Alachua Voter Guide

It’s been a little over a week since the Gainesville City Elections, and I am finally ready to weigh in on the results. I would have done this sooner, but I have been sick for a good part of the time, and I haven’t even felt like writing. In fact, between today’s abysmal weather and the return of my symptoms, this is the first time that opportunity and the right mood have coincided.

A 27% turnout is not a mandate, but it doesn’t have to be. Our elections do not require that we have a quorum to be official. If, on elections day, only 10 people bothered to vote, 6 of them would basically do all the deciding for us.

It is mark of profound apathy that it took so much outside money and outside manpower to rally 15% of the registered voters to come out and defeat Charter Amendment One and the 12% of voters who came out to support it. The conservative Citizens for Good Public Policy must be wondering what they could have done to draw out a few thousand more sympathizers, but there is actually a more important question than this. The questons is, how did we become a community that has no conservative representatives in our city government?

For years my fellow conservatives have told me, “Gainesville is such a liberal town! There is no hope for a conservative candidate here!” Yet, those rascally liberals keep winning so many elections with so many voters being left on the table. We routinely have turnouts in the 10-13% range. Are we really doing the best we can do?  Should  we just give up permanently? Does this enlightened University town only have room for one point of view?

Critiquing our performance

In retrospect, it was probably a mistake to get Charter One on the ballot. It was also a mistake for the city commission to blow off the concerns of the citizens who opposed the gender identity provisions in regard to restrooms, but it was a sustainable mistake. What was underestimated was the amount of resources that would be released to oppose a ballot initiative that would roll back the city’s ambitous civil rights laws to the state’s more modest ones. If Citizens for Good Public Policy had instead gathered a similar effort to support a candidate to defeat Jeanna Mastordicasa, they would have faced much smaller resistance and may have pulled it off.

This also would have required that conservatives do something they never do: think ahead. Their successful effort would have to be followed up by getting a new Mayor and District 4 commissioner after Pegeen Hanrahan and Craig Lowe are removed by term limits. Three new commissioners, with the amenable Sherwin Henry, would have made the majority needed to cherry-pick the changes they wanted to begin with while leaving the rest of the civil rights laws in place.

Of course, all of this falls apart if each opportunity brings a new crop of last minute conservative candidates tumbling out and getting each others’ way. If you are thinking about running for one of these seats, you should adopt the motto of, “If you don’t get in early, get out of the way.” City elections are non-partisan, so there is no party primary to give people a chance to choose which conservative they will have to vote for in the big one. And when you have a lot of candidates, it usually means a runoff. And runoffs go to the liberals who faithfully participate in elections, and everything that leads up to them.

In summary, conservatives need to change their ways, not their values. They need to show up on election days, but they also need to stay engaged year round. And that means that Citizens for Good Public Policy should NOT disband, but expand its mission.

For a Gainesville city election that did not coincide with a presidential primary, it was a euphoric 26.9% voter turnout. But for all the heat generated by the two warring sides in a battle between public safety advocates and transgender rights, it was a pathetic level of real concern.

The final result was 8,375 FOR the Amendment and 11,717 against according to the Supervisor of Elections Unofficial Final Results, posted at 8:50 PM. If you want the financial breakdown, according to the latest financial reports available, Equality is Gainesville’s Business spent about $130,000 to bring in the final vote total AGAINST the amendment, and CitizensFor Good Public Policy spent about $63,000. That makes for about $11.25 per vote to defeat it, and $7.50 per vote in the failed attempt to pass it.

The lesser known Amendment 2, which prevents future city commissions from selling lands acquired for conservation, recreation, or cultural purposes without a referendum being put before the voters, got 15,226 FOR (41.68) and 3,643 AGAINST (58.32%.

In the city commission races, in the At-large 1 contest it was a first round knock out for the incumbent. Jeanna Mastrodicasa was re-elected with 10,281, or 58.13%. Her closest challenger was newcomer Robert Krames with 4,435 (25.08%), followed by Tom Cunilio with 1,108 (6.27%), Richard Selwach with 1,094 (6.19%), and James Schlachta with 767 (4.34%).

