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Plan may make mayoral post tough to create

Hillsborough Commissioner Ronda Storms is posing the ballot question during the September primary.

The proposal would require 60 percent approval by voters for any amendments to Hillsborough's charter.

By BILL VARIAN
Published April 13, 2006

Storms is posing a separate ballot question during the September primary that, if passed, would require 60 percent approval by voters for any amendments to the county charter, which would be required to create an office of elected county mayor.

The Hillsborough County Attorney's office tentatively blessed the idea in an opinion issued this week. It says the county could mimic a similar proposal in the Legislature to require a 60 percent voter margin for passing state constitutional amendments.

Senior Assistant County Attorney Ken Tinkler issued the opinion, and it was reviewed by County Attorney Renee Lee. It also said that the election could be held during the primary, under current charter rules. That would mean the 60 percent threshold would be in place if voters are asked to consider the mayoral question two months later.

Storms said she has not decided herself whether she will support the idea, but believes it warrants discussion. But she said the supermajority requirement would underscore the significance of changing the county's charter, which is its constitution of sorts.

"It should not be done lightly," Storms said Thursday. "It should not be done with a 50 percent vote. I'm doing it for the sole purpose of protecting the charter in saying the charter should not be amended lightly or easily"

The issue is expected to be scheduled for discussion when commissioners meet Wednesday. Commissioners had voted 5-1 in March to ask the county attorney to analyze whether the change could be made, and how. For commissioners to put a charter amendment proposal on the ballot, they would have to schedule a public hearing and vote by a supermajority margin of 5-2 or stronger to do it.

The leading advocate of the mayoral proposal called Storms' argument and commissioners' willingness to consider it "specious."

"I think it's the height of arrogance to want to stop something so bad," said Mary Ann Stiles, the lawyer and lobbyist who is leading the group Taking Back Hillsborough County Political Committee Inc. "The only reason they want to stop the people from having the right to amend the charter and try to determine the kind of government they really want, is because they don't want to share the power with the people."

In his opinion, Tinkler noted that he could find no evidence of any similar amendments passing in any of Florida's other counties governed by a charter.

The only parallel he could find was in the Legislature's proposal to ask voters in November whether 60 percent approval should be required for citizen-proposed constitutional amendments.

Similarly, legislators supporting that idea have said amending the Constitution should not be done lightly.

Tinkler also cautioned that the U.S. Justice Department would have to review the proposal to ensure it does not curtail the ability of minorities to vote.

With no similar charter amendments having passed in Florida,"any potential legal challenge would require the courts to review this issue without much benefit of much precedent," he wrote.

On the issue of timing, Tinkler was more firm that the election could take place during the primary. The charter requires that the question be asked at "special elections or regular elections," and Tinkler said that includes primaries.

Commissioner Kathy Castor, the lone vote against having the attorney analyze the issue, said, regardless of the opinion, such a significant question should not be put on a primary ballot.

Turnout historically is lower during primary elections, which are when the voters registered with political parties decide who will be their nominees for the general election.

Having a ballot question on the primary would thus be less likely to attract independent voters, one of the fastest growing segments, she said.

"I see a very troubling trend by this County Commission to trample on citizen initiatives," Castor said, "to do what they can to silence their critics and create roadblocks to participation by citizens to the democratic process."

Storms said these are no ordinary citizens pushing the mayoral proposal, but rather special interests who were once influential and are seeking to regain the clout they have lost to voters in the fast-growing suburbs.

"This is not poor, disenfranchised citizens," she said. "This is a lawyer-slash-lobbyist trying to wrest access away from the unincorporated citizens.

"It's well-heeled, well-connected. It's not the Wal-Mart crowd, that's for sure."

[Last modified April 13, 2006, 23:42:29]