League of Women Voters of the Pensacola Bay Area

League Activities Review May 08 to April 09

The President’s Report of League Activities from May ’08 to April ’09 by Deborah Nelson

Last year was a Presidential election year, and that was the big focus right up to November 2. Our Voter Services Committee and volunteers met thorough the summer with Okaloosa League members to write questions for WSRE’s Candidate Rallies. That job is a lot harder than it looks – it takes a balance of background knowledge, subject area expertise, and good old fashioned research to come up with the kind of questions that really make candidates sweat. And sweat they do – one candidate actually told me he’s scared of the League of Women Voters – a comment I think we can take as a compliment.

Last election season, WSRE held forums in August and October, to grill candidates before the Primary and General Elections. During those rallies, political candidates are questioned on a gamut of issues – and needless to say, the better the questions, the more informative for voters the rallies are.

As longtime League members know, our League has been providing candidate questions for 20 years. Those questions give voters unbiased insight into each candidate, educate them on issues, and spotlight hot topics. WSRE’s Primary forum aired in August and the General Election forum in Oct. Thanks to the efforts of all who participated, we were once again able to offer incisive, relevant questions to put to candidates. Many of the issues covered, as well as the winning policymakers, will impact our community for years to come. We can all be proud of the role our League played in helping voters make informed choices at the polls last year. We received numerous phone calls and letters from rally organizers thanking us for the work we did to make those events happen, so thank you Janet deLorge, Betsy Bowers and all the volunteers who helped make this the most successful rally year to date.

In addition to candidate forum questions, our League participated in voter education activities throughout election season, and did some related work afterwards.

Constitutional amendments are always confusing for voters. This most recent election was no different, with seven amendments on the ballot. We had several very complex land-use amendments up for vote, as well as a controversial gay marriage proposal.

In the weeks before elections, League members worked on a variety of projects to help voters understand amendment ballot language and the implications of each proposal.

In September, I was privileged to represent the League on a PJC youth vote panel, where we discussed amendments and other elections topics – and most importantly, urged young people to get off their duffs and register to vote.

In October I again had the privilege of representing the League on WSRE TV, and on WRNE radio, to talk about amendments. Again, this was a chance to get the word out to the widest audience of voters possible.
Prior to elections, several League members participated in ACLU-cosponsored Amendment 2 training, to better discuss that topic, which the League opposed.

In the months before elections, our Voter Services Committee and volunteers visited numerous community groups to explain amendment language. From speaking to attendees, I think that work was widely appreciated, and helped many voters understand the often-sticky ballot amendment language. By election time, League volunteers had spoken to over 15 groups and hundreds of voters.

In addition to that, we fielded over 50 telephone requests for elections information, and distributed over 6,000 copies of a special election edition of the State League Voter.

I’m especially pleased to report that during elections season, our League worked with schools to provide copies of the U.S. League’s “Electing the President” information pamphlet to area schools.

After elections, our League worked with the Florida Voters Coalition on a post Election Audit project. We attended Escambia and Santa Rosa ballot count audit sessions, recorded our observations and insights, and forwarded those results to the Voters Coalition who are working to improve the process in future.

Program meetings

Elections were a big part of our year, and we can all be proud of the great community contribution our League made towards helping voters make informed choices at the polls.

On November 3, election season ended, but League work continued. Our monthly program meetings are a big part of our public face and one of our most educational functions. I’m pleased to report we hosted a full slate of interesting program speakers this past year.

One of the things that makes this such a great League is that we have members from all over the country, and from the local area—all are experts in a variety of fields.

League member Charlotte Crane is the former Business Editor at the News Journal and currently writes for Florida Trend Magazine. In September, we were fortunate to have Charlotte speak on prison reform – a subject she has researched and written on extensively. That meeting was not only most informative, but sparked one of the liveliest discussions we’ve had at a League forum.

In October, we put on two Amendment presentations to once again, help voters, including our members, work through complicated ballot amendment language.

