CELEBRITIES PAY $27 MILLION IN FINES & FEES SO 13,000 FLORIDA FELONS CAN VOTE:  In Florida now, ex-convicts must pay whatever fines and fees have been assessed against them before they are eligible to vote again.  But “celebrities” (like Michael Bloomberg and LeBron James) are paying those fines and fees on their behalf.

That’s not exactly charity.  No doubt the ex-convicts themselves would have much rather had been given a job. Or even some new clothes and shoes. The right to vote, while a wonderful thing, is unlikely to be at the top of their list. But benefiting ex-convicts has nothing to do with this.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights did a report last year on the “collateral consequences of a felony conviction” (with my statement here).  The “collateral consequence” that my progressive colleagues objected to the most was the denial of the right to vote.  How anybody is naive enough to view this behavior as concern for ex-convicts’ welfare is just beyond me.