Voters deliver wakeup call

Not since Dunedin debated disbanding its police department have that city's residents been so wound up.

On Tuesday, those who went to the polls vented their feelings. They dumped a longtime city commissioner who was so popular in his day that a recreation complex bears his name, and they gave his commission seat to a guy who was an unknown until six weeks before Election Day.

They also gave a good scare to another incumbent commissioner who had fully expected to come in first in the four-person race for two seats, but instead was fortunate to hang on to second place.

In little Dunedin, Tuesday's election was the equivalent of a good-sized earthquake. But it was the city's elected officials -- and perhaps those planning to run in the near future -- who were left shaking in their shoes, while voters were strutting around pumping their fists in the air.

I can't help feeling a little bad for Cecil Englebert, the incumbent who got voted out and who must be left stammering, "W-w-what happened?"

What happened, I believe, is that in the last year, Dunedin residents began to feel disconnected from their representatives at City Hall. They suspected that some officials there no longer had the residents' welfare as their top priority. And so when the voters went to the polls, they not only punished those candidates who seemed disconnected, they rewarded those who had connected with them.

On the surface, the voters' anger was about baseball and gifts. Dunedin is building some fine new facilities for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Canadian team that has played its spring training games in Dunedin since 1977. The Blue Jays demanded the new digs -- demanded that they be even nicer than Dunedin officials initially intended. When what had initially been a $12-million project rose to almost $14-million because of those demands, hostility toward the Blue Jays and toward the city commissioners who supported the more expensive project began to bubble up.

Then last August the Times reported that appointed and elected Dunedin officials had accepted some $34,000 worth of baseball tickets, trips, hotel stays and meals from the Blue Jays and the city of Toronto in the last 10 years alone. The practice isn't illegal as long as they fill out a form reporting the value of the gift. But many residents of Dunedin saw right away that there was something wrong with city officials making decisions about the city's business relationship with the Blue Jays while accepting gifts from the team.

What did those residents conclude? That some of the people running Dunedin were more interested in taking care of a bunch of rich ballplayers than taking care of Dunedin.

Cecil Englebert bore the brunt of residents' anger in Tuesday's election. He was by far the most experienced candidate on the ballot. But he also was the guy who helped bring the Blue Jays to Dunedin in 1977, had the nickname "Mr. Baseball," and was the city commissioner closest to the Blue Jays' brass.

He also was unrepentant on the subject of accepting gifts. He kept saying he never saw anything wrong with it.

The other incumbent on Tuesday's ballot, Deborah Kynes, had accepted gifts, too, and had seen nothing wrong with it. But after the newspaper story ran and residents started to grumble, Kynes was apologetic. She called for adoption of a tough policy against taking any gifts.

Perhaps that's what saved her in Tuesday's election. More likely, I suspect, is that Kynes had built up such a reservoir of good will from some 20 years of tireless volunteering in the city that voters were willing to give her one more chance. Kynes didn't ask enough questions in her first term, and she doesn't always express herself clearly. But at every opportunity on the campaign trail, she humbly asked for a second term to apply the hard lessons she had learned in her first term. That very human approach struck a chord with people.

Another candidate on Tuesday's ballot made a stunning connection to voters. Bob Hackworth, a former professional runner and bicycle racer, had never held an elective office. He didn't decide to run for Dunedin commission until late last year and his campaign didn't get under way until after New Year's. Few people had heard of him. Political observers scoffed at his candidacy.

But Hackworth set out to introduce himself by going door to door in neighborhoods all over Dunedin, including some that got little attention from City Hall and previous candidates. He listened, he gave thoughtful answers, and he identified the issues that resonated with residents: Dunedin had caved in to the Blue Jays too easily, he said, and if he was elected, he would never take gifts from an entity the city did business with.

He also sent out a couple of direct-mail postcards pointing out that while city officials had been supporting new facilities for the Blue Jays and accepting gifts, the city's reserve fund had been dwindling and city officials had begun talking about raising water rates as much as 25 percent.

When the votes were counted Tuesday, Hackworth came in first and Englebert came in last. In fact, in the 14 precincts where votes were cast, Hackworth was the top vote-getter in 10.

If I had to guess, I'd say these are the messages voters would like Dunedin officials and would-be candidates to hear:

Don't forget who elected you and pays your salary. Keep in touch with us -- all of us, not just those who live in certain precincts -- and let us tell you our concerns. Remember that we want most of the things you do to benefit us, not some outside interest like baseball. And never, ever give us reason to distrust you.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright