Thomas Leonardo is Fort Myers city councilman for Ward 6

As you know, of the 67 counties in Florida, 38 county commissions are elected “at large,” 23 are elected by single-member district, and the remaining six are elected using a combination of both types.

There are many valid reasons for being a proponent of each type of election, and these reasons have been well addressed here in Lee County. Considering the fact that all state and federal legislatures are elected by district, here in Florida and in every other state in the nation, it becomes apparent that elections of legislative bodies by district represents the best method, and it is the constitutional method decided upon by our Founding Fathers, an electoral method that has worked well for 234 years.

As an elected public official myself, I know that while I have been elected to make legislative decisions, there are special times when a legislative issue is best put directly to the voters for their decision, and to be decided on by them by referendum. Your recent decision not to put the measure before the electorate for a referendum vote is quite troubling to me as a citizen of Lee County, and I know that many voters share my concern. It seems that there is great reluctance by certain members of the Lee County Board of County Commissioners to seek out and to learn what the citizens of Lee County prefer in this matter.

Why? What do you fear? Don’t you think that the voters, in their collective wisdom, will make the right decision with their vote, or do you think that you know better than the voters do?

The time has come to let Lee County voters decide on how to elect their representatives, and I encourage you to place this question on the November 2010 ballot without further delay.

by Rick Diamond, Chairman of the Charter Review Committee in 2000 and in 2004

The deadlocked 2-2 county commission vote, that kept the motion to switch to single-member districts off the ballot, may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. That is because there is a much better alternative than either single-member districts, or the present “at large” voting system.

The alternative is a “hybrid” county commission composed of a mixture of single-member district commissioners and at-large commissioners. Five of Florida’s 20 charter, or home rule, counties now have hybrid commissions with two other counties currently considering the plan. Eight charter counties have commissioners elected at-large, including Lee County, while the remaining seven counties have single-member districts.

Nearly 40 speakers addressed the commission on Tuesday evening with some strongly supporting the present method in which county commissioners are elected at-large, but there is a residential requirement so that each of the county’s five districts is represented on the Board of Commissioners. Proponents of the motion for single-member districts, in which the electorate can only vote for candidates in their own district, were equally vehement in their arguments.

To a neutral observer it soon became evident that there are serious drawbacks to both methods. The at-large system, as the record will show, perpetuates the re-election of incumbents because of the difficulty a relatively unknown challenger has in raising money and in finding the time and energy to run a campaign in a county 80 percent the size of Rhode Island. In addition, because of the countywide vote candidates are occasionally defeated, despite carrying their own districts by wide margins.

While single-member districts will almost always attract more candidates, which is always a good thing in a democracy, it prevents people from casting votes for candidates for the other four commission seats, whose views, or positions, they may or may not support. There is also a concern that a single-member district commissioner will owe more allegiance to the district than to the common good of the county, but that would be a rare occurrence.

Single-member districts are essential in the city of Fort Myers to avoid disenfranchising voters. There is little validity, however, to the claim that the at-large system discriminates against blacks and Hispanics in the county since minorities make up only about 12 percent of the county’s 345,000 registered voters. If you want to be elected to county office in Lee County, become a Republican as two current commissioners have done.

Several speakers, however, did talk about the advantages of a hybrid commission.

Then, when it was the commissioners’ turn to debate the motion amongst themselves, and it became apparent that they were hopelessly deadlocked, their conversation turned to a discussion of hybrid commissions.

County Attorney David Owen reminded the commissioners that the motion to switch to single-member districts was the only topic on the agenda. I did, however, come away from the meeting with the distinct impression that all the commissioners, at a later date, will give serious consideration to a hybrid commission as a meaningful compromise that should satisfy both parties.

When I chaired the Charter Review Committee in 2000 and in 2004, I advocated unsuccessfully for a seven-person commission composed of four single-member district commissioners and three at-large commissioners, for a 4/3 mix. In this way everyone would vote for a majority of commissioners — your own district commissioner and the three at large commissioners. There was a concern, however, about the cost of expanding the commission.

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, Commission Chairwoman Tammy Hall told me that there was ample room in their building for two more commissioners. During the public hearing Commissioner Frank Mann had estimated that the annual cost of two new commissioners and their aides at $300,000, pointing out that the amount was just a fraction of the county’s billion-plus budget.