In November, we hosted Susan Watson from the local ACLU Chapter, who spoke on
ex-felon rights restoration. This turned out to be the surprise hit of the season – we got numerous phone calls for information, and the meeting itself was especially well attended by non-League members. Some of those members of the community included former felons and family members seeking information. Those of us who are on the phone and Internet all day sometimes take for granted our comfort level with the process of tracking down information. This meeting really brought home how difficult it can be for some segments of the community to obtain basic information, or to even know where to start to look. In addition to offering an overview of the complicated issues surrounding convicted felons in Florida, our forum provided people who don’t always have access to good information a chance to get expert advice in one sitting.

In January, we once again got a chance to tap our pool of League expertise. Dr. Enid Sisskin, a UWF environmental professor and also a League member, presented an overview of offshore drilling. This also turned into a very lively discussion, with a member of the drilling community in attendance. Fortunately, Enid knows her stuff backwards and forwards, and in the end we all came away with a better understanding of an issue that is unfortunately, still very much at the forefront. We also came away secure in the knowledge that there is absolutely no oil industry talking point that Enid does not have a response to.

In February, we hosted Eva Peterson, an Escambia County Land Use Planner. Eva filled us in on Escambia’s Comprehensive Plan, and gave an update on local development. The comprehensive plan is the county’s blueprint for growth (or is supposed to be); and as such forms a basic guide for incoming roads, homes and other development. The meeting gave members and guests a great chance to ask all kinds of questions about that process. And because our membership has become very informed about land use issues through the years, the program sparked some great debate and discussion.

In March we held our Education Study meeting. I was very pleased to see our League complete a two year study that focused on a local topic. Barbara and the education committee volunteers really put a lot of effort into this project – it wasn’t always easy to get information from the schools, and then there was the task of organizing it and forming a solid conclusion from a whole slew of data. The resulting study highlights a key weakness in local grade tracking systems. We can all be proud of Barbara and our education committee volunteers for bringing that to the attention of schools authorities and the community in general. I would like to thank Barbara and each and every member of that committee for the tireless work they put into this project.

In April we completed our portion of the U. S. League’s National Popular Vote Compact consensus project. Kathy Kerr headed this project with a great team behind her. Doctors Rosemary Hays-Thomas, Don Freeman, and Elizabeth King all hail from academia – and along with Gloria Dawson and Committee volunteers, put their experience to the task of explaining this issue to the rest of us. Thanks to their research, League members got a solid grasp of this complex issue before the consensus meeting. The result was an in-depth and spirited discussion of our constitutional election process, and ways to deal with its shortcomings. In the end, our members largely decided the NPV Compact was not the way to correct those problems. But I don’t think we’ve heard the end of this issue – the League supports changing the constitution to get rid of the Electoral College and we’re sure to encounter the subject again in coming years. The Education and National Popular Vote were formal studies, but we have some other ongoing projects we’ve been working on this year, as well.

The Port of Pensacola has been in the news in recent months, with some people suggesting operations be phased out and the land developed. Port advocates, on the other hand, hold that the facility is viable and could grow and create jobs in coming years. To sort this all out and update the League’s position, Dian Parsley and our Port Committee spent the past year interviewing local experts and developing an overview of the Port’s current viability and its prospects for the future. This project was undertaken at the behest of our membership during last year’s annual meeting. It is ongoing, and by the time it’s finished, Dian and the Committee, and perhaps the rest of us, should be experts on the many nuances of this controversial issue.

The other big issue dominating Pensacola this year has been the City Council’s creation of a Charter Commission to study ways Pensacola government can be improved. Sharon Barnett has served as the League’s representative to monitor that process. The Charter Commission sort of snubbed the League by placing everybody in town; it seems, except Sharon, on the Committee. I guess they must have regretted that decision, because by the end of their initial study period, they decided to ask Sharon to write a background information “white paper” to help them move forward. Sharon completed that and submitted it to the Charter Commission at the end of October. She continues to keep an eye on Committee progress towards drafting a new City Charter. We can all be proud of the fact that the Commission did, in the end, look to the League to help sort out the messy issues they’ll have to contend with in writing a new government document. I’d like to thank Sharon for all her hard work this year making sure the League had a voice in this and other local government issues.

