Joe Everett is the Family History, Local History, and Microforms Librarian at the Brigham Young University Harold B. Lee Library. He has over 25 years combined experience in the genealogical field at BYU, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and Ancestry.com.

Joe manages the collections and patron services of the BYU Family History Library and serves as a faculty liaison to instructors in BYU's Family History undergraduate degree program and others involved in family history on campus from social to computer science.

At FamilySearch, Joe was a library program manager providing services for the more 5,000 family history centers. Previously at FamilySearch, he headed the International Reference floor at the Family History Library, and also worked for several years as a technical services librarian, cataloging Slavic and Germanic records. He has served on numerous strategic planning and program development teams at FamilySearch. At Ancestry.com, he worked in content acquisitions and content product and project management, putting genealogical databases online.

Joe earned a B.A. in Russian Language and in Family History/Genealogy (Germanic emphasis) from Brigham Young University and a Master of Library Science from Emporia State University (Kansas). He has been a member and officer in various library and genealogical associations and has lectured and published articles on U.S. and European family history research, historical geography, and migration.

06 March 2008

Why does Crist care about seating Democratic delgates?

Speaking of the controversy over seating delegates, why does Governor Crist care so much, as a Republican, that he has become one of the most vocal supporters for seating delegates to the Democratic convention? I question his integrity for supporting this. I think that the position is insupportable. (See my last post.)

I believe Crist cares less about the enfranchisement of Florida Democrats than he does about the opportunity for his own polical gain. By speaking out in favor of seating them, he gets three potential political gains:

1. He has a chance to dig at Democrats in general, by drawing attention to the rift within their party, and chiding party bosses for silencing the voice of the people. Making Democrats look bad is good for aspiring Republicans like Crist.

2. He gets to boost his already high approval ratings among Floridians, including Democrats, as he is seen helping them fight the battle to let their voices be heard. (Do I hear Crist 2012?)

3. He gets his face on national TV and the Internet again. It's hard for lesser known, but aspiring politicians to find such opportunities to boost their name recognition. The last chance he had was when he made a late endoresement for McCain that helped catapult McCain to frontrunner status. (I'm waiting to find out what kickback he gets from McCain for that endorsement.)

Don't be fooled. Crist is just out to earn some political capital. And he is willing to flaunt rules and written agreements to do so.

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