Charter Review Scam!

A citizen recommended limiting the terms of the Charter Review Board members to two terms.

A Review Board member suggested they limit it to three terms. That’s 18 years. This was a very crafty move against the people.

If the voters say yes, it means they agree to an 18-year term limit, basically no limit at all. If voters say no, then it would incorrectly appear they are against term limits.

This is a no-win situation for the people.

Another recommendation was to change the percentage of signatures required to initiate or repeal county ordinances from 10 percent to 5 percent. One board member argued that citizen’s initiatives have been historically impossible. There has been only one attempt in the history of the county at gathering the needed signatures. It failed. In 1986 you needed 5,279 signatures. This was never attained. You now need 12,003 calculated at 10 percent of the voters. At 7 percent, 8,400 petitions are required, 3,100 more than the previously impossible amount. Keep in mind you must pay a fee to the government for every petition. It’s 7 percent because they don’t want any citizens initiatives.

This Charter Review Board was stacked to stop any change, keep the government on its steady growth path and discourage citizen involvement.

There are still a few more chances for the people to get out and assert their will.

Dave Kesselring

Port Charlotte