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Stop using tax money to 'educate' voters

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published January 28, 2007

When Pasco County's schools wanted the voters to pass a school tax in 2004, they didn't pussyfoot around.

They put a school employee in charge of the campaign, on the public's dime. They put campaign literature in the schools and refused to let opponents of the tax do the same. They won.

Last year, the cities of Pinellas County got into a big fight with the county over questions on the ballot. So both sides spent hundreds of thousands of tax dollars trying to sway the voters.

The cities even used their water bills to tell people how to vote. And when voters wrote the county for an absentee ballot, they got back a piece of county propaganda telling them to "Vote Yes."

Pasco and Pinellas counties are not alone. Across Florida, city halls, county courthouses and school boards often spend tax dollars to "educate" voters on which way to vote.

In my book, that ought to be illegal. That is precisely the goal of Senate Bill 734, which has just been filed for the upcoming annual session of our Florida Legislature.

The sponsor is our own Sen. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, elected in November to represent a big chunk of the Tampa Bay area.

Justice's bill says local governments could not spend public funds in favor or against a ballot item, and could not pay anyone to run such a campaign.

There's a loophole. Governments could still publish material that "factually and objectively" describes the item on the ballot. But the wording would require a vote of the elected officials, and violations could be the subject of complaints to the Florida Elections Commission.

Hey, it's a start. At least it creates a standard for holding our local pols to account.

As matters stand now, our mayors and commissioners and school board members not only defend campaigning with tax dollars, they claim they have a "duty" to do it.

Good grief! The ballot box is the only power the citizens have over the government. For the government to seek to influence election results is the most anti-American, dangerous idea imaginable.

Every local pol I argue with about this raises the question: How, then, do we "educate" the voters? What if they don't vote the "right" way?

The first, flippant, answer is, tough noogies.

The second answer is, this is entirely the business of the citizens. If there are citizens who want to stage a private campaign, then they will do it, especially once we get the government out of the way.

And if an idea does not have enough support among the citizens - well, see answer No. 1 above.

Justice also has filed two other bills that crack down on the locals:

- Senate Bill 742 would make it illegal for local governments to sue each other. Incredibly, Pinellas cities are still fighting a court battle against the charter amendments that the voters passed.

- Senate Bill 572 would outlaw the practice by cities of using state-owned land to make it easier to grab adjacent private property in annexations. Largo has been a prime offender; St. Petersburg has used that tactic, too.

Florida's cities and counties and school boards will likely oppose these bills - and they are precisely the local audiences that can put the most political pressure on legislators. It will be a tough fight, but it will be fun to watch. Let's follow it step by step.

[Last modified January 28, 2007, 06:15:03]