The Ballot Strategy Initiative Center has a new report grading the 24 states that allow citizens direct access to the ballot.
Their standards are pretty tough: only five states got a C or better. Florida got an F.
I'm not sure this is entirely fair, as it fails to account for the important role of the state courts in policing Florida's ballot access system. See, for example, Patrick Gudridge, Complexity and Contradiction in Florida Constitutional Law.
Advice from Quintin E. Primo III, co-founder and chief executive of Capri Capital Partners, a real estate investment and development firm based in Chicago:
Q. What's your best career advice to young graduates?
A. Three words: leave the country. Get out of here. That's what I tell everybody — just go. I don't care where you go, just go.
Q. Because?
A. Because the world is changing. It is no longer acceptable to speak only English if you are 25 and younger. It's unacceptable. You have little chance of being successful if you speak only one language.
If you don't understand Islam, you're in trouble because Islam comprises somewhere between 1.6 billion and 1.8 billion people, and there are markets that are untapped that need to be tapped.
So you've got to get out of your front door, get out of the comfort and quiet of your home, and your safety zone, and step into a pool of risk where you have no idea what the outcome is going to be. Out of it all, you will have a much broader understanding of the world's cultures, and you will have a much clearer idea of how the world perceives our culture, and all the value, and the benefits, and the beauty of our culture.
There is nothing more important. I don't care where you went to business school. I don't care whether your grades were good or bad. You have to leave the country.
I think this advice applies to lawyers too. Yes, there remain areas of practice largely untouched by globalization, but not many.
The headline (Is Italy Too Italian?) is silly, but the article is a good read. It uses bespoke textile maker Luciano Barbera as an example of Italian business strengths and weaknesses.
(The sub-head, “From Taxis to Textiles, Italy Chooses Tradition Over Growth” is much more representative of the content.)
Adam Smith of the St. Petersburg Times delves into Jeff Greene's history. It's telling stuff about the would-be Democratic candidate for Florida Senate. Here's just one of many anecdotes:
Harlan Hoffman, 37, was in a Fort Lauderdale yachting apparel store in 2007 when he saw a help wanted ad for Summerwind.
“There were two people from Australia there who said, 'Oh, good luck with that one… . We're still waiting to get paid by Summerwind.' I should have listened,” Hoffman said.
The deckhand was shocked while buffing Greene's yacht and wound up hospitalized.
A boat's owner is supposed to take care of on-the-job medical costs, but Hoffman said Greene — whom he never met — told the insurance company he had never heard of Hoffman and that he didn't work on Summerwind. It took eight months and legal action that included affidavits from other crew members vouching for Hoffman and trashing Greene to get his bills paid.
“This guy Jeff Greene threw tons of money into new diving gear, but the crew's basic equipment — food and supplies — he didn't want to spend any money on. Summerwind has a terrible reputation,'' Hoffman said. “Mr. Greene's yacht is known to be a party yacht. When it went to Cuba, everybody talked about the vomit caked all over the sides from all the partying going on.”
Just what Florida needs in a Senator: contempt for the working man so deep that he has to stiff them.
Previously: Meek Fights Back
These guys are right and these guys are wrong. Read about it at TPM since the ADL site is slashdotted.
Try to recall that “The mission of the Anti-Defamation League is to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike.”
Except sometimes, apparently.
Poor Kendrick Meek. He was husbanding his resources, expecting to coast through the Democratic Senate primary, when three problems ganged up on him.
The first problem was predictable: low name recognition outside South Florida. But there are ways of dealing with that if name recognition your only problem. (To the extent that there was also lingering animosity among South Florida progressives for Meek’s very weak support of South Florida 2008 congressional candidates such as Annette Taddeo, well that was just the cost of positioning Meek as a middle-of-the-road candidate who could win votes upstate.)
The second problem was less predictable: Governor Charlie Crist got hammered by Tea Party fellow traveler Marco Rubio in the GOP primary polls, so he decided to run as an independent. Between that and his grandstanding on the gulf oil spill, Crist sucked up most of the media oxygen in the race. Plus he started leading in the polls, winning many independents and even some Democratics (see problem one above).
The third problem is just gross: a sleazy billionaire named Jeff Greene decided to try to buy the Democratic nomination. It’s hard to exaggerate just how bad Greene is. Here are a few choice facts.
But if you have billions you can buy a lot of campaign commercials, and flood the zone with fancy glossy mailers (I’ve gotten at least two fat ones).
And it seems to be working: although there is a huge pool of undecided, Greene now leads Meek in the latest polls.
So Meek has gone on the air. But Meek’s second campaign commercial looks awfully defensive.
There is a mixed message here. Neither a “meet Kendrick” nor 100% an attack ad, the spot tries to do both at the same time, and maybe flails a bit at both. And any time you have to pay money to say “Kendrick Meek is not part of a fraud case,” you are in trouble.
Given his lackluster record on progressive issues, Meek is a difficult candidate to get excited about; only the abysmal quality of his opposition spurs one to sympathy. Charlie Crist has to be laughing: if Greene manages to buy this nomination, people like me may have to vote for Crist, even though he’s as principled and as reliable as a weathervane, just to avoid getting a hard-core rightist in Marco Rubio. Or we may sit that race out. Either way, if Greene wins, then Crist wins.
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