I would like to visualize the following scenario. By the middle of next year the commissioners appoint a study group to recommend what type of hybrid commission works best for Lee County — a 4/3, 5/2 or even a 3/2 mix. By the end of 2011 the commissioners approve a plan, and after public hearings, vote to place its proposal on the ballot in the 2012 general election.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20100513/OPINION/100512072/1015/opinion/Lee-voters-lose-right-to-choose–Editorial

Once again Lee County voters will be denied their right to decide how they will choose their county commissioners — a right given them under the county charter they adopted in 1996.

What a slap in the face of democracy and responsive government. It is the product of failures by the county commission and by Gov. Charlie Crist.

A request for county commissioners to put the single-member district issue on the ballot this November, supported by a coalition of Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian groups, the NAACP and the League of Women voters, failed Tuesday.

Commissioners have been deadlocked 2-2 on the issue since the death of Commissioner Bob Janes, who supported putting the issue before the voters.

Making excuses

But the two commissioners who voted against placing the issue on the ballot, Tammy Hall and Ray Judah, relied in part on a false technicality. They said the Charter Review Committee failed in 2008 to recommend single-member districts, under which a commissioner is chosen only by the voters in his or her district. The goal is to make commissioners more responsive to their districts. Currently, all five commissioners are elected at-large, by all county voters‚ a system custom-made for incumbents with money and name-recognition.

In fact, charter committee members strongly favored some form of single-member voting; they just couldn’t get the required 10 of 15 members to agree on exactly what form it should take. Nine members voted for the type of proposal that was before the commission Tuesday.

Besides, commissioners can place an issue like this on the ballot directly anyway. The charter committee issue is a cop-out.

Dragging their feet

The deadlock on the commission arises from Gov. Charlie Crist’s shameful delay in filling the Janes vacancy.

The delay probably leaves too little time to name a commissioner, hold another public hearing and get a reform measure on the November ballot.

Crist apparently fears alienating voters here during his fragile run for the U.S. Senate.

People here should demand he fill Janes’ vacancy now. Running for office in Washington is no excuse for lying down on the job in Tallahassee.

Not giving up hope

Hopes for a referendum this November are now slim, but the effort should not be abandoned. A hybrid system, with some commissioners elected by district, some at-large, may win the necessary support if Crist makes the appointment soon enough.

It is probably too late to revive a suspended NAACP petition drive, allowing citizens to put the issue on the ballot directly.

How frustrating for the people of Lee County, who have waited 14 years for the chance to exercise their rights.

Had Lee County Commissioner Bob Janes not died in March, the outcome of Tuesday’s commissioners meeting on the single-member district issue would have been a foregone conclusion.

Janes, although he was not an enthusiast for single-member districts, came to believe that they were an issue that should go to the voters in a county like Lee, with its home-rule charter.

It’s the kind of basic structure-of-government issue the people were meant to decide directly under charters, such as the one Lee voters adopted in 1996.

Under the current at-large voting system, county commissioners must live in their district, but all five are elected countywide.

Under the single-member district system, only voters in each district would choose their representative on the commission.

It’s the system favored by Florida’s larger, more diverse counties. Over two-thirds of the state’s people live in counties with single-member voting for commissioners.

The system makes it more likely that a commissioner will respond to the views of the people in his or her district, giving voice to communities such as Lehigh Acres, predominantly minority Dunbar or Bonita Springs, that can be overwhelmed in countywide competition.

Countywide races are costly, which could deter candidates who might be able to mount a strong challenge within a single district even to the well-known and well-funded incumbent who would enjoy a crushing advantage in a countywide race.

“The people need to decide who will represent them fairly and equally,” resident Nancy Ferardi told commissioners last month, “not according to their pockets and the money that backs name recognition and advertising.”

Too often, a candidate has been a top vote-getter in his or her own district, only to lose the vote countywide

Backers of single-member districts point out that that in 13, or 40 percent, of the 33 contested primary or general elections from 1980 to 2008 in Lee County, the district’s choice for its own representative was rejected by the rest of the county. For example:

In the 1984 general election Melvin Morgan, the only black person to serve as a county commissioner, won the District 5 vote 56 percent to 44 percent, but lost countywide. 

