Why the Lies about Amendment 4?

From the Martin County Defender
Al Forman, Editor

A false ballot – another propaganda lie by the anti-Amendment 4 special interests

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

One of the favorite lies incessantly repeated about Amendment 4 by the developer/business related financiers of the “Vote No on 4” campaign is that this amendment would require an avalanche of ballot questions – all too complicated for the peanut brains of voters. (They say it nicer, but that’s what they mean.)

None of those concoctions are true. Recently, land speculators and the commissioners to whom they contribute have tried to rush Comp Plan changes before the Nov. 2 vote. In previous years, there were on average fewer than five such changes per year across all Florida jurisdictions.

Furthermore, we believe that the collective intelligence and wisdom of voters is greater than the majority of commissioners. If you’re smart enough to choose a president, vote on imposing a new tax, and decide a defendant’s guilt or innocence after a long trial, you are also smart enough to judge whether a huge swath of agricultural land should be converted to industrial use.

n an attempt to scare residents into believing their big lie, developer-front organization, Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, has put together a 48-page sample ballot with hundreds of questions that voters in Orange City supposedly would have to vote on if Amendment 4 passes. Scary. This sample ballot has been distributed around the state, and was on a website before it was taken down.

The problem with this 48-page ballot is that there is no such ballot and never would be. The anti-Amendment 4 lobbyists have taken a conglomeration of changes made in different jurisdictions over different years and broken them apart as if they were separate ballot questions for one city. Here are a couple of examples:

“The proposed amendment requires the City to continue to seek and support activities directed at preservation of significant historical resources.

“The proposed amendment requires the City to continue to coordinate with Volusia County concerning recreational services.” Well, duh.

A person who would really know about the ballot is Debbie Renner, City Clerk for Orange City. She said that the ballot “is not a real ballot … [It was] generated with data obtained from Florida's Department of Community Affairs; they reflect the actual plan changes that took place in North Redington Beach, Pinellas County and Orange City, Volusia County." Some supposed ballot questions go back before 2006.

Comp Plan changes are made by commissioners voting on an ordinance with many provisions. They do not vote on every little piece of it separately. And under Amendment 4, neither would voters. They would vote only on land use changes already approved by commissioners. One ordinance, one vote – not a 48-page jumble.

Don’t let the slick money over-development bunch scare or mislead you – not with a fake ballot or other phony claims. Amendment 4 gives residents a needed veto control over how their community grows.

VOTE YES on 4.