(return to media page)Jacksonville Business Journal, December 7, 2007
Hometown Democracy debate proving costly BY Mark Szakonyi
http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/
JACKSONVILLE -- It takes a lot of signatures -- 611,009 to be exact -- to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot in Florida for the November 2008 election. But it takes more dollars.
It helps if the person who runs the campaign is willing to fund nearly half of it with her own money, as Lesley Blackner did for Florida Hometown Democracy Inc., a group advocating a growth management initiative for the state. Between June 2003 and September this year, she contributed about $488,000 of the slightly more than $1 million that the group had raised.
Still, FHD's largely business-backed opponent, Floridians for Smarter Growth Inc., which is proposing a more moderate growth management initiative, raised $1.5 million in about a tenth of the time, according to an analysis of Florida Department of State records. Contributions are filed quarterly.
The most recent records available to the public are those filed through the end of September. Contributions between September and the end of the year will be made public Jan. 11.
These fundraising efforts are only the beginning. Fundraising associated with the struggle over how Florida manages growth will pale in comparison with the money future groups will spend on hired petition gatherers and consultants to influence state policy.
The fight could be one of the most expensive referendum campaigns in U.S. history. The biggest push for contributions will start for Floridians for Smarter Growth if both petitions get on the ballot, said Michael Caputo, executive director of FSG. The proposed Hometown Democracy amendment would let residents vote on every proposed change to a local growth management plan, which opponents say would stifle growth and allow a radical minority to hijack development.
The FSG amendment would let residents decide on any change to the local growth management plan if 10 percent of residents signed a petition for a referendum. The petition for a referendum could only be signed at the office of the appropriate county supervisor of elections, county clerk or a similar election authority, meaning few would make the effort or know of it, Blackner said.
With the stakes being how Florida will grow, campaign costs are expected to surpass the two most expensive ballot campaign fights from the early 1990s, which cost about $36 million each. One pitted environmental groups against the sugar industry over a proposed sugar tax and the other was between physicians and trial lawyers over medical malpractice and safety issues.
TV slots more costly
The current campaign is expected to be the most expensive mainly because the slots for TV advertising will be even more costly during the presidential campaign, said Adam Babington, director of coalitions and initiatives for the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which has backed Floridians for Smarter Growth and encourages its members to donate to the campaign. He said the campaign would cost $40 million to $60 million.
How much Florida's businesses stand to lose if the Hometown Democracy amendment becomes part of the state's constitution is unknown. Babington said FSG was able to raise so much money in such a short time because of the growing sense of immediacy.
"In 2008, we're hoping to come out of the housing slump," he said. If the Hometown Democracy proposal passes, "this will put us right back into one."
Both campaigns' funds point to the fact that these aren't grassroots movements but organized, well-financed pushes, said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida professor of public administration and political science. Residents can only influence public policy through ballot initiatives if there are individuals or groups with deep pockets behind them.
Caputo said the figures prove Florida Hometown Democracy isn't a grassroots movement as Blackner says. "I say she is lying through her teeth." Blackner said her group is grassroots and pointed to its e-mail list of about 3,500. "This is a labor of love," she said. "They have to win using their trick petition."
More money in South Florida
Florida Hometown Democracy has not fared as well in Northeast Florida as in Central and South Florida, Blackner said. The group does not have as many local contacts and the issue has lacked media coverage. Plus, there is more money in South Florida.
Floridians for Smarter Growth, however, has succeeded in Northeast Florida because residents and potential contributors are more politically conservative and more focused on economic expansion, Caputo said. Several Jacksonville companies have pledged their financial support if both petitions make it to the ballot.
The exact number of petition signatures each group has collected is unknown.
Caputo said FSG won't release the collected signatures, which are kept in bank vaults across the state, until right before the Jan. 30 deadline.
He declined to say how many signatures the group had collected, only that they were on target. The secrecy is needed so Florida Hometown Democracy won't know where his side stands.
Blackner said FHD submitted about 500,000 signatures, and about 429,500 had been validated, as of Dec. 5.
"It's not clear to me at all that we are going to get to the ballot," she said. "If I had no opposition, I would say we would definitely make this ballot."
Blackner, a Palm Beach lawyer who grew up in Jacksonville, said her group needs an additional 150,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.
About 20 percent of signatures are rejected while being validated by boards of elections, she said. Election officials may reject signatures if current addresses don't match voting records.
Undermining FHD's efforts is a group that attempts to get petition signers to take back their signature. Save Our Constitution Inc. won't reveal how many people have rescinded their signatures, so FHD won't know which congressional districts it might lose, said Barney Bishop, chair of SOC.
Undermining FHD's efforts is a group that attempts to get petition signers to take back their signature. Save Our Constitution Inc. won't reveal how many people have rescinded their signatures, so FHD won't know which congressional districts it might lose, said Barney Bishop, chair of SOC.
He would only say that the group had far exceeded the typical direct mail response rate of 1 percent to 3 percent, meaning that at least 3 percent of FHD signers rescinded their signature.
To get their petitions on the ballot, FHD and FSG need to get 8 percent of eligible signatures in 13 of the state's congressional districts, said Bishop, CEO and president of Associated Industries of Florida, a business lobby group.
"It's all part of a mind game," Bishop said. "We want them to think they will get 13 districts, and then we'll work in those districts to take signatures away."
Who gives
The groups had the most fundraising success in South and Central Florida, where concerns about growth management are the most pressing. FSG received the most money from Broward, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Seminole and Polk counties. Florida Hometown Democracy had the most success in Palm Beach, Broward, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
Although FHD's contributor base was far bigger than Floridians for Smarter Growth's, with about 1,300 more contributors, FHD still relies heavily on a core of individual contributors.
Other major FHD contributors include various Sierra Club offices, which gave about $143,000 total, and Tend Skin International Inc. President Steve Rosen, who contributed about $222,000 individually and through his company.
The average contribution was about $730, and the median was $20.
Millions of employees
The average Floridians for Smarter Growth contributor gave $43,940, and the median contribution was $35,000. The National Association of Homebuilders gave the most to FSG, with a $550,000 contribution. The Florida Association of Realtors was the second-biggest contributor with $200,000.
FSG's Caputo said Jacksonville's Rayonier TRS Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Rayonier Inc. (NYSE:RYN), has recently added to its past contributions of $40,000 to the FSG campaign.
"Our contributions are coming from companies that represent millions of employees instead of just one lawyer," he said. "We don't have a Lesley Blackner, a Steve Rosen or a stripclub kingpin," referring to Joe Redner, owner of adult entertainment clubs in Tampa who donated about $27,000.