The single District 1 race was also a big win for the incumbent, Sherwin Henry, with 1,940 (68.21), and his opponent, Marcia Wimberly with 904 (31.79).

So, there will be no runoff election next month, but there will be more analysis later.

Troy Blakely, supporter of Charter Amendment One, took his place on the corner of 8th Av. and NW 34th Street, and someone else tried to take his signs. The extra-large perpetrator, pictured with the police who nabbed him, told Blakely that he was offended by the signs that urged people to vote for Charter Amendment One, the ballot initiative that will roll back Gainesville’s expansive civil rights that include allowing people to self-identify which sex they are for the purpose of choosing a public restroom on private property.

When I arrived on the scene, I was just rounding the corner to head north on 34th Street and I saw that the police had a person handcuffed by the side of the road. I also saw a political sign waver, and since he was the first I have seen this season, I decided to pull over into Westside Park’s parking lot. It was only after talking to Mr. Blakely that I discovered that he had been accosted by the suspect who was only about 40 yards away. I asked him if the man was being charged with any crime, and he said that he thought he should be because the man was trying to deprive him of his rights.

After a few minutes it was apparent that the police were letting the man go, and I asked the police if the man was being charged. They said no, and they left me immediately, but then they stuck around a short distance away.

In some of the discussions I have had on this blog, I have talked about how there is only anecdotal evidence that women are having to put up with men in local restrooms. That is because the men cannot be charged under this current law, and business owners cannot make the men leave. What happened here, too, is only anecdotal. There will probably not be a police report. There was no arrest, although the man was handcuffed for awhile. And Mr. Blakely was not asked if he wanted to press charges. So, other than the fact that I was a witness to the handcuffs, and have a photo of the man with the police, it’s as if this event never happened.

I want to suggest that before you go out to hold political signs in support of Charter One that you make sure you don’t go alone. You might need a witness. You might also want to have a camera and a voice recorder. And you might also want to have your attorney on speed dial.

This information is republished from the Supervisor of Elections website:

Gainesville City Election
March 24th, 2009

You must be a City of Gainesville resident to vote in this election. Florida Law requires that you present picture and signature identification in order to vote, or vote a provisional ballot.

Early Voting for the City of Gainesville Election will be available Monday, March 16, 2009 through Saturday, March 21, 2009.

Weekdays
Monday – Friday (9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
March 16, 2009 through March 20, 2009

Weekend
Saturday – (9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
March 21, 2009 (early voting ends)
Early Voting Site
Supervisor of Elections Office
County Administration Building
12 SE 1st Street, Gainesville

And this is what I have to say about it. The Millhopper Branch of the public library, which is usually used for early voting, in out of commission at this time, and it has been for months. That means the only place where early voting can be done is at the Supervisor of Elections Office, which is a nightmare to get in and out of during the week. This may skew turnout heavily in favor of whoever gets students out to vote. Students usually don’t participate at a very high level, last election notwithstanding, so it may be a wash.

But the availability of another site with good access and parking could have helped turnout in the more suburban areas. Of course, City Hall is quite interested in seeing that a NO vote on Charter One gets all the breaks it can get. They decided how the amendment would be worded, and that has been sufficiently confusing enough. Tamping down the turnout in the suburbs might also help them out.

I expect a lot of absentee ballots this year. Although I have not voted that way before, some voters have told me they get theirs automatically now. I was surprised to hear this. They have also voted already; even earlier than what early voting would have allowed.

In the never ending quest to get more information into the hands of the voters, I am enlisting your help. I have made a couple of tri-fold brochures that have all the text from the last post about the League of Women Voters Forum. One is for the At-Large District 1 Candidates, and one is for just the Single District 1 Candidates. Why did I make two different brochures? Because there was too much text for one brochure, and I wanted to make this as easy as possible for someone to share with a friend or neighbor.

We are drowning on opinions on Charter Amendment One in this town, so I wanted to focus more attention on the candidates for the two city commission seats. If people want more, they can certainly come here and get it. But these two brochures can get us a foot in the door.

