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News :: Elections & Legislation |
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PANHANDLE CITIZENS COALITION STATEMENT IN WAKE OF PORT ST. JOE ELECTION RESULTS |
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by Panhandle Citizens Coalition (via alicia) |
13 May 2004
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PANHANDLE CITIZENS COALITION (PCC) STATEMENT IN WAKE OF PORT ST. JOE ELECTION RESULTS
Yesterday was a sad day for the those who value the election process--the ill-gotten "victory" of the City of Port St. Joe and its allies in the business community and media. These forces combined to win by running roughshod over the truth and state election laws.
First the city used unfair scare tactics by claiming that voters would have tremendous hikes in their water and sewer rates if the voted yes in the referendums. But what made their election tactics so much worse was the violations of the election laws that occurred--laws that were created to protect citizens from unfair electioneering.
By many of their own admissions on television Monday, the city used the resources of city taxpayers to campaign by producing a flyer without the proper disclaimers, mailing it in city envelopes, using an automatic phone dialer, and not registering as a Political Action Committee. They also may be responsible for placing those anonymous advertisements in the Star newspaper, which are the subject of another elections complaint.
On Election Day we were treated to numerous scenes of people being escorted to the polls by the elected officials of the city with the city attorney present. Right up to the door of the polls, voters were given some kind of written communication which told them how to vote in these elections; if they were a minority, they were given an escort inside. This activity also
violates the election law regarding the distance one must maintain while campaigning on those issues in that particular election.
Notwithstanding the city and its officials' outrageous behavior during this campaign, which we are sure had the result of intimidating some unknown numbers of Port St. Joe citizens into either backing the city's viewpoint or not voting at all, the margin of victory indicates to us that even absent these factors the electorate in the city of Port St. Joe would probably have voted by a smaller margin in the same way that they did. We, therefore, for now, accept the decision of the voters of the City of Port St. Joe. However, we will continue to pursue the
resolution of the election charges that were generated during this campaign to clean up this process for future elections.
There still remains unfinished business for the
citizenry of Gulf County as a whole. For example,
the County Commission has continued to block a public referendum on the closure and moving of historic, scenic US 98 despite approximately 20% of the county's registered voters having signed the petition demanding such an election. Previously, the Commission promised to hold such a vote; since then it has reneged on that promise. The Commission must now proceed to hold this vote without delay.
The situation with the Windmark project also remains unresolved and we will be reviewing all our options regarding this St. Joe Company project in the very near future.
We thank those courageous and determined citizens of Port St. Joe who stood up to the powers that be and chose to make a statement in the face of the extreme pressure that was brought to bear on them.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
SALLY MALONE 850-628-0774 OR 850-647-8913
JOHN HEDRICK 850-339-5462 |
See also:
http://www.whoseflorida.com/panhandle_citizens.htm
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This work is in the public domain |
