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Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published December 18, 2007

You might recall that in St. Pete Beach a little while back, there was a bitter fight over that city's future.

One group, led by City Hall, thought that the city needed to get denser in places to keep up with the economy.

But another group did not like the new density, and got up petitions to stop it. The opponents called themselves Citizens for Responsible Growth.

A nasty fight ensued. There were bad feelings and accusations on both sides. The city went to court against the citizens' group in an attempt to block the petition.

In the end, the opponents won the court fight, got their election, and won that, too.

It was a tremendous victory. The voters would be directly in charge of major growth decisions. And some of the leading critics of City Hall got elected to office themselves.

A happy ending? A win for democracy, justice and the American way?

Well, not exactly.

***

Those folks who wanted more density, now finding themselves in the opposition, organized as well. They created a group called Save Our Little Village.

They got up their own petition. And they got enough signatures to force another election on the rules they want.

Hah! You have to admire the spirit. As the saying goes, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Naturally, when Save Our Little Village brought its petitions to City Hall, the folks now in power replied:

"Warmest greetings, fellow citizens! Since we once used the petition ourselves and we were fought by our own City Hall, we deeply respect your petition efforts. Of course, we will place your ideas on the ballot at once!"

Hah! I am lying big time.

The new leaders of City Hall did not put the petitions on the ballot.

In fact, they shilly-shallied and said the same kind of stuff that the previous gang at City Hall once said about them.

The new gang wants to have the petitions reviewed for legality. After all, the petitions are complicated and possibly misleading. And so on.

So, Save Our Little Village has sued. And a judge has ordered the city to show cause why it should not be forced to call the election within 90 days, as required.

***

The trouble with democracy is that people that we don't like get to take part in it, too. Sometimes, that other side even wins.

If you're a Democrat, you might still be amazed that Americans voted for George W. Bush in 2004. You might wonder how he still had that many people fooled.

And if you're a Republican, you might still be wondering how it was that Bill Clinton managed to get elected twice in the 1990s. Maybe you think it was slick talk that suckered the voters.

So, it is a good thing that Republicans and Democrats have to duke it out in elections, instead of using their power to block elections.

"We have decided that the other side is lying," the party in power might say. "So, we're not going to permit an election, after all."

And yet, this is how matters have played out in recent years in St. Pete Beach. The City Charter there says, if you get X signatures, you are entitled to an election. It does not say, "Unless City Hall does not like you."

Nobody seems to trust the voters to get it right.

[Last modified December 18, 2007, 00:11:29]