Monday, June 12, 2006

Florida House candidate falsely arrested while fighting corruption by local officials

In Alachua, Florida, city officials are using false arrest and harassment to try to intimidate a citizen fighting election corruption. And behind the power struggle over control of the city is millions of dollars in development deals. Sound familiar?

Charles Grapski says: "If you can clean up one city, you can clean up the whole country. But if you can’t clean up one city, we have no chance at the national level. I see a lot of significance in this one case, because it is a small example of what’s going on nationally, and it’s a lot easier to tackle corruption at the local level, which is the root and foundation of national problems. I’m confident in the end that in terms of justice, I know that what we are doing is on the side of justice. What these officials know is that they have the power and authority and they can abuse it with very little repercussions to themselves normally. They have a lot of power and resources. They are used to people being afraid to stand up….But as long as we keep fighting and pushing this issue, I believe in the end that we will prevail."

See full article here and more details at The Alachua Project.