SAVE joins other grassroots efforts fighting unpopular measures.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: July 17, 2024
Host: Activists and former officials formed a non-partisan group to fight a change in the way elections are run in the City of Venice. That’s not the only grassroots response to controversial policies coming out of Venice, as Ramon Lopez reports.
Ramon Lopez: A nonpartisan committee was launched this week to fight controversial initiatives on Venice’s November ballot. Members said it will make Venice City Council members less responsive to voters, and allow special interests to gain control of Venice City Hall.
SAVE stands for Save Annual Venice Elections. It was created by a small group of Venice voters concerned about changes proposed for the Venice City Charter. They are organizing to urge Venice residents to vote ‘no’ on a charter amendment question on the November ballot.
This past spring, sitting city council members voted in a tight 4–3 vote, to move ahead the proposed changes to the City Charter — this, despite strong public opposition. The revisions would eliminate annual elections and extend council member terms from three years to four years.
SAVE Chair Jackie Mineo says “keeping our 100-year-old tradition of yearly elections will ensure annual accountability by giving voters the choice of electing up to three new city council members each year.” The proposal would allow city council elections only in years when county, state and federal elections are also on the ballot. SAVE says city
council candidates would see their messages on local issues lost. And Mineo points out that three city council members who support the change would get to skip re-election campaigns next year, staying in office until 2026. She says making terms four years instead of three would entrench council members. Staffers say the change would save the city about $50,000 in election costs. Mineo says arguments about cost savings are empty when compared to losing “one of our most fundamental rights as Americans.”
Jackie Mineo: We feel that having these annual elections gives better accountability for the people we vote in. If you’re only voting every two years, you’re not keeping abreast of all the current things that are going on. And we just feel that the turnover is going to be sharp enough. And this new proposition they have, so they want the people to be in office for four years. Well, it’s three years now. I was echoing, how does that benefit us? The people of Venice? It doesn’t, it only benefits the people in office. They get a longer term and it just … it’s not good for the people and it’s only good for the candidates.
RL: Jackie Mineo believes SAVE will get its message across to the public.
JM: I am very optimistic and my optimism is seeded in the first few meetings that the council had, the number of people who showed up to support not having the change. It was incredible. So many people showed up. There were no letters in favor, no emails in favor, and no speakers in favor for the first couple of the first meeting. And when you ask, am I optimistic just based on that? I am. Yes. There are enough smart people in Venice who know what’s going on.
John Holic
RL: Former Venice Mayor and SAVE member John Holic says a City Charter Committee should have handled the issue. He said the city council “rushed through a process that would allow them to avoid facing the voters as often in the future.”
SAVE is among a number of new community organizations that have sprung up around Sarasota County. They are lobbying for citizen rights, protection of dwindling green space and clean political campaigns. Mineo is not surprised that county residents see the need for grassroots activism.
JM: They’re getting the feeling that their concerns when they bring them to councils are being ignored. And this is a reaction of being frustrated. And when you’re frustrated, you go somewhere else and you do something else. And that’s what you’re saying with these groups.
RL: Venice Thrives has brought back its Clean Campaign Pledge initiative for the upcoming Venice City Council election. It inspired a similar effort by Citizens for Sarasota County for contested county races. The idea is to get all candidates to conduct honest campaigns and not engage in character defamation of their rivals. They would also refuse support from so-called ‘dark money’ political action committees that do not disclose the origins of their funding.
CityPAC, a civic group formed to help elect and hold accountable candidates for the Sarasota City Commission, earlier this week held a panel discussion. Candidate Ron Kashden seeks to replace Mayor Liz Alpert. They were asked for their positions on accepting dark money.
Ron Kashden: And I also did take the pledge. I think that there’s a problem when you’re taking money for businesses that actually come before the commission. Even if you can hold that moral line, there’s a perception and there’s an expectation that it’s best to avoid it completely.
Liz Alpert: What I have done is, I’ve done it on a case by case basis. I have returned unsolicited contributions from people who I feel like it would, you know … I don’t want the appearance that there is any kind of quid pro quo or influence, and I’ve turned down as well, contributions from some developers and said, “I’m just not going to take it.” I mean, when somebody just goes online and donates to my campaign, and I haven’t asked them to and they do, well then, I have returned that. So I look at it on a case by case basis.
RL: This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
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