Commissioners: Respect the Charter and the People

Board of Sarasota County Commissioners

Date: 12.6.21

To: Mike Moran, Al Maio, Ron Cutsinger, Nancy Detert, Christian Ziegler

cc: Matt Osterhoudt, Ron Turner

Commissioners of Sarasota County:

You're in a bind. You have consistently fostered pro-growth policies and approved super-sized developments, despite public hearings that bring hundreds of people to your chambers in hopes of persuading you to moderate, if not halt, egregious development plans.

Your largesse has increased over time; your regulatory authority is so little used in development approval hearings that the rules have become flaccid, feckless things. Instead of assiduously applying the laws that express the people's wishes for their community's future, you have handed interpretation of our Comprehensive Plan to the construction syndicate. 

Tens of thousands of dwelling units are already approved and on your books. The total is far more, as I understand it, than the most liberal projections for the county's housing needs predict.Yet you refuse to publicly discuss the planning overview, the total context that would give us the basis for deciding when too much is too much. Knowledge of the facts would bring a strong reaction from our residents.

Here's the point: You have disappointed and angered people in each of the five districts -- people who deeply care about what is happening to the place where they and their neighbors live, where their children go to school, and where they once were happy. 

Because you know this, you are doing everything you can to turn upside down the voting structure we the people put in place in 2018.You know that your pro-growth insensitivity has angered many people in your districts, and you wish to avoid your official accountability to them.

So here's the math: Each district is drawn to contain roughly 75,000 voters. Each of those voters has had the opportunity to experience the pain and hassle, the traffic and construction detours caused by your approvals of developments where they live.

The only way to kneecap those 75,000 angry voters before they enthusiastically retire you from office is to have 285,827 people from other districts bury the informed electoral power of your district voters under an avalanche of ignorance.

Add this to your gerrymandered redistricting and the extent of de-democratization in Sarasota County becomes clear. This is not about Dems versus Republicans. It's about undermining Democracy itself. 

When the voters tell you to refrain from placing Single Member District voting on a costly special election ballot, listen to them, Commissioners. Do not approve any special election without itemizing in complete detail how many of our tax dollars will be needed if this bureaucratic tantrum is exercised.

Very truly yours,

Tom Matrullo 

Citizen of Sarasota County

Tell the CRB not to attempt to undermine open democracy

 

Dark Money has no face

Citizens United meets Main Street Several years ago, Sarasota advocate Cathy Antunes began probing the sources and destinations of large sums of money coming into Sarasota and Manatee elections. Tracing so much money through faceless PACs has taken her some time. Now she's sharing this information in an easy-to-read Flipbook format. The text is clear and has plenty of illustrative diagrams. People bandy about the term "corruption." but Cathy knows how to spell it out. Citizens United meets Main Street Please read "Citizens United meets Main Street," share, and vote wisely. Thank you, Citizens for District Power ===

Are you in?

It might come as news that Sarasota County's August 18 "Primary" is not a Primary. For both Sheriff and School Board, it's the entire election. Voting is open to all registered voters. Learn why here.

To vote on Aug. 18, you must be registered with the Supervisor of Elections. If you've not already done so, the deadline is July 20. Where to begin? Citizens for District Power can help you register, apply to vote by mail, even change party affiliation. It clarifies which districts are where, who's running in each, and why candidates unburdened by piles of developer cash have for once a real chance. Do have a look.

On the other hand, for the Board of County Commissioners, August 18 is a real Primary, for Republican voters in districts 1 & 5 only. A bit of an update on who's backing whom in these races here.

Single member districts can be a game changer - if enough of us are in the game.

Citizens for District Power

Citizen Power at Fogartyville

This past Tuesday evening, Cathy Antunes spoke with Pat Rounds and Bill Zoller, both longtime advocates for sensible planning and for the public good. The topic was Single Member Voting Districts: how the new electoral structure put in place by a citizens' amendment will actually work in the 2020 election. 

