Primary results are in, but how ugly…and expensive did it get in Florida? Many unanswered questions in child abuse case. What does it mean for gay rights if homosexuality is a choice? The passing of Don Cornelius.
Primary results are in, but how ugly and expensive did it get in Florida?
Yesterday’s Florida primary results are in and it’s Mitt Romney by a large margin. Despite the loss, the Gingrich campaign vowed not the throw in the towel. They’ll keep campaigning until Super Tuesday in March, and possibly right up until the Republican convention in late August. Romney had a significant lead in the polls leading up to the vote, and though Gingrich lost this round, the biggest losers in the race may just be the people in Florida.
Both campaigns went negative and stayed there. According to a company that analyzes media fully 92% of the ads shown in the state were negative. Media and political experts alike are saying that the number of ad buys and the negative tone in Florida was unprecedented. Romney’s ads accused Gingrich of being a Washington insider who sat idly by while mortgage lender Freddie Mac destroyed the Floridian economy. And a Gingrich robocall asks why Romney refused to allow Holocaust survivors kosher meals.
Most of the ad buys in the state were paid for by super PACs (political action committees). Restore our Future, the super PAC that supports Romney, spent more than $15 million in Florida, while Winning our Future, the Gingrich super PAC, spent a comparatively measly $3 million. To put that into perspective, according to a report from the Brookings Institution, during the 2008 election Mitt Romney spent $32 million on ad buys throughout the entire primary season. All that money had everyone taking a second look at super PACs, and today we’re getting more insight into the candidates’ major donors. Last night at midnight was the deadline for super PACs to release fundraising and spending details to the Federal Election Commission.
WEIGH IN:
So, who are the major funders behind the campaigns and what does that money buy them? How much impact did negative ads have on the Florida primary? And what’s next for the frontrunners? Next stop: Nevada!
Guests:
Peter Cook, Chief Washington correspondent, Bloomberg TV
Peter Overby, NPR’s correspondent covering campaign finance and lobbying
Tom Hollihan, Professor of Communications, Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, University of Southern California; Author of "Uncivil Wars: Political Campaigns in a Media Age, Arguments and Arguing"
Many unanswered questions in child abuse case
Mark Berndt appeared in court today on charges that he committed lewd acts on 23 boys and girls, ages 6 to 10, between 2008 and 2010. The Miramonte third grade school teacher was arrested Monday at his home in Torrance and was being held on $23 million bail. He allegedly gagged students with tape, putting 3-inch long Madagascar cockroaches on their faces and in their mouths and forcing them to taste semen.
Sgt. Dan Scott of the Special Victim’s Bureau said investigators did not have a case until they identified Berndt’s semen on a spoon that appeared in photographs.
"There are children that are subject to what everybody would agree is inappropriate behavior, but not a crime. These children are smiling; they seem to be enjoying these games, this ruse that this teacher was playing on them. Yes, they had their eyes blindfolded, but that could have easily been in a game of hide and seek or pin the tail on the donkey."
Officials received the case on Dec. 2, 2010, after a Redondo Beach photo technician saw one of Berndt’s photographs fall out of a CVS developing machine in October. The photos were eventually traced to the Miramonte teacher. Detectives could not respond till Jan. 3 of the next year, when the children were back from holiday break. A search of Berndt’s classroom led to the discovery of the blue spoon.
According to Scott, interviewed victims said “that these were games that were being played, that the reward was to have a treat, whether it was a cookie, or they said a spoonful of what they described as a sweet substance. They said it was a white, milky, clearish substance, and that it was like sugar water."
It took months before detectives received results from DNA testing. "This is not television. So yes, DNA [testing] was done, but it took several months to get it back that it was in fact semen," Scott said.
Some parents complained yesterday that officials at the South Los Angeles school should have notified them when photos depicting the abuse were found in 2010.
Gloria Polanco, the mother of two children at the school asks why, if the principal knew this in advance, he didn't he inform parents. "How long has he been doing this?'' asked Polanco. Scott said the purpose of withholding information about the case from parents was to prevent what is called “cross-contaminating witness accounts.”
"You have to worry about cross-contamination. If you start having parents conducting interviews of their own children, and you have parents then calling other parents and children telling other children, then it doesn't become what happened to you, it becomes what did you see happen, and then it gets very confusing," he said.
Scott also noted that they had enough evidence to identify victims, so it was unnecessary to inform a large crowd and get bombarded. He added that parents of victims were promptly told about the investigation after their child’s interview.
About 400 photos were found at Berndt's home and at the photo lab during subsequent searches. It's not clear how many different children were pictured. According to Scott, several additional parents have come forward that believe their children to be victims. He is unsure about how many, and whether or not they were involved with Berndt's ruse.
WEIGH IN:
Was it appropriate for the district or law enforcement to wait so long to tell parents about the teacher’s alleged crimes? Mark Berndt challenged his firing by the district but finally in June resigned from the district, which allowed him to retain his lifetime health benefits and his state teachers pension. Should he be able to collect his pension and benefits if he in convicted?
Guest:
Scott Gold, reporter for the Los Angeles Times
Sergeant Dan Scott, Special Victim’s Bureau, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; Scott was at the town hall meeting at the school this morning.
What does it mean for gay rights if homosexuality can be a choice?
Recently, former Sex and The City star, Cynthia Nixon greatly angered the gay community when she claimed that her own decision to be gay wasn’t a matter of biology…it was a choice. The statement came in a profile of Nixon in the New York Times earlier this month in which Nixon said that her gayness is no less legitimate because she chose it and wasn’t born with it. It didn’t take long for gay activist to come out strongly against Nixon, calling her words ‘irresponsible,” and saying she’d fallen into a “right-wing trap.”
According to Wayne Beson, the founder of Truth Wins Out, an organization dedicated to debunking “Conversion therapy,” says when you allow for the notion that gay can be a choice you’re condemning millions of gay teens in middle America to even more ridicule and violence. He says Nixon’s words will also be exploited by those that believe homosexuality is a sin. But Nixon doesn’t see it that way. She says to insist that homosexuality has to be an inborn trait is to cede the point to the bigots.
WEIGH IN:
Who’s right? Is sexuality a rainbow with an infinite number of possibilities and flexibilities? Do people in the public eye have to choose their words carefully to avoid giving ammunition to certain groups? Or do they have a right to voice their experience as they see it? And, what does the gay rights movement have to lose if homosexuality can be seen as a personal choice and not an innate trait?
Guests:
Wayne Beson, founder, Truth Wins Out -- an organization dedicated to debunking conversion or ex-gay therapy.
Rebekah Orr, spokesperson for Equality California
Nile Rodgers on the passing of "Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius
This morning, a family member of Don Cornelius arrived at his Mulholland Drive home, finding him with a gunshot wound to the head. Authorities rushed him to Cedars Sinai, where he was pronounced dead.
Cornelius was famous for creating Soul Train, one of the most popular music and dance shows of all time, and especially pivotal for its role in continually putting music made by black artists in the spotlight.
The show started in Chicago in 1970, and by 1971 it had national syndication, which lasted for 35 years. Cornelius himself hosted until 1993, and during that time brought musicians such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson to a wider audience.
Apparently, Cornelius’s death is suspected to be self-inflicted, but detectives are still investigating. He was 75 years old, and recently went through a divorce.
Will any light be shed on why Cornelius would have done this? What positive memories do you have Cornelius and Soul Train? How can Cornelius’s legacy be seen and heard in today’s world?
Guest:
Nile Rodgers, musician