- In the 1990 general election Bill Fussell, a former commissioner and later county tax collector, won 55 percent to 45 in District 4, but lost countywide.

- In the 1994 general election, Frank Mann, who now represents District 5, won 57 percent to 43 in District 2; he lost countywide.

Single-member districts have been adopted in some places -Fort Myers, for example – so that racial minorities have a better chance of electing one of their own.

But race is a secondary consideration today among backers of the single-member district system for the county. The NAACP is a supporter, but so are several local Republican organizations, the Democratic and Libertarian parties and the League of Women Voters.

The big issues today are community representation and accountability, the cost of running for office, and the people’s right to shape their voting system.

Backers also believe that in an era of weakened trust in government, it is valuable to keep elected officials as close as possible to the people they supposedly represent.

In 2008, the county Charter Review Committee voted 9-6 to recommend single-member districts to the county commissioners, one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to make a recommendation. The committee will not meet again until 2016, but commissioners are perfectly free to act on their own to give voters a choice, this fall.

Contact them, or attend Tuesday’s hearing to let them know that, whatever the merits of the two systems, this should be a choice for the voters of Lee County.

http://www.news-press.com/article/20100509/OPINION/5090351/1015/Ray-Rodrigues–Electoral-proposal-has-support-of-Lee-residents–organizations

Ray Rodrigues is chair of the Coalition for Common-Sense Government, a former citizen member of The News-Press Editorial Board and 2008 Lee County Charter Review Committee.

Does the government of Lee County belong to its people?

In November 1996, Lee County voted to adopt a charter. Becoming a charter government provides citizens the opportunity for home rule, by allowing decisions on our government to be made by the voters here in Lee County, instead of the Legislature in Tallahassee.

In every other charter county, the choice of electoral method was one of the first to go to the voters. Despite being a charter county for 14 years, our citizens are still waiting for the opportunity to vote on the electoral method forced on us by Tallahassee.

In June 2008, Lee County’s Charter Review Committee voted 9-6 for single-member districts to go to the ballot.

Since the recommendation was one vote shy of 10 votes required to recommend an issue to commissioners for placing on the ballot, Commissioner Ray Judah believes this item is unworthy of consideration.

His position ignores relevant factors.

For example, after learning that the choice of the district is rejected 40 percent of the time, the Charter Review Committee, by a margin of 11-2, issued a vote of no-confidence in our current at-large method.

Furthermore, in November 2008, Lee County voters amended our charter, so any future recommendation receiving nine votes will be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration.

Rather than grasping at technicalities to justify a personal preference to maintain the status quo, our commissioners should focus on honoring the will of the voters, and restoring our confidence in a broken electoral method.

Many others share this view.

The editorial boards of the largest newspapers in Lee County, The News-Press and the Bonita Daily News, support sending this issue to the ballot.

Diverse organizations across the political spectrum have joined together in support of single-member districts’ ability to align the results of elections with the will of the district, as a way to improve government accountability.

Resolutions of support have been passed by the Lee County Republican Party’s candidates, Issues and Endorsement Committee, the Lee County Democratic Party, the Lee County Libertarian Party, the Lee County NAACP, the League of Women Voters, the Lee County Republican Liberty Caucus, the Democratic Club of Greater Fort Myers, the Southwest Florida Young Republicans and the FGCU College Republicans.

In a recent informal online News-Press opinion poll, 79.7 percent favored single-member districts, while only 16.3 percent supported the current at-large method.

Commissioner Bob Janes agreed that it was time to end this political game of keep-away with the voters, when he committed to send this issue to the ballot.

At his memorial service, our commissioners all spoke eloquently in his honor.

On Tuesday, they will have an opportunity to honor him with their actions and send this item to the ballot.

If you believe that government belongs to its people, and not the professional politicians or their special interest groups, then please join us at the public hearing at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Commission must let voters choose Lee’s electoral method

May-11 at 5:00-PM at Commission chambers, 2120 Main St

Request Lee County Voters sign the voter list, and give them one of the reminders for the hearing.

