Archive Citizens for quality Government

September 29, 2006

Citizens for Quality Government:

Limiting voters’ choices?

By Ed Martin

    Why did you choose Venice for a home?

    Was it the small-town charm, the beaches and parks, the pleasant scale of homes and shops? Are you concerned about the rampant growth, 75- to 105-foot heights, crowded roads and depleted natural resources?

    If you want government to reflect your values, there will have to be changes in the behavior of council members and in the political action committee/political machine Citizens for Quality Government.

    Among CQG’s philosophical, financial and administrative leaders is E.G. Boone, whose law firm represents developers who have: received annexation approval from the city; received changes in planning and zoning that allow dense growth; received exceptions that allowed them to build 105-foot towers in the downtown area; and are currently planning to build thousands of units off Laurel Road.

    Millions of dollars are involved, and each member of the current council has received funding and/or political support from the PAC. But that may not be the most worrisome part.

    The presence of the CQG has had a chilling effect on potential candidates, robbing the public of a chance to hear debate and make choices.

Hand-picked?

    Two council members expressed strong interest in the running for mayor. Behind the scenes CGQ members played a critical role in the choices made.

    The candidates were discouraged from running against each other because to do so would require both to resign, opening a position for a possible outsider.

    The nomination of Fred Hammett as vice mayor by council member John Simmonds seemed to some members to reflect a CQG preference. Both candidates discussed their wishes with CQG leaders and had supporters.

    At this point the process gets fuzzier. One story is that CQG favored Hammett, another that no decision was officially made, but the other interested party withdrew because he got no assurance of support.

    The bottom line is that when people want to run for council they feel they need CQG support. The citizens wind up with a process negotiated and perhaps decided behind closed doors

    Simmonds and C.J. Fishman have written Gondolier Sun articles saying that CQG simply wants to get good candidates and had to be formed because only poor candidates or none at all were available.

    When Calamaras resigned, interested parties were invited to indicate their interest in an interim appointment to council.

    Jim Leis, who has served on a variety of city boards announced his interest. Leis had been a candidate for council in 2003, losing to John Moore, who had CQG support. Calamaras told Leis he would make a good future candidate but needed experience on city commissions and boards.

    Leis took that advice and has served on committees charged with monitoring the city’s $10 million bond program and a special tax fund. He currently is on the airport advisory committee and has just completed another significant committee assignment — recommending changes in the city’s charter that will be on the November ballot. Earlier he served on the board which studied and recommended increased salaries for the mayor and council, (citizens approved the recommendation.)

    In addition to Leis, Diana Mier, chair of the Municipal Code Enforcement Board, who also served on the charter panel and who had been appointed to fill a two-month vacancy on the council in 2003, indicated interest in the position, as did Mike Gelormino, a previous candidate for council who serves on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board.

    With these three presumably qualified people interested in the position, there was no shortage of reasonable candidates.

    Despite the CQG position that its concern is only the lack of qualified candidates, as soon as Jim Woods’ name was added to the list, the other candidates knew they had no chance — the mark of the CQG was on his sudden appearance. (Boone would ask a sitting council member to nominate Woods, who has served on no city boards or commissions.)

    Mier said to Leis and to a group including me, “This is fixed,” and said she would withdraw. Leis waited for the council decision although he knew what it would be. Despite has lack of previous involvement in city affairs, Woods was named by council, as Mier predicted.

    This is not meant to denigrate Woods.

    He, like the others, is presumably qualified, although I do wonder if the tie between Boone’s involvement and the council naming him caused him to think about the process.

    That is how Venice politics under the CQG works. Do you want to change it?

    I asked Leis why he did not run this fall against Woods or Simmonds. He said he felt that the CQG would spend more money on its candidates than he could raise without the bigger gifts that developers and the Boones and their associates contribute. He is considering running next year.

Opportunity for change

    If you would prefer to see elections in Venice that were not dominated by CQG special interest money and where qualified citizens could run for council with a reasonable prospect of winning, you can help break the CQG machine by fighting the uncontrolled-growth lobby in upcoming elections this year and next year.

    In the recent primary for Sarasota county commissioner, Joe Barbetta, an environmentalist supporting reasonable growth, won over vigorous opposition from developers. Is this a trend that Venice voters will follow, or will CQG/development money continue to dominate Venice elections.

    There are CQG members not moved by money or power who are expressing some independent views.

    Ed Martin, a full-time resident of Venice since 1994, is active in community affairs; serves on the board of a science-related Fortune 500 company; taught public policy at Harvard and Columbia Universities; and worked for the Congress and executive branch in Washington. He can be contacted at:

ed@insideveniceflorida.com

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