The Gainesville Iguana

by Joe Courter

In late August 1990 there was a media frenzy in Gainesville around the infamous student murders. Satellite trucks were all over town covering every press conference, and throwing mics in peoples’ faces. Into that came Phil Donahue on Sept. 7, who asked for and was allowed to do his one-hour live 9am show from the downtown plaza (now Bo Diddley Plaza). Donahue passed away on Aug. 18 of this year. Below is an article from the Tampa Bay Times from Sept. 8, 1990, as well as a Democracy Now! interview with Donahue from Nov. 14, 2014.

From the Tampa Bay Times:

Phil Donahue was a not a popular visitor when he came to town Friday. The mayor, police chief and University of Florida president refused to appear on Donahue’s television show, a segment about the slayings of five college students. A letter to the editor in the Gainesville Sun urged residents to boycott the show.

Who/what is GAU?

by UF Graduate Assistants United

Suppose you’re a new graduate assistant who has attended an orientation or has been involved in activism on campus. In that case, you’ve likely heard of Graduate Assistants United (GAU), the labor union that represents all (over 4,200) Graduate Assistants at UF. UF GAU is a family, a haven, and a safeguard against entities that often don’t have our best interests at heart.

What have we been up to?

Despite legislative attacks, we’ve been productive both at and away from the bargaining table. The series of bargaining sessions that began in January of 2023 has resulted in the largest raise to the minimum stipend UF-GAU has seen in its 50-year history, more than doubling our historic win the year prior. Since we still haven’t quite caught up to inflation and remain below a livable wage, our team is continuing to work on getting another raise from the university. With the recent unveiling of exorbitant spending on salaries under the Sasse administration, it’s clear that UF has enough money to pay us what we deserve. 

by the Community Weatherization Committee

The Community Weatherization Coalition (CWC) urges its supporters and clients to vote “yes” on the “Local Public Utilities” referendum this November to put our utility in the hands of locally-elected officials who know and represent our community’s needs and interests.  

The CWC was founded in 2008 as a collaboration of nonprofit, government, faith-based, business, and university partners working together to address the high energy burdens faced by residents in Alachua County.  We help our neighbors lower their utility bills by saving energy and water through engaging volunteers, building community, and learning together.  

by Janice Garry, President, League of Women Voters of Alachua County

Have you made a voting plan? Voting can be one of those things that you know is coming up, but seems remote, and then, suddenly, the day arrives. That’s why the League of Women Voters of Alachua County (LWVAC) encourages each person to think ahead and make a plan on where you will be and how you will vote. 

All the important dates and information can be found on the Supervisor of Elections website, but here are a few to pay attention to. Oct. 7 is the deadline for registering to vote. Oct. 21 – Nov. 3 is the period for early voting. Oct. 24 is the deadline to complete a Vote by Mail application. Nov. 5 is election day. If you’re going to be out of town or unable to get to the polls, make a plan to vote by mail or vote early. 

The Matheson History Museum has announced its 2024 Fall Program Series. The full slate of programs includes live music, elections and voting history, author talks, and more. 

Along with their regular local and Florida history programs and Second Saturdays at Sweetwater series, they will be hosting programs to coincide with the “Voices and Votes: Alachua County” exhibition.

Check out their website for more information: https://mathesonmuseum.org/.

by Tia Maria

American poet and author Maya Angelou once said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” 

Let us apply these wise words of warning to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Trump ran for president in 2016 with the same rhetoric as today regarding Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He promised no cuts, but then spent four years trying to dismantle these great American programs through tax cuts to benefit his billionaire buddies.

What: Bee-luther-hatchee by Thomas Gibbons 
Where: The Acrosstown Repertory Theatre, 3501 SW 2nd Ave, Suite O (in Creekside Mall), Gainesville 
When: Sept. 13-29, Fridays and Saturdays 8pm, Sundays 2pm 
Web: https://tinyurl.com/Iguana2057
Facebook event: https://tinyurl.com/Iguana2058

Shelita Burns, an African American editor, publishes Bee-luther-hatchee, the autobiography of a reclusive 72-year-old black woman named Libby Price. Shelita has never met Libby, and when the book wins a prestigious award she decides to deliver it to her in person. To her profound shock, the actual author of the book is a white man named Sean Leonard. Furious and resentful, Shelita accuses Sean of perpetrating a hoax, while he defends the book as a truthful work of imagination. 

by The GRRR! Network

On Nov. 5, Floridians will have the chance to vote Yes on Amendment 4, the Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion. 