Below I have made a video to explain this a little bit, just in case you need a visual. But it’s really not too hard to understand.

You can print these on your own printer, or if you want to make a larger number, you might want to just email the PDF to your friendly neighborhood Kinko’s or Xerographic, or Renaissance Printing and let them print and fold for you. I recently got about 1,000 brochures made for a little over $100 at one of these places, including folding.

Tuesday night, March 3rd, the candidates for the 2 city commission seats were asked to respond to the Leaguea of Women Voters, The forum met on the fourth floor of the downtown public library, and due to time constraints, there were no citizen questions sought from the audience.

The forum opened with single District 1 candidates Marcia Wimberly and the incumbent, Sherwin Henry. The audio I recorded was not as good as usual, due to the poor acoustics and sound system. Therefore, after taking a lot of notes while straining to hear these recordings, I will give you the summary of the questions and answers.

How to prioritize budget?

Wimberly: No cuts at all to health (trash pickup) and public safety. Local stimulus package for local businesses…money for local citizens to buy things from local merchants.

Henry: We’re already doing it. 4 day work week. Delay projects. Not hire replacements. We will get citizen inputs.

Editor: I have no idea where Wimberly’s “stimulus” money is coming from. And Henry’s assertion about getting citizen input for cuts seems unlikely. Citizens only show up to protect programs that benefit them. And when they show up to oppose them, the commissioners routinely stand to defent the citizens who benefit from them. In short, neither candidate wants to cut anything.

How do we attract jobs to (East) Gainesville?

Henry: We could manufacture solar panels. Streamline permitting process.

Wimberly: Incentives and tax credits to attract businesses. Incubator programs to help people start businesses.

Editor: I think Mr. Henry ought to talk to both the city and county commissioners about solar panels. They would love to buy them, but I cannot imagine them wanting to make them here. And Ms. Wimberly ought to have illuminated us as to the success of the existing incubator program in East Gainesville.

How to conserve energy?

Wimberly: Promote solar.

Henry: Weatherization is most important. Bring landlords to the table and show them the incentives. Educate homeowners about investing in energy saving. Get banks to give low interest loans.

Editor: Wouldn’t have much to say about this except that I have invested a lot in conservation the past couple of years, and some of my savings have been wiped out by higher rates. Can we work on that?

Your position on Charter One?

Henry: I am against it because of home rule. It does not enable us to protect all of our citizens.

Wimberly: Against it because it is a step backwards. City should have left out the controversial language from their ordinance.

One stop homeless center:

Wimberly: This is not a top priority at this time.

Henry: It’s important.

Editor: Both seem to be for it in principle, but don’t think we have the money.

Mom’s Kitchen purchase?

Henry: For it. No money was taken from anywhere to buy Mom’s Kitchen. For Ironwoood, too. And wants to improve it and let it pay its way, as far as it is able.

Wimberly: We cannot ignore the recession. Mom’s Kitchen should not have been a priority.

Editor: I’d like some explanation as to where the money did come from.

Are officials out of touch?

Wimberly: We need economic stimulus to help citizens get online and better informed.

Henry: I am not out of touch. I go to their churches, their neighborhoods, hosted a city commission meeting at the MacPhereson Center.

Now for the responses to mostly the same questions from the At large 1 Candidates…

How to prioritize budget?

Krames: Cut back on low priority serivces and duplicated county services. More business to make money and pay taxes. Stop excessive taxes.

Mastrodicasa: Delay new projects and trim services.

Selwach: Renegotiate union contracts. Cut departments like mosquito control in urban areas. Sell golf course.

Schlachta: Make apprpriate cuts, but did not identify.

Cunilio: The spending by the city is profligate. Go to University to tell freshman to leave cars at home and have a lottery for sophomores to have cars. Synchronizing traffic lights a waste. We’re never going to be happy with that. $70,000 to come up with a slogan for Gainesville? “Give me a break!”

Editor: Cunilio and Selwach were most specific. Kudos for actual answers.

Your position on Charter One?

Krames: Yes.

Mastrodicasa: No. It’s stops home rule. It lets smaller businesses off the hook becuase the state levels are only apply to businesses with at least 15 emplyees instead of 5 at the city level.