After each list is filled, and as soon as possible, mail it to the address on the form.

http://issue.homestead.com/files/SMD/smd-ballot-list-4.pdf

http://issue.homestead.com/files/SMD/smd-handout-May11.pdf

April-6 meeting transcript and video
http://www.lee-county.com/gov/bocc/Pages/2010Agenda.aspx

Permission To Advertise For Special Hearing At 5:00 May 11 To Consider Single Member District.
Administrative item 14-A-2 (transcript page 26)

Proposed Amendment for Ordinance No. 08-15
http://issue.homestead.com/files/SMD/Ordinance-08-15-SMD.pdf

Page-3
B. Beginning with the election held in 2012, the Board of County Commissioners will be elected from single-member County Commissioner districts; the districts together covering the entire County and divided as nearly equalin population as practicable. Each Commissioner will be nominated and elected only by the qualified electors who reside in the same County Commission district as the Commissioner. The election, term of office,and compensation of board members will be in accordance with general law.

The News-Press Editorial —  April 3, 2010

In a charter county, such as Lee, voters should decide the basic shape of their county government. That’s the point of having the charter.

On Tuesday, Lee County commissioners will decide whether to give voters the chance to make such a decision, specifically on the way county commissioners themselves are elected. If they refuse to put this issue on the ballot, as they have in the past, then Gov. Charlie Crist’s choice to fill the vacancy left by the recent death of Commissioner Bob Janes becomes crucial.

Reformers want to change from the current at-large system, under which all five commissioners are voted on countywide, to a single-member district system. Under single-member districts, each commissioner is elected only by voters in his or her district. Janes had decided not long before his death to support a referendum on the issue. That made it 3-2 on the commission in favor of letting the people vote. Janes’ death raises the possibility of a 2-2 deadlock Tuesday.

The change is a good idea primarily because it would increase commissioners’ accountability to the area they come from, and give those communities better representation on the board of commissioners. In 12 of 30 contested commission elections between 1980 and 2006, the winning commission candidates failed to get a majority in their own districts, but won anyway on the countywide vote.

In an era of weakened trust in government, when government closest to the people has the best chance of re-establishing that trust, single-member districts make sense.

But the fundamental point is that this issue should be decided by the people; commissioners should put the matter on the November ballot for that reason above all.

If commissioners do the right thing Tuesday, a public hearing on the referendum follows May 11. If they do not, then Crist must be urged to appoint a commissioner who will preserve Janes’ intention to honor charter government.

Let commissioners and the governor know how you feel on this matter.

==============================================

• What: Lee County commissioners meeting

• When: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday

• Where: Commission Chambers, Old Courthouse, 2120 Main St., Fort Myers

CONTACT YOU LEE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

• District 1, vacant

• Brian Bigelow, District 2 — 533-2227 — Dist2@leegov.com

• Ray Judah, District 3 — 533-2223 — Dist3@leegov.com

• Tammy Hall, District 4 — 533-2226 — Dist4@leegov.com

• Frank Mann, District 5 —  533-2225 — Dist5@leegov.com

County • Fax: 485-2143

• Gov. Charlie Crist —  850-488-4441 —  Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com

The issue was all but settled.

In November, Lee County Commissioner Bob Janes threw his support behind an initiative to change the way Lee County residents vote for their commissioners. After standing against the effort in 2008 to change from at-large to single-member voting districts in Lee County, Janes switched positions.

It seemed as though the Lee County Board of Commissioners had the 3-2 majority it needed to place the issue on the ballot, and to let Lee County’s voters decide for themselves how to elect their representatives.

When Janes passed away March 10, the issue was again thrown in the air.

“That swing vote is very, very important, and it’s not there,” said Joe D’Alessandro, a Fort Myers resident and retired state attorney who has long supported single-member districts. “Obviously, if they still have some voting to do, there’s probably going to be a two-two split.”

In an at-large district, voters throughout the entire county can elect commissioners regardless of what district they represent. In single-member districts, only voters within a district can elect a candidate to serve that district.

