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Daytona Beach News Journal, December 11, 2007

Hometown Democracy brings pleas to public

By JAMES MILLER

With time running short to make the November 2008 ballot, one of the authors of a proposed constitutional amendment to change how Florida handles growth appealed Monday to average Floridians to help get the job done.

West Palm Beach-based attorney Lesley Blackner said Florida Hometown Democracy had parted ways about two weeks ago with a California petition-gathering firm, partly because the company asked for more money for each signature it gathered.

A Florida Hometown Democracy supporter has hired another firm to gather signatures in two congressional districts. But Blackner said it is largely up to amendment supporters to make sure the initiative makes the ballot.

"Do I know if we are going to get on the ballot? I don't know," Blackner said Monday. "I hope. But if people want us on the ballot, they better go out and get some petitions."

For the amendment to appear on the November 2008 ballot, local elections supervisors must certify 611,009 petitions statewide, including 61,114 signatures from voters in at least seven congressional districts in Florida by Feb. 1.

In the vitriolic battle over the amendment -- which would let voters decide on every proposed change to a local governments' long-term land-use plans -- Florida Hometown Democracy opponents quickly dismissed Blackner's statements as a misleading attempt to galvanize supporters for the home stretch.

"This whole 'woe is me' strategy of Hometown Democracy has been effective until someone points out the lies that are woven into it," said Michael Caputo, executive director of Floridians for Smarter Growth, a Florida Chamber of Commerce-backed political group that opposes the amendment.

"These are not volunteers," he said. "This is not a grass-roots effort."

Both sides have employed paid petition gatherers to back their proposals. It is a technique some political scientists say isn't going to disappear any time soon, but one that has made the initiative process no less cutthroat than any election.

Florida Hometown Democracy supporters see the proposed amendment as a way to put major growth-related decisions directly in the hands of voters.

"Clearly, we've hit a nerve here, haven't we?" Blackner said.

She said Florida Hometown Democracy had submitted about 550,000 signed petitions to the state since 2005. As of Monday, 440,044 were approved.

Opponents argue that development could grind to a standstill if the amendment passes.

In late June, Floridians for Smarter Growth filed a proposed amendment designed to combat Florida Hometown Democracy. Organizers would not disclose the number of petitions they had gathered, calling it a strategic secret.

The amendment would allow referendums on land-use changes, but only if 10 percent of voters went to city or county offices to sign petitions.

With its deeper pockets, Floridians for Smarter Growth paid its petition-gathering firm, National Voter Outreach, more than $345,900 between July 1 and Sept. 30, the last period for which state Division of Elections records are available.

Florida Hometown Democracy paid Progressive Campaigns Inc. more than $214,222 during the same period.

Mark Wilson, executive vice president for the Florida Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged Floridians for Smarter Growth used its resources to try to outbid Florida Hometown Democracy.

He said the strategy wouldn't work if petition gatherers cared about the amendment.

"If these were volunteers and citizens that were collecting the petitions, you could not stop them from collecting," he said.

But Steve Rosen, a Fort Lauderdale businessman and animal welfare activist who has poured tens of thousands of dollars into Hometown Democracy, said the new firm he hired to help the drive was steadfast in its commitment -- as was he.

He said he got the ball rolling with the new firm, which he declined to identify, but had turned it back over to Florida Hometown Democracy.

"The volunteers have done a tremendous job, but it's just not going to happen without some paid help," Rosen said.

Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, said the stakes are high in the fight, because it's a clash between peoples' livelihoods and quality of life.

And ballot initiatives have become big business. In a state as large as Florida, getting one before voters without paying petition gatherers is unlikely.

Relying heavily on volunteers could make the remaining road tough for advocates of Hometown Democracy.

"It is difficult to get people to stop and sign anything in the holidays," MacManus said. "People are busy and busting and don't really want to hear anything about politics, honestly."