Term Limits Passes in a Landslide

Voters answered both Gardens’ ballot questions  with a resounding ‘YES”;  Question 1 received 79% of the vote and Question 2, 68%.  Read Tony Doris’ article in today’s paper for additional background.

Total votes cast back in the City’s March 2014 Municipal Elections was 7167.  (See Analysis post for more details) That was an unusually high turnout at 19% of registered voters.   7-12% turnout is more typical in the Municipals.  The winners’ margins of victory were measured in the hundreds.   When any of our council is elected or re-elected because there is no opponent, or by such low turnouts and close margins it is difficult to say any of them are there by a mandate.  That is not so much a reflection on the candidates as it is voter apathy during local elections, and one reason why we in PGBWatch want to foster citizen participation!

There is no doubt with numbers like those shown below, that a much larger portion of the City’s voters were paying attention.   This time, as in the vote for the Ethics and Inspector General Ordinances in 2010, the residents’ desires were loud and clear!

Martino: Special Interest Money against Term Limits in the Gardens

Is the Palm Beach Gardens term limits ballot initiative a referendum on the present City Council members, as some would say? I would answer, no, not really. However, in the final days before the November 4th election, evidence suggests I may be wrong. A slick piece of literature has showed up in my mailbox. It suggests that, maybe, the present City Council members would prefer to have the term limits ballot questions be about them.

On the City Council’s behalf the sham Political Pac, “Citizens to Protect the Gardens”, has reared its ugly head again, as it did in the March City Council election. During the City Council March election this Political Pac was fueled primarily with money from business oriented organizations and corporations, or as some would say, special interest money. So, speculation would suggest special interest monies are again flowing into Palm Beach Gardens to influence the November 4th term limits ballot questions.The special interest money, as it did in the March City Council election, is underwriting the status quo which equates to preserving the present City Council members.

Rationalizing and recognizing the “Citizens to Protect the Gardens” Political Pac special interest money, as well as, the messaging espoused by its literature and signs for what they are, undoubtedly, is the best course for the residents of Palm Beach Gardens. In my opinion, emphasizing the status quo as the primary argument against term limits, as the literature suggests, is a weak debate position to argue from. But usually, when special interests are happy with the status quo that is where their debate points begin and end.

I am not a Political Pac. However, as a 50 year Gardens resident and a former 20 year Mayor and City Council member, I can offer a reasoned voice to the term limit debate. I think it is reasonable to suggest that it is the height of arrogance for anyone to think and state that the members of the present City Council are the only answer to good leadership for our City. I will forgo all of my other discussion points to speak to some of what I will refer to as “actuals”. Some of these are…

* The “Father of our Country” and our first President, George Washington, self imposed term limits on himself after two terms, and went back to his farm.

* Barack Obama, our current President and the leader of the free world, is term limited.

* Governors, state legislators, county commissioners, local City Council representatives, accept term limits.

I have thought long and hard about the term limits ballot questions. I have home worked and analyzed both sides of the term limits debate. As a result, I am comfortable in saying that it is time for term limits for our City Council representatives.

I will be voting, YES, for both term limits ballot questions. That is my choice. Please make your choice. The term limits ballot questions are on the last page.

Please vote on Tuesday, November 4th.

Palm Beach Post Endorses Term Limits for Gardens Council

On Thursday October 9, the Palm Beach Post endorsed the Gardens term limits initiative which will appear on the fall ballot. You will find the two questions (term limits and making them apply to current council members) at the very end of the three page ballot when you vote.

2014 Council Election Results – An Analysis

The 2014 municipal elections in Palm Beach Gardens generated a lot of interest – a full 19% of registered voters participated, compared to a more typical 10%.

Congratulations to the winners – incumbents Eric Jablin and Marcie Tinsley.

Group 3

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In group 3, 22 year incumbent Eric Jablin was outspent by challenger Michael Peragine, who ran more TV and radio ads. Both candidates did a prodigious direct mail campaign with flyers piling up in mailboxes as the election approached. In the end though, it came down to turning out the vote, and Jablin prevailed, winning by 151 votes (1.9%), with 51.1% of the vote.

Peragine dominated the precincts from NW to SE along I95 by large margins, particularly in the area of the proposed stadium and in his home precinct of Mirabella. Jablin Captured the larger precincts that have traditionally gone for the incumbent – BallenIsles, PGA National, and Frenchman’s (Reserve and Creek). BallenIsles alone delivered 784 votes for Jablin (22% of his total) and saw their turnout increase to 43%, compared to 32% last year.

