 | Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached through this blog, at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or (850) 599-2177 |
I’m taking an informal survey: How many of you are in favor of allowing three people to select the person who might get to cast the deciding vote on whether to raise your taxes?
Anybody?
Apparently you are, because that’s what we have quietly allowed the Tallahassee City
Commission to do in picking a replacement for Allan Katz, who resigned.
I’m opposed to that and, though it might be whistling in the wind, I am outraged that the commission bypassed the process outlined in the city charter on how to replace Katz under the guise of saving the $350,000 or so that it would cost to conduct a special election. Twice if there’s a runoff.
I’m totally and completely – even, obviously, redundantly – outraged.
My reaction has nothing to do with the person selected; it is the changing of the process, the imposition of convenience over the charter, behavior that is analogous to a private club changing its membership rules, not a democratic governmental institution.
In one quick moment, the commission undid what soldiers die for: citizens’ right to vote.
Why would they do that?
This is even more outrageous than allowing the governor to select a member of the U.S. Senate who 99.9999 percent of Floridians had never heard of – unless they attended a Republican fundraiser – and wouldn’t know on sight if he were wearing a name tag.
The governor picked former Deputy Attorney General George LeMieux to serve the remainder of Sen. Mel Martinez's term upon Martinez's official resignation.
The governor said LeMieux, 40, Crist’s former chief of staff, “has the proven strength of character and record of leadership Floridians can trust will serve our state well in the coming months.”
More to the point: LeMieux can be trusted not to seek re-election so the governor, a declared candidate for the job, won’t face an incumbent in the next election. The Senate was meant for statesmen, not place holders.
That’s what politicians do when they get to decide who serves as the representative of the people; they pick the person who will be beholden to them, too.
But at least the governor followed the process the people decided on in creating the constitution. The commission changed the process on a dime. Or for a dime.
Look, democracy was never intended to be the cheapest form of government. It would be less expensive to pick all our commission members by a vote of the commission. The same is true with every office. Why bother with all that expense?
Voting is valuable. It is not something that is bought or sold at a flea market. I buy tooth paste on sale. I look for bargains on socks. I’ll even shop around for the best price on chicken legs or Thanksgiving turkey.
But my right to vote is not for sale, no matter what. Men and women have been willing to die to protect that right; taking it away is not something that we should take lightly.
With barely a whimper from the public, the commission did just that. It decided that it and not the people – as described in the charter – would select the person to replace Katz, who resigned in office.
In so doing, it rendered the charter a meaningless collection of gibberish, something that can be changed at the whim of the commission.
Why bother even with having a charter? It is supposed to provide an agreed upon framework in which the people tell government how much and what powers they will yield and how government should operate. It should not be changed willy-nilly, whether on selection of members, commissioners’ compensation or anything else of such importance.
Just as with Sen.-designee LeMieux, the person selected today has all the rights and powers of any other member of the commission.
Which is why you should be outraged that he or she is not answerable to you.
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