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Politics

Voters touch Penny's fate

By WILL VAN SANT
Published March 13, 2007

As voters head to the polls today, the jockeying over a ballot measure to extend the Penny for Pinellas sales tax continued with vigor Monday.

Last-minute moves by Penny backers included a string of automated phone calls to voters funded by a new political action committee, and a county commissioner's retort to the area's top Catholic leader, who last week weighed in against the Penny.

At issue is whether to continue the 1-cent on the dollar sales tax from 2010, when it's set to expire, to 2020.

If the Penny is defeated, Pinellas governments will lose an estimated $2-billion in revenue slated for infrastructure projects like roads, jails, parks and public buildings.

But opponents of the Penny will have won a victory over local governments they allege have either spent madly or have misplaced priorities.

Calling his action "inappropriate" and position "totally unrealistic," County Commissioner Bob Stewart struck back at Bishop Robert N. Lynch for his effort to sway the vote on the Penny.

In a letter sent Monday to the bishop, who leads the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, Stewart questioned why the church was stepping into the debate now, when, as best he could recall, no member of the diocese had ever complained to him about the tax, which has been levied for 17 years.

"As a County Commissioner, I was very disappointed to read of your late, negative input regarding Tuesday's vote," Stewart wrote Lynch.

Last week, Lynch launched a campaign to influence today's result, telling his flock that the county's spending plan for the Penny did too little to aid the disadvantaged and that he knew how he would be voting. He stopped short, however, of telling Catholics how to vote.

Lynch did not respond to a request for comment Monday. Frank Murphy, the head of Catholic Charities who was involved in talks that led the church to its position, said he had yet to read the letter in detail but heard nothing new or unexpected in it.

In his letter, Stewart argued that the Penny's dedication to infrastructure needs has allowed the county to spend more of its general revenue on social welfare programs.

Also Monday, residents continued to receive recorded telephone calls in support of the Penny from local officials including St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, Sheriff Jim Coats and County Commissioners Ken Welch and Karen Seel.

Behind this final phone effort, which began over the weekend, is a political action committee called Citizens for a Better Pinellas, which was formed Thursday.

According to Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Nancy Whitlock, Rod Fischer filed the committee's paperwork. Fischer heads Pinellas County's Construction and Licensing Board, which regulates building locally. He could not be reached Monday.

The group's designated spokesperson is Neil Brickfield, vice chairman of the Pinellas County Republican Party. Five of the seven members of the County Commission are Republican.

Brickfield identified those who paid for the calls as a "collection of concerned citizens and businesses." The group's deadline for filing its first finance report was Friday, but it wasn't available Monday because Citizens for a Better Pinellas opted to mail the document to the elections office. Finance reports need only be postmarked by the filing deadline.

"We haven't gotten it yet," Whitlock said. "So it might be in tomorrow's mail."

Whatever the result of today's vote, a final tally will be a relief to Pinellas government officials who have actively promoted the tax for months but have been stung in recent days by a blitz of criticism.

"We have been working very hard on this for an awfully long time," said County Administrator Steve Spratt. "It is time to have a decision made."

Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or 445-4166.

On the ballots ...

Here's a quick look at what's happening where on Election Day.

- Belleair - Commission races.

- Belleair Beach - Mayoral race, ballot question on whether to abolish the city's police force and contract for services with another law enforcement agency.

- Belleair Bluffs - Commission races.

- Belleair Shore - Ballot questions on whether to raise fees for the Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue District and whether to allow the district to, in the future, raise fees a fixed amount annually without voter approval.

- Clearwater - City Council race, ballot questions on whether to build boat slips near Coachman Park and whether to loosen restrictions on how city pension funds are invested.

- Gulfport - Mayoral, City Council races.

- Indian Rocks Beach - Commission races.

- Indian Shores - Ballot questions on whether to raise fees for the Pinellas Suncoast Fire and Rescue District and whether to allow the district to, in the future, raise fees a fixed amount annually without voter approval. Voters in Precincts 319, 320, 321, 322 and 323, just east of Indian Shores in unincorporated Pinellas, will also be considering these questions.

- Madeira Beach - Commission races.

- Oldsmar - City Council race.

- Redington Beach - Mayoral race and commission races.

- Safety Harbor - Mayoral race.

- Seminole - Mayoral, City Council races.

- St. Pete Beach - Commission races, ballot question on whether the city should give up a portion of the Corey Circle street right of way.

- St. Petersburg - Six referendum questions, most of which deal with modifications to the city charter.

- Tarpon Springs - Mayoral and commission races.

- Treasure Island - Commission race.

[Last modified March 13, 2007, 01:57:23]