Turnout was up in most precincts, as the challengers sought out new voters. Precinct 1246 for example, which includes Bent Tree, Old Palm and Shady Lakes turned out 22%, up from 6% last year, and delivered 418 votes for Peragine, 87% of their total. If the relative voter turnout among precincts had been similar to last year, Jablin would have won by a larger margin, 54% to 46%.

Not coincidentally, the two precincts with the biggest increase in voter participation were the home precincts of challengers Robin Deaton (Bent Tree and surroundings – up 267%) and Michael Peragine (Mirabella – up 190%).

Group 3
Strong Jablin	Weak Jablin	Very Close	Weak Peragine	Strong Peragine
Click the precinct on the map for vote totals.

Group 5

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In group 5, three year incumbent Marcie Tinsley turned back a challenge from stadium opponent and Bent Tree resident Robin Deaton. Much less money was spent on this race compared to group 3, and in addition to a smaller direct mail campaign, the challenger depended on a network of volunteers to reach and turn out voters. At the end of the day, Tinsley prevailed by 617 votes (9.2%), 54.6% to 45.4%.

In her home area of Bent Tree and the neighborhoods around the stadium, Deaton turned out 22% of her precinct and won 87% of them. She was also strong in precinct 1190 (The Isles, Paloma and San Michelle). In other areas she was probably hampered by lack of name recognition. Tinsley captured 79% of her home precinct of Evergreene (15% turnout) and was strong in the incumbent friendly areas of BallenIsles, PGA and Frenchman’s.

Group 5
Strong Tinsley	Weak Tinsley	Very Close	Weak Deaton	Strong Deaton
Click the precinct on the map for vote totals.

Tabular Results

Precinct	Reg	Cast	TO%	Jablin	Peragine	M3%	Deaton	Tinsley	M5%
1186	1460	423	29	91	329	22	210	161	43
1188	784	93	12	28	64	30	53	36	40
1190	2448	322	13	98	217	31	203	107	35
1192	1403	206	15	76	116	40	42	162	79
1194	1907	624	33	450	169	73	153	443	74
1238	1571	426	27	210	215	49	177	212	54
1240	2413	555	23	345	206	63	197	310	61
1242	2392	699	29	470	223	68	212	386	65
1244	1454	355	24	207	142	59	140	187	57
1246	2209	494	22	67	418	14	424	62	13
1248	1415	295	21	91	201	31	162	127	44
1250	65	15	23	12	3	80	1	14	93
1252	2279	989	43	784	194	80	265	602	69
1254	435	65	15	39	26	60	23	41	64
1260	1262	194	15	57	132	30	97	95	49
1264	6	0	0	0	0		0	0
1266	450	9	2	5	4	56	4	5	56
1268	269	11	4	3	8	27	7	4	36
1270	8	0	0	0	0		0	0
1272	1843	233	13	83	148	36	113	115	50
1274	1564	198	13	82	115	42	94	102	52
1280	422	54	13	21	33	39	30	19	39
1284	2091	165	8	103	62	62	54	100	65
1288	40	11	28	5	6	45	6	5	45
1290	2076	211	10	82	129	39	103	104	50
1292	58	8	14	6	2	75	3	5	62
1296	626	27	4	13	13	50	13	12	48
1306	8	0	0	0	0		0	0
1310	4	0	0	0	0		0	0
1324	1237	85	7	26	58	31	45	38	46
1326	584	58	10	21	37	36	27	29	52
1340	10	1	10	1	0	100	0	1	100
1352	2031	223	11	94	128	42	106	105	50
1360	845	113	13	46	66	41	58	49	46
1372	138	5	4	2	3	40	2	3	60
TOTAL	37807	7167	19.0%	3618	3467	51.1%	3024	3641	54.6%

Incumbents hold seats with narrow victories

What is the Gardens Election About?

Palm Beach Gardens is a nice place to live. A collection of mostly upscale, private communities, surrounding a business core along PGA Boulevard that features the Gardens Mall, Downtown at the Gardens, and Legacy Place among others, it is green, attractive, safe and prosperous. Taxes are not too high, planning and zoning rules ensure that new development adheres to standards of attractiveness, and the economy is improving. City government has been fiscally responsible for the most part, and no officials have gone to jail recently.

Yet this year, two of the three council members up for election in March have drawn an opponent, a group is circulating a petition to enforce term limits on the incumbents, and large numbers of red-shirted protestors invaded the usually staid Council Meetings. Is there trouble in paradise?

