I'm a little surprised this hasn't been a topic of discussion among Kosmopolitans. A little less than a month ago, Florida Governor Jeb Bush removed the (Democratic) Mayor of Orlando from office. It's a complicated, ugly story involving a hard-fought election (and win) by a prominent Democrat (Buddy Dyer) and a lot of sour grapes by Florida Republicans.
The freepers were all over this, but I don't think I've seen any discussion here. By way of background, here are links to the Orlando Sentinel story and Mayor Dyer's statement on the issue:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-asec-dyerstory031105,0,1883672,print.story?coll=s
fla-news-florida
http://www.cityoforlando.net/executive/communications/news/05_03_11_statement.htm
In 2003 a a special election was held for Mayor of Orlando when the current (republicon) mayor was elected Secretary of State. Seeing an opportunity, the Florida Democratic Party, under the leadership of then-new Chair Scott Maddox, got behind Buddy Dyer in a big way and helped him to victory.
Now you can imagine how losing the Mayor's office in a traditionally heavily republicon city pissed off the president's little brother.
When the regular term was up, Dyer stood for reelection in the regular March 2004 Orlando Mayoral elections, which he won with 51% of the vote. The very next day the losing candidate's brother started complaining of perceived abnormalities with the vote.
Here's the problem ... the perceived abnornomalities were investigated (in the best tradition of Jim Crow) by the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement (FDLE). Guess who signs the FDLE's paychecks: Jeb Bush. They uncovered what they claim is a violation of an obscure Florida statute. Upon indictment, Jeb immediately declared the Mayor's office vacant.
Does anybody else think it's reminicscent of eveery fascist regime in history that the Governor (who has made no secret of his partisanship) sent his personal police force to remove a duly-elected mayor (of the opposition party) from office? Am I the only one who thinks this is a problem?