Letters to the Editors

PSTA is under no obligation to accept ads

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 27, 1999

On Dec. 2 the Times printed an editorial notebook, When buses become billboards, by Robyn E. Blumner, critical of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority's policy concerning the types of advertisements accepted on its buses.

It is unfortunate that the Times chose to print an article filled with misstatements. Besides not having all the facts correct, her article is based on misrepresentations about the state of the case law on the First Amendment.

Blumner represented to your readers that PSTA is obliged to place all types of signs on its buses, that the outside of its buses are a public forum and that the state law concerning material that holds any religious group to ridicule or contempt is patently unconstitutional.

She based her article on the belief that the U.S. Supreme Court has never addressed this issue. However, the Supreme Court has determined that a policy prohibiting political ads on the inside of buses was constitutional.

The court ruled that the inside of buses was not a public forum because the transit system's intent was to make money by renting the advertisement space, it did not accept any political ads and its policy was reasonably based on a desire to avoid doubts about favoritism.

In a case from Phoenix, Ariz., former Supreme Court Justice Byron White wrote that for the purposes of the First Amendment, there is no difference between signs on the interior or exterior of a bus. Justice White wrote that the exterior of Phoenix's buses was not a public forum and that Phoenix's limitation on advertising to commercial speech was reasonably related to Phoenix's desire to be neutral on political and religious issues.

The New York magazine case relied on by Blumner differentiated the Supreme Court case because in New York the transit system accepted political and commercial ads.

PSTA has long had and enforced a policy that prohibits political ads. Under the Supreme Court and Phoenix cases, a court would likely determine that PSTA's buses are not a public forum and that PSTA's policy is reasonable in light of PSTA's stated desire of neutrality on political issues. PSTA is not obliged to accept all types of signs on its buses.

Blumner also easily turns aside PSTA's concern about compliance with a state law. The signs on PSTA's buses arguably violated that law. It is easy for Blumner to say that a public official should ignore a criminal statute that has never been found unconstitutional and that has not been repealed by the state Legislature. What would Blumner's article have said if PSTA executive director Roger Sweeney had been arrested for violating that statute?

The next time that Robyn Blumner has the inclination to write an article criticizing someone for violating the First Amendment, she needs to obtain a legal opinion from a constitutional law expert and not rely on her biased viewpoint of what she would like the law to be.
-- Alan S. Zimmet, PSTA general counsel, Clearwater

Business as usual for Bill

I am an avid reader of Maureen Dowd's column. She is extremely observant, often hilarious and usually right on target. I think, however, that she missed the point on Jan. 21, Here's wishing for an all-in-one Bill, when she chided President Clinton for going about business as usual. A familiar prayer says it best: "Lord, give me the strength to change what can be changed, the patience to bear what cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference."

The damage has been done. He can do nothing now to change what the final outcome will be. So, he is going about his business, doing the job he was elected to do.

While I do not admire his code of morals, I certainly applaud his ability to perform his presidential duties, in spite of his personal problems.
-- Frances M. Oleksak, Sun City Center

The pope should not be fashionable

Re: Frail of body, yet strong of spirit, Jan. 22.

Twila Decker seems to believe there is a consensus in the United States that Pope John Paul II is "severely out of touch with the times" on domestic/feminist issues such as birth control and women clergy. On the contrary, there are many of us Catholic women of all ages who admire and respect him and try hard not to be "cafeteria Catholics."

John Paul II's job description does not allow for him to be fashionable and popular. As successor to the apostle Peter, his responsibility is to let us know God's will for us, which is often hard and contrary to this world's fashions. He is truly a "rock" for those who aspire to holiness rather than popularity.

As for the "Madonna-up-on-the-pedestal" image that Linda Pieczynski of Call to Action derides, the pope did not give us Mary to emulate; Jesus did. Her obedience and humility earned her the title "Queen of Heaven." As a former career person who is now a stay-at-home mom with all its sacrifices, I am grateful that John Paul II reminds me that Mary is the role model given to me by God.
-- Cecilia Burke, Largo

Success with deadbeat parents

Florida's contracts with private providers to find deadbeat parents who have reneged on their child support payments and make them pay up have been an unqualified success, despite erroneous news reports to the contrary and misguided editorials based on these stories.

The facts are simple: First, the state of Florida turned over 50,000 of its most difficult child support cases to Lockheed Martin IMS which, in turn, has collected more than $61-million in the last 37 months. That money went into the hands of Florida's neediest families to reduce their dependence on welfare.