It is easy to conclude that the proposal to place a large baseball stadium in close proximity to schools and quiet residential neighborhoods is the cause of the angst, or more specifically the way the proposal was managed. Backroom discussions between the team owners, county officials and the city were ongoing for over a year before the public became aware of it. A minor story in a Houston paper that quoted Astros Owner Jim Crane that the Palm Beach Gardens stadium was 95% complete and only needed a final vote by the City Council took many by surprise. What followed was a series of obfuscations and denials from city officials that went on long enough to generate a large and vocal opposition.

To many, the handling of the stadium proposal by City Manager Ron Ferris, and the reluctance of any of the sitting council members to disclose if they support it or not, showed arrogance and a distinct lack of transparency. Although restrictions do exist on divulging the content of confidential discussions related to economic development projects, once Jim Crane let the cat out of the bag the Council should have been more forthcoming.

So let’s stipulate that the stadium is a black eye for the current Council. But is this serious enough to threaten the seats of the two incumbents, Marcie Tinsley and Eric Jablin?

Incumbents rarely lose, unless they are tainted by major scandal, or voters perceive the government has gone off the rails in some way. In Palm Beach Gardens, there is no scandal that we know of, and most residents who are not actively involved with the city have little about which to complain. At least on the surface, the stadium is now a non-issue, as the Council has voted to terminate the project.

On the “typical” issues of taxes and the budget, economic development, the environment and growth, the candidates are really not very far apart.

So what is this election really about?

At PBG Watch, we strongly believe that no elected officials should get a free ride. It is good for our system of government when there are challengers, and since no official or group of officials is perfect, there are always shortcomings to criticize. After several years of observing Council meetings, we have seen a certain smugness from the dais. The mishandling of the stadium project suggested a lack of preparedness for hard questions, and the refusal to fully disclose the true status of the project is a symptom.

Over the past weeks, the candidates met the voters and each other in various meet & greets, forums (including ours on February 25), gave interviews to the media, sent many pieces of mail, and otherwise got out their message. They used many different issues to differentiate themselves from each other and to educate the public on what is important.

In our view, the Council’s biggest area for improvement is in transparency and respect for due process. Listed below are several actions taken by the current Council that could have been handled better. This election, in our view, is really about these things, and whether the voters will decide that a change is needed. Hopefully, we will have a more open and responsive council going forward, whoever wins.

The following are some past council actions that we hope will be considered by the voters as the make their choice on March 11:

• While details of the stadium proposal were being suppressed, the Council moved ahead on Ordinance 16 and 19 – which eliminate the “uplands setaside” provisions for land owned by a government. While staff denies that it was introduced specifically for the stadium project, they do admit that not having it would make the stadium harder.
• The Waste Management contract was renewed for 5 years without going out for bids. This was done a year ahead of schedule, added to the Council agenda a month before it had been advertised, not included in the printed agenda at the meeting, and voted on near 11:00pm when most of the meeting attendees had left. Inspector General Sheryl Steckler admitted the action did not violate the letter of the law, but it should not have been done this way. When Delray Beach did this, new Councilmen were elected who then moved to void the contract after the fact.
• When the Inspector General Ordinance that extended jurisdiction over the city was passed by 72% of the voters in 2010, the Council and staff moved quickly to add definitions of “waste, fraud and abuse” to the city code with the effect of obstructing the jurisdiction of the IG over city business. Similar definitions had been proposed and rejected by the county ordinance drafting committee.
• When West Palm Beach brought suit against the county, objecting to the ordinance requirement to pay for the Office of Inspector General, our Council voted 5-0 (again late at night) to join the lawsuit and withhold payment for the OIG. The net effect is to limit the investigative power of the OIG by constraining staffing.
• When the City Attorney determined that the City Charter was in conflict with state statutes, the Council directed him to create a ballot question for the 2012 election. Rather than introduce individual changes to the charter, the entire document was scrapped and re-written from scratch, without convening a charter review committee or drawing from the work of the previous committee report, and public comments were entertained only after the fact. The first iteration contained an “incumbent protection” provision that eliminated runoff elections for city council when a race contained 3 or more candidates and no majority is attained. That provision was dropped only after significant public opposition. The ballot amendment was defeated by the voters and the existing charter still stands.

Have the challengers, Robin Deaton and Michael Peragine made their case for change on these issues? Have the incumbents, Marcie Tinsley and Eric Jablin offered explanations that are acceptable to the voters? We will find out on March 11.

