With just a month left to collect the remaining 200,000-plus signatures they need to qualify, there are signs the wheels may be coming off the Hometown Democracy bandwagon. Floridians for Smarter Growth is meeting them on every Florida street corner - and proof our efforts are stopping Hometown Democracy hit the media this week.
After years of media misreporting Hometown Democracy as a "grassroots movement," the Jacksonville Business Journal (JBJ) pulled back the curtain this week to reveal Hometown's paid signature gathering operation. In the article, University of South Florida professor of public administration and political sciences Susan MacManus says the proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution is not a grassroots movement at all. Instead, it is funded by a small group of wealthy donors – a classic special interest campaign. The article is worth reading, here.
But the back story is even more interesting: even as reporter Mark Szakonyi wrote his JBJ story, Hometown Democracy was severing ties with Progressive Campaigns Inc. (PCI), the group’s longtime signature gathering company. Founder Lesley Blackner wrote hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal checks to PCI across years of cooperation. Suddenly, the beginning of December was the end of their partnership, according to the Daytona Beach News Journal (DBNJ) in an article published Wednesday.
Hours after firing PCI, the amendment campaign’s second largest donor hired another signature gathering firm. Curiously, DBNJ reporter James Miller was unable to get Hometown mega-donor Steve Rosen to give up the name of his new consultant. We could have helped him with that: it’s Derrick Lee of Phoenix, Arizona. We know because he was negotiating to manage a small Gainesville crew for our vendor before he signed up with Hometown.
Still, Rosen claimed in the DBNJ article that Lee Petition Managment is “steadfast in its commitment.” That’s as credible as calling Hometown a grassroots movement.
In fact, Lee Petition Management is a much smaller operation than PCI, a leading national firm. The firing of PCI proves Hometown is a campaign in disarray. But hiring Lee proves they are scrambling to win. We know from our sources that Lee is calling across the country, recruiting out-of-state petitioning crews willing to work in Florida for the holiday season.
According to Miller’s story, skin-care guru Rosen hired the new signature gathering company directly, but handed control over to Hometown Democracy. This begs a question: how much has Rosen contributed to the campaign? He’s already given $200,000 – and Hometown needs upwards of half a million more to make the 2008 ballot.
Here's the real story: the Hometown campaign may be in free fall. They canned their longtime signature vendor at the very worst time. Their grassroots claim-to-fame is a casualty of good reporting. Florida's top environmental groups have labeled the idea pro-sprawl. Now desperate, they have turned to the media to gin up their troops for a big finish.
But what troops? Good reporting has also uncovered another important fact: amendment backers finally confessed that their oft-mentioned 3,000-volunteer petition force is no more than Hometown Democracy's email list. I am personally registered on their list four different ways; finding 50 dedicated volunteers amongst us "faithful" would be unfeasable.
Clearly, there is less to Hometown Democracy than meets the eye.
So is anyone really listening to this small extreme special interest group's cry for help? Not really. I mean, not far beyond the dwindling list of compliant media.
- Michael Caputo; Exec. Dir.
