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Local Leaders to fight 'Muzzle Law'
• Does SB 216 tie the hands of local government?
Tuesday,
June 16, 2009
Sweepingly approved by the Florida Senate and signed into law on June 10 by Governor Charlie Crist, Senate Bill 216, aka the “muzzle law,” is questionable as to how it’ll impact Florida cities like Margate.
The new law plainly states that Florida municipalities, such as Margate, can no longer use tax money for ballot campaigns. They can’t use public funds to buy ads in newspapers advocating for or against a particular ballot issue, nor can they use tax-supported media, like a city website, to convince you to vote one way or another.
“They can still go out and rally the troops,” said Florida Senator Charlie Justice. “It doesn’t lock them in their office.”
Running for Congress in 2010, Justice sponsored SB 216. He told MargateNews.net that his motivation behind the bill was twofold. First, he doesn’t believe its government’s place to convince the electorate to vote one way or another on ballot issues. Second, it allows voters to think for themselves, he said.
Margate City Commissioner, Pam Donovan says the bill may get in the way of Margate officials effectively representing voters; Margate Commissioner, Joe Varsallone said any bill that restricts freedom of speech is a bad bill. “Like most bills,” he said, “there are ways around it.”
Margate will most likely be one of many Florida cities writing resolutions in disapproval of the bill hoping to get it overturned next year, said Donovan.
A main objective of SB 216, said Justice, is to stop local governments from using pubic funds to advance campaign initiatives related to ballot items. Using tax dollars to inform voters on the pros and cons of a ballot issue is one thing, he said, but using taxpayer money to tell someone how to vote isn’t government’s job.
Florida State Representative, Jim Waldman voted against the bill, calling it one of this year’s “setbacks” at a recent Margate City Commission meeting. Other local officials across South Florida have decried the bill, declaring it tyrannical and in favor of special interest.
Justice disagrees. His position is that it protects the taxpayer from special interests by limiting the expenditures of tax dollars by elected officials whose constituency may disagree with their position on a ballot item.
“It doesn’t muzzle anybody like some reports have indicated,” Justice said. “It just keeps local governments honest in the way they inform the public.”
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