favored by the Founding Fathers but, instead, is the product of decades of evolutionary change precipitated by the emergence of political parties and enactment by 48 states of winner-take-all laws, not mentioned, much less endorsed, in the Constitution.
The bill uses the power given to each state by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution to change how they award their electoral votes for President. Historically, virtually all of the major changes in the method of electing the President, including ending the requirement that only men who owned substantial property could vote and 48 current state-by-state winner-take-all laws, have come about by state legislative action.
In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). Support for a national popular vote is strong among Republicans, Democrats, and Independent voters, as well as every demographic group in virtually every state surveyed in recent polls in recent closely divided Battleground states: CO – 68%, FL – 78%, IA 75%, MI – 73%, MO – 70%, NH – 69%, NV – 72%, NM– 76%, NC – 74%, OH – 70%, PA – 78%, VA – 74%, and WI – 71%; in Small states (3 to 5 electoral votes): AK – 70%, DC – 76%, DE – 75%, ID – 77%, ME – 77%, MT – 72%, NE 74%, NH – 69%, NV – 72%, NM – 76%, OK – 81%, RI – 74%, SD – 71%, UT – 70%, VT – 75%, WV – 81%, and WY – 69%; in Southern and Border states: AR – 80%, KY- 80%, MS – 77%, MO – 70%, NC – 74%, OK – 81%, SC – 71%, TN – 83%, VA – 74%, and WV – 81%; and in other states polled: AZ – 67%, CA – 70%, CT – 74%, MA – 73%, MN – 75%, NY – 79%, OR – 76%, and WA – 77%. Americans believe that the candidate who receives the most votes should win.
The bill has passed 31 state legislative chambers in 21 states with 243 electoral votes. The bill has been enacted by 9 jurisdictions with 132 electoral votes - 49% of the 270 necessary to go into effect.
NationalPopularVote
Follow National Popular Vote on Facebook via NationalPopularVoteInc
So, you want to pass something that is being pushed by extreme left wing groups? No thank you. The Founding Fathers were right about the Electoral College not a Seros funded 'think tank'.
By state (Electoral College votes), by political affiliation, support for a national popular vote in recent polls has been:
Alaska (3) -- 66% among (Republicans), 70% among Nonpartisan voters, 82% among Alaska Independent Party voters
Arkansas (6) -- 71% (R), 79% (Independents).
California (55) – 61% (R), 74% (I)
Colorado (9) -- 56% (R), 70% (I).
Connecticut (7) -- 67% (R)
Delaware (3) -- 69% (R), 76% (I)
DC (3) -- 48% (R), 74% of (I)
Florida (29) -- 68% (R)
Idaho(4) - 75% (R)
Iowa (6) -- 63% (R)
Kentucky (8) -- 71% (R), 70% (I)
Maine (4) - 70% (R)
Massachusetts (11) -- 54% (R)
Michigan (16) -- 68% (R), 73% (I)
Minnesota (10) -- 69% (R)
Montana (3)- 67% (R)
Mississippi (6) -- 75% (R)
Nebraska (5) -- 70% (R)
Nevada (5) -- 66% (R)
New Hampshire (4) -- 57% (R), 69% (I)
New Mexico (5) -- 64% (R), 68% (I)
New York (29) - 66% (R), 78% Independence, 50% Conservative
North Carolina (15) -- 89% liberal (R), 62% moderate (R) , 70% conservative (R), 80% (I)
Ohio (18) -- 65% (R)
Oklahoma (7) -- 75% (R)
Oregon (7) -- 70% (R), 72% (I)
Pennsylvania (20) -- 68% (R), 76% (I)
Rhode Island (4) -- 71% liberal (R), 63% moderate (R), 35% conservative (R), 78% (I),
South Carolina (8) -- 64% (R)
South Dakota (3) -- 67% (R)
Tennessee (11) -- 73% (R)
Utah (6) -- 66% (R)
Vermont (3) -- 61% (R)
Virginia (13) -- 76% liberal (R), 63% moderate (R), 54% conservative (R)
Washington (12) -- 65% (R)
West Virginia (5) -- 75% (R)
Wisconsin (10) -- 63% (R), 67% (I)
Wyoming (3) –66% (R), 72% (I)
NationalPopularVote
● Tom Golisano (a pro-life, anti-Buffett-rule, registered Republican businessman residing in Florida) and
● John R. Koza (a pro-choice, pro-Buffett-rule, registered Democratic businessman residing in California).