Commissioners are set for a vote on the issue April 6. If a majority of commissioners vote yes, the issue moves to a public hearing, currently scheduled for 5 p.m., May 11. The Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office would have to get the order to place the item on the ballot by July 1, and the board can keep discussing the issue until the 11th hour — as long as it holds a regular vote, and a public hearing on the issue with at least seven days’ notice to the public.

In the intervening time, the bi-partisan political action committee fighting for the ballot initiative plans to keep holding town hall-style meetings to discuss the change with voters. At a meeting Friday afternoon, The Coalition for Common-Sense Government decided to keep moving forward with the effort because they saw it as a wish of Janes’, who publicly expressed concern that residents might not be informed enough about the ramifications of a change.

“At this point, what we will do is pursue it via the Board of County Commissioners, and hope that the governor appoints somebody soon,” said Ray Rodrigues, chair of the coalition, and vice-chair of the Lee County Republican Party.

And for good reason.

Rodrigues’ committee figured out on Friday it is too late to get the initiative on the ballot in 2010 via petition. The committee is made up of Republicans and Democrats alike, as well as representatives of the Lee County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The only other way to get an initiative on the ballot — other than by petition or a vote of commissioners — is by a recommendation of the Charter Review Committee. That committee met for more than a year between 2007 and 2008, and after lengthy discussions, failed to secure the two-thirds vote it needed to pass the recommendation on to commissioners.

Lee County was once a single-member district county but decades ago voters changed to a system where every resident of the county can vote for each of five commissioners. Proponents of a single-member system say it creates a body that is more representative of its constituents.

“I lived under it as single-member districts,” said D’Alessandro, who cannot remember the exact year of the change. “There was a lot of problems as the community grew; there were concerns with it. I think we’ve just gone full-circle. The area’s gotten so big, (voters) feel they don’t have a voice with any commissioner.”

But Bonita Springs Mayor Ben Nelson, who said he has no strong opinion on the issue, said it seems to be a case of the grass being greener on the other side. Bonita Springs elects its council members through single-member districts, the very model some in Lee County want to move toward.

“Depending on the situation you’re in — it’s just an observation — it seems like everybody wants what they don’t have,” Nelson said. “You know what, I could argue both sides of this issue really easily. There’s a lot of different ways you can do government.”

Even those closest to the vote seem unsure of what happens next. If Crist does not move quickly enough to appoint someone to fill Janes’ seat, the single-member district initiative may not see its way onto the ballot this year. If Crist does appoint someone in time, their vote will likely be the deciding factor in a debate that has aggravated Lee County politics for the past half-decade.

“It will be interesting to see how this all comes down,” said Commissioner Frank Mann, who supports placing the issue on the ballot, along with Commissioner Brian Bigelow. “Whether the other two will, in honor of (Janes’) memory, perhaps, themselves change and put it on the ballot, or see whether the next appointee by the governor changes it.”

Connect with reporter Leslie Williams Hale at naplesnews.com/staff/leslie_hale

March-16 News-Press Editorial

The death of Lee County Commissioner Bob Janes was a great loss to Lee County, but Gov. Charlie Crist can do at least one thing to preserve Janes’ fine legacy.

Next month, commissioners will decide whether to give Lee County voters the opportunity to change the way commissioners are elected. Reformers want to switch from the current at-large voting system, under which all five commissioners are voted on countywide, to a single-member district system. Under the single-member districts, each commissioner is elected only by voters in his or her district.

We favor the change because it would increase commissioners’ accountability to specific areas and give those communities better representation. In 12 of 30 contested commission elections between 1980 and 2006, the winning commission candidates failed to get a majority in their own districts.

Earlier this year, Janes switched his position from opposed to putting the issue on the ballot to favoring the referendum. That made it 3-2 in favor of letting the voters decide this constitutional issue, just the sort of thing charter government was designed to put on the ballot.

We understand that politics will play a big role in Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointment of a successor to Janes. But we believe this is one issue or principle, of letting the voters decide, that should be above partisan politics.

We hope county commissioners themselves will ask the governor to ensure that the appointee supports the referendum on single-member districts. Let these officials know how you feel.

Commissioners will vote next month on the single-member voting district issue.
Do you think it’s a good idea that commissioners represent single districts instead of the county at large?

75.5%     YES
19.2%     NO
05.3%    Don’t care