On April 1, Florida’s Supreme Court officially placed it on the November ballot and Floridians Protecting Freedom launched its Yes on 4 campaign, to ensure that voters enshrine abortion rights into the Florida Constitution. However, on the same day, the Court allowed Florida’s 6-week abortion ban to go into effect on May 1. 

by Joe Courter

Sometimes one act can have huge impact that could not have been foreseen. The decision of Joe Biden to step away from the Presidency was contemplated for weeks, but that possibility was tempered with uncertainty as to what would happen next. That sure resolved quickly as Kamala Harris not only secured broad support in the party but was rather stunningly embraced as the obvious choice by people, and then her picking Tim Walz for VP was equally embraced. What a difference!  

The recent State Parks controversy presented another case of a single event being a catalyst for change. James Gaddis was working as a cartographer for the State Department of Environmental Protection,  and he became aware of a plan to add lodges, golf and pickleball to our State Parks in a rather rushed way, and he leaked the information out, costing him his job but, what difference it made.  Citizens around the state mobilized with calls, letters, and sign-holding demonstrations and forced an embarrassing turn around on State officials.

by Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson

A nearly secret proposal to build golf courses, hotels, and recreational facilities in nine state parks was exposed by a whistleblower within Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).  The subsequent uproar and protests caused quick backpedaling by state officials, who then began pointing the fingers at anybody else. One long-time DEP employee told me there was no way that agency officials would have proposed these projects if the orders had not come from the highest levels of government. Fortunately, the fired state employee became a hero, and his GoFundMe campaign, which has raised over $200,000, provides a strong signal to other bureaucrats that doing the right thing shouldn’t damage them financially.

by Joe Courter

The primary voting went down okay in August; turnout was seen as low, but we are happy with outright wins for James Ingle and Desmon Duncan-Walker in City Commission races. For School Board, Leanetta McNealy and Thomas Vu were handily approved by the voters.

Moving on to face off against Republicans in the Nov. 5 general election, of course, at the top of the ballot we get to vote for Kamala Harris for president! Locally on the ballot are Chad Scott for sheriff and Mary Alford for County Commission, joined by other local Democrats who were not challenged in the primaries: Anna Prizzia for County Commission and Kim Barton for election supervisor here in Alachua County. Anna has a well-funded Republican opponent and, with the Tallahassee-mandated district-only voting as opposed to at-large voting, a steeper climb; this is a very important race. Kim Barton, a career elections office worker who has done a fine job, is against a well-funded local Republican Party officer with no elections office experience(!). 

By Pam Smith for Gainesville Women for Harris

The history of women in Gainesville opposing the establishment goes back as long as Gainesville itself has existed. 

Gainesville Women for Harris is just one of several  groups that are working right now. As soon as Kamala Harris was designated the Democratic candidate, a Facebook group formed called Florida Women for Harris. 

It took off like wildfire. Within one week, it was obvious that Gainesville had a strong presence in this statewide pop-up organization. Julie Thaler and I looked at those numbers and said “We need to establish a Gainesville chapter that has its own Facebook page so that we can organize local actions.” 

The September issue of the Iguana is now available, and you can access it here! If you want to get your hands on a hard copy, check out our distro locations here.

A rebellion in Florida
(podcast) by Jason Garcia ~ substack.com ~ Aug. 23 ~ tinyurl.com/Iguana2048
The most important result to come out of the primary elections in Florida was the rejection of culture-warring School Board candidates in races around the state. But the most interesting result came in Manatee County, where, in one fell swoop, residents completely overhauled a local county commission that many believed was in the pocket of a few influential real-estate developers. Liv Coleman, a political science professor at the University of Tampa and resident of Manatee County, joins the show to talk about how it all went down.

From the frontlines of the MAGA war on higher education: The Ms. Q&A with New College of Florida professor Amy Reid
by Carrie N. Baker ~ Ms. Magazine ~ Aug. 15 ~ tinyurl.com/Iguana2053
In January of 2023, New College of Florida in Sarasota was the state’s only public liberal honors arts college, with a motto of “educating free thinkers, risk takers and trailblazers.” But a right-wing takeover has led to a mass exodus of professors and students, and violations of academic freedom and potentially state laws. The takeover of New College of Florida began on Jan. 6, 2023, when Governor Ron DeSantis appointed six new board members to vacant positions on the 13-member governing board of trustees of New College. The new members were right-wing activists in culture wars over education. Most had no connections to the college or even to the state of Florida. One was Christopher Rufo, best known as the architect of the anti-“critical race theory” movement. In an interview, professor Amy Reid, director of gender studies at New College of Florida said, “New College is a flashpoint for what’s going on. We’re a cautionary tale.”