John R. Koza’s contributions have largely been spent by National Popular Vote, a 501(c)4 non-profit corporation.
Tom Golisano’s contributions have largely been spent by Support Popular Vote, a 501(c)4 non-profit corporation (originally called “National Popular Vote Initiative”).
Support for a nationwide popular vote for President has been bipartisan for some time.
In 1969, The U.S. House of Representatives voted for a national popular vote by a 338–70 margin. It was endorsed by Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and various members of Congress who later ran for Vice President and President such as then-Congressman George H.W. Bush, and then-Senator Bob Dole.
On June 7, 2011, the Republican-controlled New York Senate passed the National Popular Vote bill by a 47–13 margin, with Republicans favoring the bill by 21–11. Republicans endorsed by the Conservative Party favored the bill 17–7.
Jason Cabel Roe, a lifelong conservative activist and professional political consultant wrote in National Popular Vote is Good for Republicans: "I strongly support National Popular Vote. It is good for Republicans, it is good for conservatives . . . , and it is good for America. National Popular Vote is not a grand conspiracy hatched by the Left to manipulate the election outcome.
It is a bipartisan effort of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to allow every state – and every voter – to have a say in the selection of our President, and not just the 15 Battle Ground States.
National Popular Vote is not a change that can be easily explained, nor the ramifications thought through in sound bites. It takes a keen political mind to understand just how much it can help . . . Republicans. . . . Opponents either have a knee-jerk reaction to the idea or don’t fully understand it. . . . We believe that the more exposure and discussion the reform has the more support that will build for it."
Former Tennessee U.S. Senator and 2008 presidential candidate Fred Thompson(R), former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar (R), and former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) are co-champions of National Popular Vote.
National Popular Vote's National Advisory Board includes former Senators Jake Garn (R–UT), and David Durenberger (R–MN) and former congressman John Buchanan (R–AL).
Saul Anuzis, former Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party for five years and a former candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee, supports the National Popular Vote plan as the fairest way to make sure every vote matters, and also as a way to help Conservative Republican candidates. This is not a partisan issue and the NPV plan would not help either party over the other.
Rich Bolen, a Constitutional scholar, attorney at law, and Republican Party Chairman for Lexington County, South Carolina, wrote:"A Conservative Case for National Popular Vote: Why I support a state-based plan to reform the Electoral College."
Some other supporters who wrote forewords to "Every Vote Equal: A State-Based Plan for Electing the President by National Popular Vote " include:
Laura Brod served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2003 to 2010 and was the ranking Republican member of the Tax Committee. She was the Minnesota Public Sector Chair for ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and active in the Council of State Governments.
James Brulte served as Republican Leader of the California State Assembly from 1992 to 1996, California State Senator from 1996 to 2004, and Senate Republican leader from 2000 to 2004.
Ray Haynes served as the National Chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in 2000. He served in the California State Senate from 1994 to 2002 and was elected to the Assembly in 1992 and 2002
Dean Murray is a member of the New York State Assembly. He was a Tea Party organizer before being elected to the Assembly as a Republican, Conservative Party member in February 2010. He was described by Fox News as the first Tea Party candidate elected to office in the United States.
Thomas L. Pearce served as a Michigan State Representative from 2005–2010 and was appointed Dean of the Republican Caucus. He has led several faith-based initiatives in Lansing.
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