The Martin County
Defender
The e-newsletter for aware citizens – No. 71
The (failed) 2007 secret meetings to unify the slow-growth candidate vote
About a year ago, several of us were concerned that slow-growth advocates needed to unite behind a single Commission candidate in each district if we wanted to prevent a repeat of the 2004 election, which put a pro-developer majority on the Commission.
It was like pulling teeth, but with help I convened a meeting of nine leading, high profile slow-growth advocates. Two others could not attend. No potential candidates were invited. All of us knew each other, and the meeting was cordial, purposeful and seemingly productive. We discussed prospective candidates, evaluated the qualities that would make an excellent commissioner, and considered their potential for winning the 2008 election.
We came to the conclusion, by informal consensus, that the three best prospects were Henry Copeland (District 1), Martha Bennett (District 3), and Ian Pollack (District 5). We would leave it to a follow-up meeting to explore what could be done to support the favored candidates.
While the meeting was in progress, one of the attendees stood up and said he was leaving. He insisted without saying why that his favorite, Fullman, was a better choice than Copeland. Then he went on a blustering rant, saying there were many bad things about Copeland that we did not know. We were all taken aback. I challenged him to be specific, and to explain a few of those supposed bad things. Instead of an explanation, he stalked out of the room. Uh oh! So much for unity. We never held the follow-up meeting.
Independently at about the same time, Lloyd Brumfield, who operates an excellent filtered news service, called a broader meeting with the same objective as mine. Discussion by a few dozen attendees was lively, but rambling and contradictory. We would work out differences at a scheduled follow-up meeting. That meeting was subsequently canceled.
We now know from the Republican primary results what the lack of solidarity brought about. In District 5, the three-way slow-growth split gave victory by plurality – not majority - to Ciampi over Pollack. That’s how DiTerlizzi won the district four years earlier. In the District 1 Republican primary, Smith barely nosed out Copeland, not by split vote, but by some support splitting away to favor new Democrat Fullman.
I hate to admit it, but Stuart News columnist Rich Campbell (who is wrong on numerous matters, and probably did not know about the meetings) has been right – so far – in his New Year prediction, “What’s ahead for us in 2008?” He said: “Martin County’s slow-growth faction will divide and conquer itself during the elections just as it did in 2004. Too many slow-growth candidates will split the vote.” Please join me in working to prove Campbell is not such a great prognosticator.
THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER! Be inspired by Churchill’s uncounquerable determination and bold exhortation: “Never, never, never give up.” THE GOOD GUYS CAN STILL WIN BY UNITING!
Look at the candidates in District 5
Ed Ciampi, who won the four-way Republican primary with the unified. generous financial backing of developer-business and landowner interests, is an admirer of Big Sugar, and wannabe clone of incumbent DiTerlizzi. He’s bad news for the county.
Linda Green, the unopposed Democrat, was protégé of sorts under Mary Dawson, co-author of the Valliere Rural Cluster Amendment. However, Green has struck out independently, opposing this bad law. Green is a good candidate – but lacks experience, and has not been in the forefront of slow-growth battles.
John Patteson, a long time registered Republican running as No Party Affiliation (NPA), is the strongest, most experienced and best informed candidate of the three. It’s not just the positions he takes. It’s his irrepressible zest in standing up before the Commission for environmental and slow-growth issues that wins my support.
I”LL VOTE FOR JOHN PATTESON BECAUSE I KNOW HE WILL FIGHT FOR A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ALL OF US!
Lesley Blackner Receives “2008 Woman of the Year Award” from Defender
Leslie Blackner, co-author of the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment, received the “2008 Woman of the year Award from the Martin County DEFENDER, an e-newsletter edited by Palm City resident Al Forman. The presentation was made at the County Commission chambers, Fast-growth commissioners had opposed the Amendment.
As stated on the presentation plaque, the award was given to Ms. Blackner “For her indomitable spirit and outstanding courage in the battle to place on the ballot the Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment that will grant the people the right to vote on land use changes that change the face of their community forever. “
Upon receiving the award, Ms. Blackner said:
“Martin County is perhaps the best place left on the east coast of Florida. It’s a reminder of just how gorgeous and unique the entire state of Florida used to be. Why is Martin so different from Palm Beach County or St. Lucie—ruined by developers gone wild? Citizen leadership is the reason. Martin has been blessed over the past decades with dedicated citizens who don’t want to see Martin paved with wall-to-wall sprawl. For years now, Martin’s citizen leadership has fought the good fight to make sure it isn’t swallowed up in concrete.
“Not surprisingly, Martin is held up as a model of “responsible growth management” throughout Florida. Martin was lucky for many years. But luck can change. And knowing that the difference between responsible development and being paved over often boils down to just one vote on the county commission means that our current land use system vests way too much power in the hands of commissioners. That’s why developers will say and do just about anything to retain power over commissions. The growth machine will tell you anything to maintain power. Look at the campaign contributions and see who donates the most to local races. Look (if you can) and see who’s sending out sneaky ads.
“The truth is that land use is politics. The law rather naively assumes that when a commission approves a requested land use change, the change is granted because it is in the public interest. The hard truth is that the public interest is too often defined as keeping politically greased developers happy, and everything else is irrelevant. In fact, the current real estate debacle can be laid directly at the feet of Florida’s commissions who hardly ever say “no” and let developers go wild, overbuild on speculation and crash the entire US economy.
“With the advent of Florida Hometown Democracy citizens will have some peace of mind knowing that changes to their local growth plans truly reflect the broad public interest because voters themselves will have the final say over whether or not they want the change. We wish we had qualified for the 2008 ballot but the growth machine, to their credit, did a good job of seeing that it did not happen. Nonetheless, we are just about qualified for 2010 and all our opponents can do is defeat us at the polls. We have the next two years to win the hearts and minds of Floridians about this important reform. You can do your part by connecting it to ongoing growth fights here in Martin. When you hear about a proposed growth plan change think how Hometown Democracy would impact the proposal. Talk to everyone about this hope for the future. Wouldn’t you like to have a voice on whether or not Martin is paved or saved?” Ms. Blackner concluded.
Why the Commission must be reformed
The Commission majority has been passing laws and land use changes that benefit special financial interests and burden residents. These changes will become irreversible if this same majority – even with different faces – continues in power for the next four years.
A survey of 1,500 Martin citizens, conducted by our Martin County Consensus and published in the April 24, 2008 Stuart News, found that 78.2% of residents, believed that the County Commission was doing a Poor or Very Poor job.
Above and beyond the national economic downturn, based on county performance (library hours, traffic, parks, neighborhood encroachment, wasteful expenses, taxes, Comp Plan erosion, etc.) each of us should ask ourselves:
IS MY FAMILY BETTER OFF AS A MARTIN RESIDENT THAN WE WERE FOUR YEARS AGO? If not, it makes sense to change the status quo.
If you like Martin County the way it has been, and want to preserve those wonderful qualities, the only solution is to unite behind the credible candidates who will reform the Commission.
The candidates who will bring about needed change are:
* Joan Wilcox, District 1, long time Republican running NPA
* Martha Bennett, District 3, Democrat
* John Patteson, District 5, long time Republican running NPA
WISHFUL THOUGHT FOR TODAY: In these days of reduced public services without tax reduction, wouldn’t it be nice for the county to have on hand an extra $573,000 – the amount that was wasted by the Commission majority on the Glatting-Jackson and Urbanomics consultant reports?
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Al
Al Forman, Editor 9/20/08
The Martin County Defender is published and Copyright 2008 by WordsmithAmerica,
Box 1828, Palm City, FL 34991
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–
Al Forman
mc_defender@fastmail.net
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