Also this year, our Natural Resources Committee wrote and distributed an informational brochure on Recycling. The League was able to put our Marjorie Hart Education Fund to good use on that project, which was distributed to area public libraries. So a big thank you to Mary Gutierrez and the Natural Resources Committee for all the work they continue to do to protect our local environment. Perhaps more than any other League institution, our Natural Resources folks are often times coming up against powerful developer and other special interests, and we’re very fortunate to have a core group of dedicated tree-huggers, as a Santa Rosa politician once termed them, to stick up for the environment where others often dare not tread.

In addition to those specific projects, League members have participated in a variety of venues throughout the year.

The Natural Resources Committee has been involved in ongoing efforts to monitor Escambia’s complex Comprehensive Planning process. Escambia’s comp plan has been years in the making, and through those years League members have been a fixture at the public meetings. As such, we have preserved a storehouse of community institutional knowledge, and created a civic continuity that perhaps might not exist without their efforts. Front and center in this process is former Escambia Commissioner Muriel Wagner. Muriel has worked on the Comp Plan since its inception many years ago. She brings a wealth of expertise to the process, including seven years experience in Escambia’s Board of Adjustments, and we look forward to ongoing Comp Plan updates in coming months and probably years.

On the City of Pensacola front, in August Sharon Barnett and I spoke before the Pensacola City Council to ask them to ensure Maritime Park Board meetings allowed public comment. The City Council did ultimately require them to do that, and the League remains committed to defending Sunshine Law throughout government.

Sharon and I again spoke at the City Council in February, to urge them to follow through on their own decision to hire a consultant for the City Charter Committee. After the meeting, the Council did indeed vote to hire their own consultant. That was instead of leaving it up to the Charter Committee, which could have created conflict of interest problems in an already politically charged environment.

On the academic front, last September, the League co-sponsored a UWF lecture on British and American Women’s suffrage. Betty Enfinger participated in the discussion with a bit of history on the League and its voter advocacy legacy.

This March, Enid Sisskin discussed historic female Environmentalists at the Federal Women’s Program lunch hosted by the Museum of Naval Education.

In April, the League once again participated in Earth Day activities at Bayview Park, and used the opportunity to distribute environmental and League information.

And just recently, Board members met with Scott Remington, who is advocating consolidation of Escambia County and city governments, to get a handle on that developing local issue.

Turning to the administrative front, we’ve made some significant improvements in the way the League operates this year. First and foremost, if you visit our website at LWVPBA.org, you’ll find a wealth of information, including studies and reports, are now just a click away, thanks to Susan Metzger, Betty Enfinger, Vivian Faircloth and the rest of our web team.

I’m also pleased to report that Bette Boddy has set up a League archive at the UWF Library, to store our documents for historical record. This is a sorely needed repository for those materials.

In the coming year, we can look forward to new social policy programs, including a forum on domestic violence, and partnering opportunities with other community groups. I’d like to thank Paula Montgomery for restarting and revitalizing the Social Policy committee, it is sorely needed in this community.

We’ll also be monitoring proposals to consolidate governments in Escambia. A recently passed bill specifies the League have a representative on the committee to study that issue, so it sounds like somebody in Tallahassee’s been paying attention to the work we’ve been doing here.

Unfortunately, State DCA and environmental budget cuts, and weakened oversight mean we’ll probably also have a whole new batch of Natural Resources issues to address in coming months.

Very often, League members are the only citizens other than perhaps the janitor who are present at government meetings. We will continue to be a government oversight presence in the coming year and welcome any and all volunteers for this very important job.

And so, in summary, League volunteers have lent their time and expertise to a wide range of community projects and issues over the past year. None of it would have been possible without the tireless dedication of the many members and volunteers who give so much of their time and energy. Everybody who participates in League brings something to the table that helps us do what we do. We should be proud of every person who contributes their time and expertise to League projects – from those who organize studies and review government actions to those who show up at government meetings and take notes.

I will say it again, very often, at government meetings where far-reaching policy is discussed and decided, League members are the only citizens present in the audience to keep an eye on things.

The League makes a difference, and in the coming year, we’ll do everything we can to continue our presence as citizens’ advocates for good government. Thank you.