10/20/2007: "Stacked Deck"

I thought it was a good idea to reserve the right of Referendum and Initiative in the Charter. With these tools the voters can theoretically keep the Council in check when they pass unpopular legislation. Now I am not so sure that this is going to work because the Council can stack the deck unfairly against the people.

First it is necessary to clear away the smokescreen of misinformation that surrounds our very first countywide referendum. Here it is in a nutshell. The Council can’t live within the legal limits of their budget. They take the maximum tax increases allowed by law each year yet they are perpetually short of cash. So they developed a sneaky storm water tax to create a big pool of money. Technically they can’t call it a tax so they called it a “fee for service”. The problem is nobody really gets any service for the fee. (Insert a wink here.)

As luck would have it an attentive and thoughtful citizen was watching this scheme unfold at the courthouse. She had the nerve to file a referendum questioning this storm water tax. That is when the big bloated buttocks of government sat upon and squished her.

When she crawled out from underneath the odious bulging mass she understood how difficult and expensive it would be to get this foul ordinance repealed. The County Council had used its considerable power to sue one innocent private citizen for filing this referendum. Her legal bills were about six thousand dollars. The deck was stacked against her.

When the public became outraged by this action the Council withdrew the lawsuit but they had already squashed this defenseless lady with the full weight of government. Their message was clear, “Don’t question our underhanded schemes to take your money and squander it in new and clever ways or you will pay.”

The County Council, now flush with funds from collecting this unfair tax, decided to stack the deck by spending our confiscated money to fund a campaign to support their unpopular ordinance. They have spent thousands of dollars to mail out slick brochures that obscure the issue and fill the trash bins.

If you actually read the Council’s campaign pamphlet you might get the false impression that the referendum is about clean water, protecting the shorelines, and preserving wildlife in the islands. Not true. It is about collecting more money for Public Works to fritter away.

The County Council can attempt to overpower the referendum by bringing lawsuits and at the same time using public money and personnel to mount a campaign of their own. In this way they will discourage the public from interfering with their decisions.
Whether you are in favor of rejecting this ordinance or not it is obvious that the deck is stacked against anyone who files a referendum. The only way this referendum process will be successful is if it forces the elected politicians to listen to the people. That is why I urge you to cast your vote to reject this unfair ordinance. If we reject it the Council has an obligation to go back and correct their mistakes.