Alice White District 5

Fredd Atkins

They also talked of pushback: The County immediately redistricted in order to remove potential opponents to sitting Commissioners Mike Moran and Nancy Detert, using a map fashioned by the invisible hand of Bob "Adam Smith" Waechter. 

And they noted that the County has also amended the Charter to make citizen amendments so difficult as to be essentially obsolete.

The video is here, with links to the entire evening's discussion. including a lively Q & A with those in the audience. 

Two candidates for the Board were also present: Alice White (People for Trees) is running in district 5, and Fredd Atkins, currently in district Limbo until a a federal lawsuit against the Board is resolved. This year's election holds the opportunity to change the course of Sarasota's public sector. Citizens for District Power is a new group working on getting out the vote. Have a look:

Rounds, Zoller, Antunes: Single Member Districts and Citizen Power

The Case for Single Member Districts - Kindra Muntz

Click images to enlarge:

Protest of 12.13.19 at Phillippi against Gerrymandering

Video below of the Friday the 13th Protest at the Gazebo in Phillippi Park near the Edson Keith Mansion where the Board of Sarasota County Commissioners were meeting.

A broad range of speakers protested the Board's Resolution to redistrict without solid data, and its decision to use a meretricious map that excises a large portion of District 1's black voters and excludes potential Democratic and Republican opponents of sitting Commissioner Mike Moran from District 1.

Speakers included former candidates for office like Edward James III, Fredd Atkins, Frank Alcock and Ray Porter; minority rights advocates like Elvira Sanchez-Blake, Valerie Buchand and more, and statements from current office holders including Sarasota City Commissioner Shelli-Freeland Eddie, North Port City Commissioner Jill Luke, and former Venice City Mayor John Holic.

Of the Commission's redistricting action Luke said in part:

"We find them using invalid counts and disenfranchising the very people they swore to serve." 

The Board is now facing a Class Action lawsuit charging it with racially-motivated gerrymandering violating the Federal Voting Rights Act and the US Constitution.

More about the lawsuit in the Sarasota News Leader (subscription req'd) and about the Protest from the Herald Tribune.

Recommendations to the Board for 12.13.19 strategic meeing

The email below was sent to the Board and Administrator ahead of their Dec. 13, 2019 strategy session: Audio of that meeting is here.

Argus CEO Robinson
at 12.13 Board Session

To: The Board of Sarasota County Commissioners

From: Citizens for District Power

RE: Recommendations for consideration at your December 13 Strategic Planning Retreat

Commissioners,

Citizens for District Power supports fair and open electoral processes. In advance of your 12.13.19 strategy meeting, we respectfully offer these considered recommendations:

1. Single Member Districts: We urge you to produce clear simple voting directions, with detailed maps showing all precincts with updated boundaries, so that all citizens will be clear about where they will vote in primaries and general elections.

2. We strongly advise against consideration of any amendment to overturn the Single Member District decision approved by a clear bi-partisan majority of voters in 2019.

3. We recommend that you reverse the Board's Charter Amendment regarding citizen-initiated petitions; it places an undue burden on citizens’ rights and ability to petition their government.

4. We recommend formulation of a policy to encourage Commissioners to make sure their commitment to their constituents in Sarasota County takes precedence over commitment to assignments on other boards and committees.

5. We advise adoption of a clear, strong set of guidelines serving to eliminate conflicts of interest involving elected officials.

6. Anonymity of Board Actions: A review of Board meeting minutes and related documents has revealed that the nominating Commissioner's identity (for appointments to Boards such as the Board of Zoning Appeals) is not explicitly stated. A clear public record needs to be established showing which Commissioner nominated which member of each Board.

7. Finally, we ask that you undertake a review of the record of the Economic Development Corp. with an eye toward determining whether it should continue to receive public support, or should be decoupled from the County.

Should you desire more background on any of these recommendations, please contact Pat Rounds at roundspc@earthlink.net.

Thank you,

Kindra Muntz
Glenna Blomquist
Susette Bryan
Adrien Lucas
Tom Matrullo
Pat Rounds
William Zoller

Fredd Atkins addressing those at Phillippi Protest 12.13.19