Class Dismissed

Matt Bullard had a wonderful idea.

As he has for several years, the Wewahitchka High School teacher came up with a novel approach for a classroom lesson, this one about how best to petition government for change.

The product was a petition drive to compel the county commissioners to place on next year’s ballot a straightforward question: do voters wish to unify under the Central Time zone?

The engagement his students felt was reflected in the 1,400-plus signatures they procured and in their steadfast belief, as reported in this paper when the project was underway, that people can change government.

Disconnect is the form of government.

Assessing the reaction of commissioners when Mr. Bullard presented his petitions at recent commission meeting, the more appropriate statement might be “change some governments.”

Commissioners whose districts currently sit in Central Time, well, bring on the voice of the people.

What could possibly be wrong with hearing what the people think, measuring that old pulse of the people?

Of course, these commissioners are also the most adept at pronouncing the patient ill or deceased when the pulse is not to their liking.

In 2004 there was a little non-binding referendum on something called county-wide voting, commissioners may remember those halcyon days. When given a voice, nearly seven in 10 voters who turned out, and in a number equal to nearly 50 percent of all registered county voters, were heard to be shouting “county-wide voting.”

Every district, every precinct but one, all cheered for an end to single-member districts.

Three commissioners have turned a deaf ear to those pleas for five years, save on the special moments when the subject provides political expediency and cover.

In hindsight, the bit of theater four or so years ago to oust the chairman over his opposition to county-wide voting seems more a shot across the bow – a warning to stay the course of status quo – than an attempt to advance the voters’ voice.

The episode – the second act of which was when a roomful of constituents of the chairman, the third vote in the power troika that lords over the county, showed up in his defense at the ensuing meeting – in the rearview mirror seems a mix of hubris and hypocrisy.

And while the commissioners of the north end were championing an immediate drafting of ballot language two weeks ago – which commissioners did in the end – commissioners whose districts sit in the Eastern Time zone were trying to dilute the effort.

Couldn’t there be a multiple option? Could we not change, effectively, the petition, render the effort moot?

And the question of the county’s standing to impact change is debatable and the facilitator of change, state legislative measure or a federal decree from Congress or an agency is also an unknown.

Even though this exact question was asked in 2004, when commissioners decided at the deadline for ballot language to leave a time zone question off. There was no taxpayer funded research on the issue?

Herein is the schism between a class project, no matter how intentioned, and how this county government currently behaves.

The time zone is, as one commissioner put it, a tough nut and a highly parochial issue in the county.

That is reflected in five representatives of the county who can not come close to a consensus on something as trivial as short-term courthouse maintenance goals, let alone something as crazy as long-term financial planning.

And it is reflected in a county held hostage by three men who not only treat every referendum as non-binding, but who find any convenient excuse to turn a blind eye to referendum results that do not curry their favor.
      So, Mr. Bullard had a wonderful idea, he is an asset to this school system. His students were engaged, energetic, determined.

All should be applauded for their efforts and support of the project.

Unfortunately, one has to dig a bit deeper to find the rotting core underlying the polarization Mr. Bullard and the students spoke of in deciding to move ahead with the project.

That is a Board of County Commissioners who, have established through their actions a sense of entitlement to disregard voters’ wishes, such as in 2004.

That entitlement also allows commissioners to spend public dollars as if on Las Vegas junket, to raise property and sales taxes at the drop of a hat, extend and compound debt and reduce spending only when the cash flow slows due to cratering property values.

That entitlement is derived from a system in which commissioners must face but 1 in 5 registered county voters, only a select number of which will actually vote.

Maybe the final addendum to Mr. Bullard’s lesson would be this: there are times when you can’t change the government until you can change the entirety of that government.

And changing the entirety involves a binding referendum – which voters, though only a certain number, have every two years.