Selwach: Yes. Women do not want men in the ladies room.

Schlachta: Yes. The present ordinance is bad enough to take these measures. If it doesn’t pass, we must change the ordinance.

Cunilio: Yes. He doesn’t want us to be paraiahs to the rest of the state, and the Tallahassee government.

Mom’s Kitchen purchase?

Mastrodicasa: Ironwood is used by the citizens. We should not be treating it as a business. It is a recreation opportunity, like our pools and parks. Mom’s Kitchen is an opportunity for the city to redevelop part of the city.

Selwach: Ironwood was built on a flood plain, and it’ s bottomless (money) pit. Againest Mom’s Kitchen purchase because a private person could have bought it for less.

Schlachta: Ironwood has not been managed well. We should improve it, but also look to the developer next door to help out. Mom’s Kitchen is bad timing for this economic climate.

Cunilio: We already have a public golf course at the University. Recategorizing Ironwood does not elevate its value.

Krames: Mastrodicasa called it an asset. An asset does not lose money. When we are looking at shortfalls, should you be looking for ways to spend more money?

Should new developments have to include affordable housing?

Selwach: Yes

Schlachta: No, not for every development.

Cunilio: Yes.

Krames: No. We need fewer burdens on developers. Higher fees and regs force builders to build the most expensive homes to get their money back.

Mastrodicasa: Yes, it’s part of mixed use.

Editor: The tanking housing market is creating more affordable housing every day. It’s a buyers’ market. Does the government really need to enforce this?

What qualifies you to be on the board of GRU, and how can you reduce the cost of electricity?

Schlachta: Spread out sources of fuel.

Cunilio: Energy is my area of expertise. I have been part of getting getting away from coal for years. Mastrodicasa is trying to take credit for what I have done.

Krames: Wood is good, but we need to diversify into green tech. Coal is cheaper and cleaner than it used to be. Green is too expensive to cast our lot with too soon.

Mastrodicasa: I have been serving for 3 years, and have a law degree and PhD. Conservation is the way to reduce costs.

Selwach: Conservation is good, but solar is too vulnerable to hurricanes. Coal and biomass are both dirty. Biomass might eventually turn into municipal trash burning. Nuclear is the way to go.

Would it be good to consolidate services?

Editor: This question is asked at every forum since the early 1990s. Everyone is for it, but it will never happen because there are important political interests that carry more weight than the tax payers. End of rant….

Should we duplicate the Reichert house for boys with a program for at risk girls?

Mastrodicasa: Yes.

Selwach: Yes

Schlachta: Yes

Cunilio: We must support traditional marriage.

Krames: Yes.

Editor: I think we can ascertain support for the idea from Tom Cunilio, although he spent his answer praising a black church he visited recently for teaching the importance of marriage and family values. He seems to be happy with the job they are doing.

Should we go to fall elections for the city?

Selwach: Yes

Schlachta: Yes

Cunilio: No. I think the problems are uninspiring leaders, sexual politics, etc.

Krames: Yes. It’s more convenient for the citizens.

Mastrodicasa: No. City issues get lost in the fall elections.

END

The Gainesville Sun has released the picture taken by a security camera in the Home Depot on highway 441 inside the Gainesville City limits. This man is still at large. He is wanted for walking into a women’s restroom and attempting to take a woman’s picture with a cell phone camera that he held underneath the stall while she was in it.

It took about 3 weeks for this story to finally get out. This is the first time we have had a photo available. It was first published by the Gainesville Sun and was included in this story.

Is this related in any way to the Transgender bathroom ordinance? He will not be able to defend himself with the ordinance. But that has never been the concern of the ordinance opponents. The problem is that no one could legally STOP HIM from entering because we cannot judge his ‘inner sense” by looking at him. All we can tell, even from this grainy photo, is that he is a man.

During the Sadie Darnell versus Lonnie Scott slugfest last summer, the Gainesville Sun printed not a word in its news reports about the aggressive charges Scott made against the incumbent sheriff. It was newsworthy. But the Sun was AWOL. I asked a Sun reporter about this strange absence from a real new story (when the headlines were reading that John Edwards’ mistress was an Ocala native), and I was told that they did not have the manpower to cover it.

