Hometown
Democracy files suit against the State of Florida
By
LESLEY BLACKNER
Published: 12 June 2008
FHD Press Release
FHD ASKS FEDERAL COURT TO DIRECT
STATE TO PLACE
THE HOMETOWN
DEMOCRACY AMENDMENT
ON THE
NOVEMBER 2008 BALLOT.
Today, Florida Hometown Democracy,
Inc. together with individual supporters, filed suit in the Southern
District of Florida, seeking ballot placement for the Florida Hometown
Democracy citizens’ initiative in the November 2008 election.
Florida Hometown Democracy is the
sponsor of a citizens’ initiative to amend the Florida Constitution.
The proposed amendment will establish that changes to
comprehensive land use plans approved by city and commissions must be
submitted to referendum for final approval or rejection by voters.
Hometown Democracy is a response to decades of
uncontrolled development that cares nothing for the long term health
and sustainability of communities, Florida ’s unique environmental
heritage or the quality of life of Floridians. Voters
must have the final say over changes to their local growth plans
because they are the ones who must live with the consequences.
Over 820,000 Floridians signed the
Hometown Democracy petition to place the initiative on the November
2008 ballot. The Florida Division of
Elections website currently posts 595,368 valid petition
signatures.
However,
numerous actions by the Florida Division of Elections and opponents of
Hometown Democracy blocked Hometown Democracy from having its ballot
position certified, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments
of the United States Constitution. The suit asks
the federal court to examine and overturn these actions, and place
Hometown Democracy on the November 2008 ballot.
The suit asserts that that the
State’s recent rollback of the citizen petition filing deadline to
February 1st violates the U.S. constitution because 1) it
serves no legitimate state interest; 2) it differs from the
certification deadlines imposed on other methods for amending the
Florida constitution; 3) it interferes with Floridians’ rights to associate
with others for the advancement of their political beliefs; and 4) it
interferes with Floridians rights to cast their votes effectively. The suit further asserts that the state
acted unconstitutionally because many of the state’s 67 supervisors of
elections used all manner of varying petition validation criteria that
depart from state law to unlawfully reject tens of thousands of
Hometown Democracy petitions. Indeed,
whether or not a petition was accepted or rejected often depended on to
which county the petition was submitted. The suit
also asserts that the state’s recent adoption of an anti-initiative
statute, which gives commercial establishments the right to permit or
exclude initiative petitioning as they see fit, is patently
unconstitutional.
Hometown Democracy has retained noted ballot access
attorney Gary Sinowski of New York City as its lead counsel.
For about 30 years, Mr. Sinowski has successfully
challenged unconstitutional restrictions on ballot access throughout
the United States . Plaintiffs look forward to a
swift resolution of this important constitutional case.
Hometown Democracy President Lesley Blackner urged all
supporters to continue to send donations, petitions, and continue to
talk with their fellow Floridians about this important amendment.
She stated, “After a careful post mortem of what happened
to Hometown Democracy, we are compelled to take this matter to federal
court. The State’s constant war against the
citizens’ right to amend their own constitution must stop. The
way our petitions were treated is Bush v. Gore all over again.
Fortunately, we the people have the United States
Constitution on our side. We look forward to a
complete exposé of the tactics employed to deny us of our
constitutional rights and a swift vindication in court. We
fully expect to be on the November ballot.”
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Lesley Blackner: 866-779-5513
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