Tallahassee, FL Passes Ethics Reform Referendum

<p>This was a project that was helped by Represent.US and supported by citizen groups from right to left. I worked on the drafting of the referendum language. Here is today's press release from Represent.US: On Nov. 4th, 2014, voters in Tallahassee, Florida, made history by approving the first city Anti-Corruption Act in the United States by an overwhelming 2 – 1 margin. A small but dedicated group of progressives, conservatives, and independents put aside their differences to wage a historic battle against corruption in their community, and they won. They weren’t afraid to call the money pouring into our political system what it is: corruption. They went all in with comprehensive reforms instead of settling for half measures. And they did it all by sidestepping entrenched politicians and putting a citizen initiative directly on the ballot — no politicians required, just we, the People. and the Tallahassee Democrat: Voters overwhelmingly approved sweeping new ethics and campaign-finance measures for the city of Tallahassee — an outcome that was no surprise to many political observers. Yes votes for the city charter amendment were leading late Tuesday night. With 76 of 76 precincts reporting, unofficial results were: Yes: 38,968 votes, 67 percent yes No: 19,431 votes, 33 percent no</p>

<p>See a copy of the referendum in Word format attached to this post.</p>

<p>The screenshot was taken from the opinion page on Jacksonville.com on December 5th, 2015:<br />
http://jacksonville.com/reason/frank-denton/2014-12-05/story/frank-dent…;

<p>In his OpEd piece, Mr Denton has quoted me:</p>

<blockquote>“To get all those disparate groups together and pass a referendum, five months from the idea to the ballot, with the court fight, and then to win, that’s exciting for an aging hippie like me, to see people get a little bit of hope that they can affect local government. Citizens actually rose up and said here’s what we want and fought for it."</blockquote>