by John Kennedy
The News Service of Florida
Backers of a constitutional amendment that would put land-use changes before voters began airing a tough-toned web advertisement that says the measure is needed because Florida leads the nation in corruption among public officials.
The spot features photos of at least a dozen city and county officials charged in recent years with criminal misconduct, including two former Democratic state legislators, Ray Liberty of West Palm Beach and Joe Eggelletion of Lauderdale Lakes. The ad concludes Amendment 4 is needed because “our homes and communities are too important to leave in the hands of crooked politicians.”
“Money is tight in this campaign,” acknowledged Wayne Garcia, spokesman for the Hometown Democracy campaign, which is pushing the November ballot proposal. “But we certainly have further use of this ad in mind.”
The web ad was released within days of Hometown Democracy opponents posting a spot of their own that included videotaped interviews with Amendment 4 supporters at a South Florida rally.
In the interviews, some supporters say they are opposed to capitalism, want to stop development, and endorse concepts as wide-ranging as population control and animal liberation.
With polls showing the ballot proposal hovering near the needed approval level of 60 percent support from voters, both sides are swinging freely. While Amendment 4 hasn’t been the subject of a major TV campaign, well-financed opponents are readying their fall push.
But this week’s web fight may provide a preview of what will soon end up on televisions across Florida.
“What does this video have to do with Amendment 4?” said Ryan Houck, executive director of Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, the industry-fueled campaign opposing the ballot measure.
“Raising taxes and ruining Florida’s economy won’t stop corruption. If anything, Amendment 4 will make it easier for politicians to dodge accountability by allowing them to punt tough decisions to referendum,” said Houck.
Amendment 4 would require all comprehensive plan changes to be approved by voters in a local referendum, a provision that builders, governments, school boards and labor unions warn will effectively stop development in Florida and cost jobs even as unemployment remains at a staggering 11.5 percent.
Gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Alex Sink and Republican Rick Scott, also oppose the ballot measure, warning, like most critics, that it will freeze the Florida economy. But neither has made the proposal a featured part of their campaigns.
According to its most recent campaign finance reports, Houck’s group had raised $7 million and still had roughly $6.5 million on hand for the fall campaign. Florida Realtors, which had contributed $1 million to the opposition campaign in July, upped that investment by $750,000 in mid-August.
That contribution came less than a week before Florida Realtors received one of the first major settlements stemming from the Gulf oil spill. Florida Realtors, who have lost roughly 25 percent of their members since the 2005-06 height of the state’s real estate boom, will distribute $16 million from the fund established by BP to compensate agents for lost sales and broken contracts.
John Sebree, a vice president with the Realtors, has defended the organization’s high-priced fight against Amendment 4 by saying the measure needed to be stopped or it would “change things dramatically.”
Other recent contributors include the Florida Hospital Association, which contributed $90,000 last month, and the huge Southwest Florida landowner Barron Collier Partnership, which donated $100,000 to those opposing the measure.
Other big contributors this summer have included Pulte Homes Corp., a Michigan-based builder which gave $567,000; Lennar Homes in Miami, which donated $367,000; and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which contributed $440,000 and has long gone to bat for the development industry.
By contrast, the Hometown Democracy effort had raised $1.7 million by mid-August, but reported having spent all but about $100,000.
In its web ad, those promoting the amendment cite U.S. Justice Department findings that give Florida the dubious honor of having the most public corruption convictions of any state over the past decade, with close to 800 officials removed from office for crimes. Hometown Democracy, in its video spot, dissects that statistic as “seven politicians arrested a month for 10 years straight.”
“Many of these are the same people who voted to change your local land-use plan,” the ad concludes.
Fear of Amendment 4 has spawned a rush from local governments seeking to change their comprehensive land-use plans, apparently in response to developers accelerating permit proposals despite the lousy economy.
The Florida Department of Community Affairs adopted 29,197 plan amendments in 2009, more than three times the usual number of proposals the agency usually receives.
Through mid-May, more than 2,000 amendments had been sent to DCA from local officials, the News Service of Florida earlier reported.