Elections chief admits slipup with link on office's Web site
Kurt Browning promptly removes it after discovering its creators openly supported a proposed state amendment. He said it was wrong.
By STEPHEN HEGARTY
Published October 14, 2004
Pasco Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning said Wednesday that he erred when he put on his office Web site a link to an organization that supports one of the constitutional amendments on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Browning provided the link - and urged his fellow supervisors around the state to use the link - in an effort to give voters an unbiased guide to the often-confusing amendments. After it was called to his attention that the Web site urged a yes vote on Amendment 2, Browning removed the link and urged his colleagues to follow suit.
"It was a mistake; we took it off," Browning said Wednesday.
Browning, who is running for his seventh term as Pasco's elections chief, said Wednesday that he and his colleagues are "starved for good information on the constitutional amendments - the pros and cons. When the Chamber of Commerce put out a link to a voters guide, we posted it."
The Web site (www.votesmartflorida.org/voterguide.asp) is run by the VoteSmart Florida.org Alliance, which is supported by several Florida organizations and was co-founded by the Florida Chamber of Commerce. If you go to the Web site now, it provides a list of opponents and proponents behind each amendment, as well as short explanations of both points of view and the text of the amendment.
That voters guide presenting both sides of the issues, Browning said, is what he intended to link to.
However, until Wednesday morning, the Web site also included a prominent box with the words "Vote Yes on Amendment 2."
Both VoteSmart and the Florida chamber have come out in favor of Amendment 2, which would make it more difficult for groups to get constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot. Several groups have argued that it is too easy in Florida to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot and to get it passed.
"Had we known governmental agencies were going to link to this page, we would have removed that reference," said Florida Chamber Vice President Mark Wilson. On Wednesday morning, VoteSmart did remove that reference. Now the voters guide page includes both sides of each issue, and no recommendations as to how to vote.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce has a long history of making recommendations on the state's constitutional amendments. The chamber's home page (www.flchamber.com) shows the group's recommendations on seven of the eight amendments.
"The Chamber of Commerce is not the place they should be linking to," Wilson said. "We clearly take a position."
Several of Browning's colleagues around the state took his advice and linked to the VoteSmart Web site. That includes Hillsborough County Supervisor Buddy Johnson, who now has repositioned the link under the heading "Links for Political Information Sources."
Leon County Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho did not use the link.
"I got the e-mail from Mr. Browning, and I promptly ignored it," Sancho said Wednesday. "It's not appropriate of me to send voters to a partisan Web site. I knew the chamber took a stand on the amendment."
Browning's political opponent, Patrick Bergy of New Port Richey, seized on the Web site issue Wednesday.
"One thing I've notice in the short time I've been in politics is that nothing happens by accident," Bergy said. "The chamber is very pro-Republican. For him to link to that Web site, it's a totally partisan thing."
Bergy is running with no party affiliation. Browning is a Republican.
Browning said his use of the link was not motivated by political concerns but was part of an ongoing effort to provide unbiased information to voters.
