Sarasota Citizens come out in support of Single Member Districts

Angered by County scheme to undo the citizens' Single Member District
Voting Amendment, people filled the CRB meeting 

Here's the official video of the Charter Review Board meeting of May 19, 2019. 

The first thing CRB Chair Joe Justice did was cut the attendees' allotted speaking time from five minutes to two minutes.

Nonetheless, many citizens from all around the county stayed for the entire time to offer sense and eloquence in support of Single Member District Voting, which was approved by 116,000 voters from all parties and districts.

"Every single voter should be infuriated about what the county commissioners are doing,' said Louise Machinist (10:15), adding "Single member commission districts benefit voters, not wealthy powerful vested interests."

At-large voting puts elections in the hands of wealthy interests, noted Andrea Shlasko. The high rent districts get a big fake lake to watch rowing, while North Port doesn't have a hospital, she added (12:15).

"Once again, we're here to undo what the voters have chosen for their life," began Valerie Buchand (47:20).

"Many Republicans are talking about "stopping the steal," in a fantasy way. But this would be a real steal, if this happens," said Carol Lerner, (50:00)

"I am probably the best example of the success of Single Member Districts," said Mike Hutchinson, who described himself as a staunch Republican, a Trump supporter who nearly defeated Mike Moran in District 1. Moran, the incumbent, won by a very small margin. (58:48)

"This is not about partisan politics; this is about integrity in our government," said Dan Lobeck, an attorney and self-described conservative Republican (1:06:40). "Almost no county our size or larger throughout the 67 counties in the state of Florida has countywide elections," he added. "You're having contempt for the people if you put this back on the ballot." 

A small number of companions of Jack Brill, Republican party chair for Sarasota, offered well-worn talking points against Single Member Districts. 

The only actionable reason to question the SMD amendment would be proof that the majority of voters were misled by the language of the ballot amendment. Not a single speaker said they did not understand what they voted for.

Other outstanding voices included Lourdes Ramirez (7:30), Kindra Muntz (27:30) Dan Lobeck (1:06:40), and Mike  Shlasko. "Single member districts bring government closer to the people," noted Shlasko, noting that Florida's state legislature has been shifting much decision-making power away from the local level. (1:32)

Charter Review Board gets an earful from citizens regarding Single Member District Voting

The Board has a by-law that requires it to schedule substantial discussion of new business to the following meeting, which is set for October 20, 2021.

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If you have more to say, feel free to contact the CRB, copying the County Commissioners:

jim.gabbert@scgcrb.net

kennedy.legler@scgcrb.net

ray.collins@scgcrb.net

david.samuel@scgcrb.net

scott.williams@scgcrb.net

elaine.miller@scgcrb.net

alexandra.coe@scgcrb.net

richard.dorfman@scgcrb.net

joe.justice@scgcrb.net

deborah.lapinska@scgcrb.net

commissioners@scgov.net

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

News Leader on Charter Amendments

Published courtesy of the Sarasota News Leader

Aug. 29 public hearings to focus on bevy of proposed Sarasota County Charter amendments

August 23, 2018 by Rachel Brown Hackney, Editor & Publisher

County Commission is seeking approval of several measures of its own to change citizen-initiated petition drive process

The County Commission sits in session on April 24. File photo

After the Sarasota County Commission voted unanimously last month to put several of its own proposed Sarasota County Charter amendments on the Nov. 6 General Election ballot, community activists have voiced concerns.

Organizers of Charter petition drives, especially, have taken issue with the board’s desire to increase the percentage of signatures of registered voters from 5% to 10% for a measure to make it onto a ballot.

Yet another focus of frustration has been the fact that the board wants to require all signed petitions to be submitted at one time, instead of their being provided to the Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Office in batches as they are completed. Commissioners and County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh said in July that that change would eliminate situations, for example, in which a voter who signed a petition died before the initiative even won a place on a ballot.

Further, any petition drive would have to collect the necessary number of signatures within the two-year window between general elections. That is because the commissioners also propose to eliminate special referenda for citizen-initiated, County Commission-initiated and Sarasota County Charter Review Board-initiated amendments.

The proposed ordinance with the commission’s amendments says the petitions would have to be submitted to the supervisor of elections no earlier than Jan. 1 and no later than April 1 of the year of the general election in which organizers seek to get their measure on the ballot.

On July 11 — during their last meeting before taking their traditional weeks-long summer break — the commissioners offered final suggestions to County Attorney DeMarsh about the language they wanted to see in their proposed changes for the county Charter. They also asked that DeMarsh put everything into one document, though they acknowledged that they could decide later to split up their ideas into more than one ballot measure after holding a public hearing on the issues.

The county Administration Center is located in downtown Sarasota. File photo

That public hearing is set for the board’s afternoon session during its regular meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 29, in the Commission Chambers at the Administration Center in downtown Sarasota. The session will begin at 1:30 p.m., but the exact time of the hearing has not been set. The start will be contingent upon other factors, including the amount of time speakers may take to address the board during the Open to the Public period provided at the start of both morning and afternoon meetings.

Additionally, the Aug. 29 agenda was not available prior to The Sarasota News Leader’s deadline for this issue.

In response to a News Leader request, DeMarsh provided a copy of the proposed ordinance that encompasses all the changes commissioners requested last month.

Among the findings of fact, that ordinance says the following:

• “The requirement that only 5% of registered voters sign a petition is less than required for most other charter counties. The 10% requirement would demonstrate that a greater number of registered voters support the proposed amendment.”
• “It is desirable to clarify the citizen initiated petition process to provide certainty to the petitioners and signers as to when a potential amendment would be voted on; to reduce the costs of referendum elections; and to provide adequate time for the Supervisor of Elections to certify petition signatures and conduct the resulting election”.
• “Because the cost of a specially called countywide election is approximately $400,000, which is paid out of [property tax] revenues, it is necessary to combine referendum elections with general elections to reduce costs and ensure that the maximum number of voters participate in the referendum election.”

These are the proposed County Commission Charter amendment ballot questions. Image courtesy County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh

Along with the county’s own proposed Charter amendments, public hearings on Aug. 29 also will address measures proposed by Siesta resident Michael Cosentino and a nonprofit he founded, Reopen Beach Road. Those Charter amendments would revoke the County Commission’s May 11, 2016 vacation of a 357-foot-long segment of North Beach Road on Siesta Key and prevent any future County Commission from vacating road segments adjacent to waterways.

Finally, the hearing will address the proposal of the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections to change the Charter so that only voters in the district the County Commission candidate would represent — which also would be the district in which the candidate resides — could vote for that candidate.

The current Charter provisions require one commissioner for each of the county’s five districts, but every registered voter is able to cast a ballot in every commission race. For example voters in the Nov. 6 General Election will be able to cast ballots to choose two commissioners, one to represent District 2 and another to represent District 4.

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Categories Community Activism, Elections, Legal issues, Nonprofit News, Political News, Public rights, Sarasota County

Are developers holding back on big plans until growth-friendly candidates get voted in?

Dan Lobeck of Control Growth Now at Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) in Sarasota on March 12, 2018, speaking about Smart Growth, the upcoming elections, and Single District Voting.

 

 Part 2 with Q & A:

 

Single District Voting Petition hopes to qualify for 2018 Sarasota elections

From Kindra Muntz of SAFE - The Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections 

MORE PETITIONS NEEDED!! 

Please read Kindra's message, download, sign and mail the petition today to the address shown. This is the most effective way we can achieve local campaign finance reform now!

Please send this to your email list to encourage people to help with our Countywide petition drive for Single Member Districts? DEADLINE MARCH 16 to submit enough validated petitions to put this on the ballot this spring in time to help County Commission candidates in 2018.

Please call if any questions.

Kindra 941-266-8278

EVERYONE,

This is a heads-up!

--for all who care about campaign finance reform and a way we can make a difference right here in Sarasota County by changing the way we elect County Commissioners to Single Member Districts.

WE ARE NOW IN A RACE AGAINST TIME!

WILL YOU HELP??

We have submitted 11,749 petitions to the Supervisor of Elections, but we need to deliver another 5,500 by March 16 to make sure we have the last 4,174 validated petitions needed to put this referendum on the ballotJune 12 in order to benefit candidates in 2018. (See http://www.keepdemocracysafe.org/act-now ) If we pass this at any later time this year, it will not benefit candidates until 2020!

Even with some paid petition-gatherers working night and day, we need everyone’s help to meet our AMBITIOUS GOAL of 5,500 more petitions in 10 DAYS!!

Will you join our HI FIVE campaign to push us over the top??

1. Download and print the petition here
2. Make 5 copies and have friends and acquaintances who vote in Sarasota County –and who haven’t already signed the petition--fill them in while you are there
3. Mail them to the address on the petition.

Remember, Single Member Districts will

• Make our elected officials more accountable to YOU, the voter, rather than to big moneyed interests and their PACs
• Cut the cost of campaigns by 80%
• Make races more competitive, and allow more good candidates to run
• Benefit people of ALL political parties, and help restore democracy in this county for years to come

THANKS!

LET’S DO THIS!

Kindra, for the SAFE board

Kindra Muntz

Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections

keepdemocracysafe.org

facebook.com/keepdemocracysafe/

facebook.com/groups/KeepDemocracySafe/

@keepdemocracy         

(c) 941-266-8278

Single-district voting in Sarasota County - Mail-in Petitions

The following was shared by a county resident who believes PAC funding and corporate interests are distorting local electoral politics:

The Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE) has launched a charter amendment petition that would change how we elect Sarasota County Commissioners and Charter Review Board members.

Currently these positions are broken down by districts, however they run “at large” which means that if you want to represent District 2, you need to get the majority vote of the whole county because everyone in the county votes for all districts. The petition would change that so they are “single” districts and only those within the district can elect that position.

Why is this a good thing?

This has potential to get non-politically connected people elected to office. It is very costly for someone unknown to run county-wide. Elections for county positions can cost $50,000 and up. If a newcomer only has to canvas the district they will be representing, it will be less costly. Let’s face it, we are up against PAC money from large corporate interests. It is almost impossible for anyone outside the club to either raise funds needed to run or canvass the entire county.

What the opposition says:

The opposing view is that the County Commissioner will be voting and deciding on issues that affect all residents and that is why they believe all residents should have a say and be able to vote for them. That is ridiculous. We vote by district for representation in Congress. Congress decides on things that affect all Floridians. How would you feel if everyone in the state got to vote for your congressional district representative? All County Commissioners take an oath to uphold our charter and the state and US constitutions. It makes little sense to have districts if someone could get elected as a district representative without ONE vote from the district they represent – which can happen under “at large” elections.

If you support this change:

Please print out the two petitions at the link below, fill them out and mail them in. Also, please circulate to your friends and neighbors. They need 17,000 signatures. It is not impossible, if we all help out. Please understand that if they get enough signatures, then this issue will be placed on the ballot for the entire county electorate to vote on at a later date.

County Commission petition

Charter Review Board members