The state turned to a private company, such as Lockheed Martin IMS with its technology resources, to help it collect on tough cases. And the company delivered with collections on 41 percent of the cases where the state had been unable to collect for six months prior. In 1998 alone, Lockheed Martin IMS collected nearly $19-million in child support payments, at a cost of about 15 cents for every dollar collected.

Second, under a separate contract, the state gave Lockheed Martin IMS 100,000 backlogged cases, some going back seven years, where there were no court orders even requiring payment of child support. We were asked to verify the data, update cases and collect payments. During the one-year contract, the company cleaned up 40,000 child support cases, helping the state trim its active case load by about 4 percent.

We were prohibited from collecting any payments during the first six months of the contract because we were not allowed to hire lawyers, who were needed to file orders imposing child support on delinquent parents. However, Lockheed Martin IMS still managed to collect $175,000 in the final six months of the contract. While cleaning up the case load was a priority, we closed 500 public assistance cases where clients refused to cooperate in collecting child support -- saving Florida taxpayers an estimated $2-million a year in welfare costs.

Unfortunately, news reports have failed to accurately explain the contracts and the extent of the work being done on behalf of Florida taxpayers. This public/private partnership between Lockheed Martin IMS and Florida has helped the state collect tens of millions of dollars in additional child support, trim tens of thousands of cases from its files and save millions of dollars. Neither the state nor the private sector should be criticized for a partnership that produces such results.

As a leader in partnering with state and local government to address some of today's most difficult public policy issues, we are proud of our effort to serve Florida, its taxpayers and its neediest citizens. We just wanted to set the record straight.
-- Audrey Rowe, senior vice president and managing director,
Lockheed Martin IMS, Washington, D.C.

A new spelling for hypocrisy

Here's a new spelling for hypocrisy: H-y-d-e. It's much quicker to write, print, type, etc., and every bit as accurate. How did I come to this conclusion? I have religiously listened to and watched the impeachment hearings.

There could be several other names to consider -- such as Starr, Barr, McCollum, Hutchinson, to name a few -- but with Hyde the first two letters would remain the same, making the change not too dramatic. And after all, he is the biggest Hyde... er, hypocrite.
-- Frank Gibbs, St. Petersburg

Concern for our cabbies

The killing of cabbie Harry Brockman and similar random murders of many other St. Petersburg and Tampa taxi drivers in recent years could have been avoided if the communities they served had even a minimal concern for their life and safety.

There have been repeated calls for mandating bulletproof shields between taxi drivers and their passengers, but the industry has so far successfully resisted them: too expensive, bad for business. Taxi owners seek to perpetuate the myth that we live in a tropical paradise -- bulletproof shields in taxis would be evidence that we do not. But shields are in use in many other high crime areas, so why not here? Some of our local banks use shields to protect their tellers, even though bank tellers are at less risk of being murdered than are cabbies. Also, there is compelling evidence that shields are effective in preventing robbery-motivated random murders.

Let's stop the hypocrisy. Let's have some compassion for defenseless cabbies who put their lives at risk each time they respond to a call in a quiet neighborhood in the dead of night. Shield cabbies from potential killers.
-- Joseph H. Francis, St. Petersburg

Voters should know about candidates

Re: Disclosure varies for troubled officials.

It was with great interest that I read the thought-provoking article published in the Jan. 19, issue of the St. Petersburg Times.

The article concerned the public disclosure and addictions of our political officials, both statewide and national.

The voting public, and those soon to join its ranks, needs to be made aware of this problem and its possible solutions. You, the newspaper, have begun that process.

Each time people are called to public service they must begin to woo and be wooed by the public to ensure sufficient votes to hold office. Frequently, this campaign is done through cocktail parties, beer busts and coffee klatches where more than coffee is often served.

Get the point? We should stop putting the pressure on people to court the public for votes where alcohol is the primary beverage served.

Give "Joe," the future council member, congressman, mayor, a break: Serve him milk and cookies or pizza and soft drinks.

Maybe then he/she won't drive drunk and be under pressure all the time, struggling to meet everyone's expectations.

How do people running for public office get off the treadmill long enough to relax and let us see the real person running for office?

How do we let them?
-- Barbara J. Ruley, Gulfport

A scrub jay encounter

When we were in Sebring in November, two scrub jays came and sat on my hand at the same time. Never before has a wild bird of any description done this. I think the scrub jay would make a great state bird.
-- Jean W. Neet, Florida Audubon member, Inverness

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