Whenever I hear that there have been actual incidents in Gainesville in which a man uses a public women’s room at will, flaunting the immunity that the Transgender Bathroom Ordinance affords him, I also hear that the supporters of Charter Amendment One are, “just making that up”. And it’s easy for them to say so if the Sun or TV 20, or any other news outlet declines to do any investigative reporting. But what happens when there is an actual police report and surveillance camera video? The answer will still be, “they are just making that up” …if no one reports it.

Well, here is a start. I have a police report with the victim’s name and contact information blacked out. I don’t have the video…yet. But I am sure that someone with “legitimate” journalistic creds could get a look. But will they? And what else are we not hearing? Or seeing?

So far, we are getting a very selective view of this whole public safety issue. The Gainesville Chamber of Commerce has been cowed into taking a stand against Charter One because they have drunk the Kool-Aid. They are parroting the line that this is about discrimination. They are agreeing with the ideologically driven letters to the Sun that call Charter One supporters bigots. Meanwhile, when a local supermarket manager calls the police because women complain that a man just walks into the ladies room while they are in there, the police can only tell him that they are in “uncharted waters”.

We cannot depend on our institutions to protect us. They are selling out to politically driven policy makers who can make their lives miserable if they want to. Business people are worried about taking a stand because they feel threatened by the specter of being labeled “intolerant” in a University town. And I feel their pain. I know what it is like to have a customer drop my service because they disapprove of my stand on a moral issue. So much for tolerance.

In the secret place of the voting booth, no one will be able to watch what you are doing. No one will be able to exact revenge. But if you want to organize and work together with others who want to get the word out about Charter One, you may find yourself being defamed and intimidated. And it will probably go unreported.

In other food for the rumor mill: The ACLU has a full time staffer working with the Charter One opponents, Equality is Gainesville’s Business. And EIGB has hired a full time campaign manager. And the out of town money continues to roll in. EIGB has a $50K war chest as of the last financial report, and it’s coming from all over the US. Gainesville is a battleground city. Will you opt out of this struggle?

Rememeber, on election day they will count the votes, not the money.

Comments, please.

I was recently asked about Charter Amendment 2. I was like everyone else, completely overwhelmed by the debate about Amentment 1, that I didn’t have an opinion. Now I have looked it up, and now I have one.

CITY OF GAINESVILLE CHARTER AMENDMENT 2 
Protection of City-owned Lands Acquired or Used
for Conservation, Recreation, or Cultural Purposes 

SHALL THE CITY OF GAINESVILLE CHARTER BE
AMENDED TO REQUIRE THAT THE SALE OR
CONVERSION TO ANOTHER USE OF CITY-OWNED
LANDS ACQUIRED OR USED FOR
CONSERVATION, RECREATION, OR CULTURAL
PURPOSES BE EFFECTIVE ONLY IF APPROVED BY
A MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORS IN THE CITY IN A
CITY-WIDE REFERENDUM ELECTION?

Ok, so it looks like a carbon copy of the ballot initiative we saw back in November, except that it was COUNTY-OWNED lands, like the ones be bought with Alachua Forever money. I voted yes for that. We voted by referendum to spend that money to begin with. HOWEVER, what city owned lands have we voted to purchase by referendum? None that I can think of. So, what lands could they be keeping a future city commission from selling? Well, it could stop them from selling Ironwood Golf Course, that recent recipient of over a million dollars. At this present time, there is no danger of Ironwood being sold. But the recent vote to spend the money has made it a lightning rod for criticism.

Our two charter amendments that are on this March 24 ballot are object lessons on distrust. The first one came about because a large number of citizens cannot trust their city commissioners’ judgment when it comes to public safety. The second one is there because this city commission does not trust future city commissions to protect public lands.

Comments, anyone?

My first opportunity to see the candidates was on North Florida Journal. Find the video here to see all the candidates and see where they weigh in on charter amendment one.

Find the video here.