A political committee urging voters to oppose two charter change proposals on the March 19 West Palm Beach ballot emerged last week.
But that’s not all. The committee backed by restaurateur Rodney Mayo, who ran an aborted campaign for mayor last year, announced that it is gathering signatures to put two charter changes of its own on the ballot.
Mayo wants voters to support creation of a city ethics commission and return to single-member districts, in which the city's five commissioners would be elected only by voters in a specific district.
A little background: The city is asking voters to extend the residency requirement for city commissioners to one year from six months and to keep any future mayor from engaging in outside employment, as Stet reported in September.
The measures have drawn little publicity as early voting began March 9. The measures are not mentioned on the city’s elections web page.
The city doesn’t post contributions to political committees on its website (as it does for contributions to candidates) but Mayo, who owns bars, restaurants and coffee shops under the Subculture brand, says he has provided most of the money to the new committee, Take Our City Back.
Yes, but: The committee plans to exist long after March 19 as it tries to secure about 4,500 signatures on petitions to add the ethics commission and single-member districts to a future West Palm Beach ballot, Mayo announced last week at an organizational meeting attended by about 40 residents.
He said the city needs an independent ethics commission because its ethics officer does nothing. Commissioners would be appointed by the chief judge of the 15th Judicial Circuit, the state attorney, the public defender, the Urban League of Palm Beach County and the president of Florida Atlantic University. The city would pay the commission’s bills.
The proposal is modeled on a similar ethics commission in Tallahassee. It’s also similar to the existing Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics, which is empowered to weigh in on city matters.
Of note: The state Legislature passed a bill last weekthat critics say kneecaps ethics commissions by blocking them from investigating anonymous complaints or issues raised in news stories.
Single-member districts: The change would reduce the cost of campaigns, encouraging more candidates to run, Mayo said. It also would reduce the power of the city’s western communities, which often vote as a bloc, he said. That gives them an outsized role in deciding all five seats, not just their own.
Matthew Luciano, who is running against City Commissioner Christina Lambert, said at the organizational meeting that he is not allowed to speak in some gated western communities, making it difficult to win voter support.
The city enacted single-member districts in 1995 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by black residents who said at-large voting discriminated against them.
Yes, but: After a change in Supreme Court precedent, a political committee called Back to Five petitioned to put at-large elections on the March 1997 ballot. By a three-to-one measure, city voters switched back to at-large voting.
Opponents said they wanted to have a say in electing all five commissioners so they all would be responsive to them.
Proponents say it assures each district a commissioner committed to their needs and cuts campaign costs by reducing the size of the voting audience.
This story was originally published by Stet Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