Council Candidate Forum Synopsis

On February 25, PBG Watch, along with the South Florida 912 and the Palm Beach County Tea Party, Taxpayer Action Board, the Palm Beach Gardens Residents Coalition, and the Republican Club of the Northern Palm Beaches hosted a candidate forum for the City Council election. In Group 3, Vice Mayor Eric Jablin was invited and initally indicated his participation, but he would not return our calls for confirmation and ultimately decided not to attend. Despite the empty chair, his opponent Michael Peragine, was able to contrast his views with Mr. Jablin’s and should give you an idea of where they stand.

In Group 5, Councilwoman Marcie Tinsley and challenger Robin Deaton filled out the slate.

Moderated by Dennis Lipp, former Vice-Mayor of Loxahatchee Groves and a member of the County Planning Commission, the candidates were asked a set of questions about current issues facing our city, some of which proved to offer a real choice between the candidates.

Present for the forum (and keeping them honest) was former Councilman and now County Commissioner Hal Valeche, and Gardens Mayor Bert Premuroso, along with former Commissioner Karen Marcus and former Mayor Mike Martino.

The meeting was kicked off by PBGWatch Organizer Fred Scheibl, who introduced the leaders of the other sponsoring groups including Shannon Armstrong, founder of South Florida 912, Mel Grossman, President of Palm Beach County Tea Party, Kevin Easton, President of Palm Beach Gardens Resident’s Coalition, and Iris Scheibl, co-founder of the Taxpayer Action Board (TAB), PBC Tea Party and PBG Watch. Timekeeping duties were performed by Barbara Grossman.

The event was well-attended with all seats taken and the library’s large room filled to capacity with standing room only. See Council’s procedures come under fire at forum for the Palm Beach Post article on the event.

Below you will find a summary of the event, with the questions that were asked, and a link to a video of that section of the forum.

PBG Candidate Forum – Video

Last evening, 2/25, PBGWatch co-sponsored a council candidate forum along with PBG Resident’s Coalition, PBC Tea Party, South Florida 912, and the Republican Club of the Northern Palm Beaches.

Although 22 year councilman and current Vice-Mayor Eric Jablin was invited and initally indicated his participation, he would not return our calls for confirmation and ulitmately decided not to attend. Despite the empty chair, his opponent Michael Peragine, was able to contrast his views with Mr. Jablin’s and should give you an idea of where they stand.

Thank you to Councilwoman Marcie Tinsley and candidates Robin Deaton and Michael Peragine for participating and for giving us their in-depth view on the issues that are important to the city in the coming years.

The event was well-attended with all seats taken and the library’s large room filled to capacity with standing room only. See Council’s procedures come under fire at forum for the Palm Beach Post article on the event.

In the coming days we will publish the questions that were asked and a synopsis of the answers. In the meantime, please enjoy the video of the event prepared by Steve Tarr.

[youtube 1STaDwJ_G3Y]

PBGWatch Co-Hosts Forum for 2014 Council Candidates

Full Slate to Oppose Sitting Council Members

Palm Beach Gardens elections in recent years have been predictable affairs. Because of the power they wield over businesses and residents alike, the incumbents have an enormous advantage. Campaign contributions, access to supporters in the gated communities, endorsements by other insiders – these advantages are sufficiently daunting to discourage challenges or weaken opponents that do come forward.

In 2013, Joe Russo was unopposed for re-election, as were Marcie Tinsley and Bert Premuroso in 2011. Eric Jablin and David Levy both drew challengers, but the built-in advantage of incumbency and name recognition helped them win with comfortable margins of 63% and 57% respectively. Low turnouts, combined with the concentration of voters in a few precincts, make the contests an insiders game. BallenIsles alone, with 6% of the registered voters accounted for 17% of the votes cast – and 79% went to the incumbent in 2013, 94% in 2011.

2014 is shaping up to be a wholly different matter. While there are other issues, the secretive and somewhat arrogant way the city (both staff and council) has approached the stadium proposal is provoking a backlash against the current council. Challengers have emerged to run against all three of the incumbents, and it is likely that the organizing done in opposition to the stadium location will change the dynamics.

In group 1, current Mayor and two term councilman Bert Premuroso is facing Kevin Easton, president of the PBG Neighborhood Coalition and 2011 council candidate. Mr. Easton is a Pratt & Whitney retiree, active in many community organizations, and a regular participant in the monthly council meetings. As a landowner in the 40th Street and Sunset area, he has organized his neighbors to push for infrastructure improvements in the neighborhood since it was annexed by the city. He opposed the communications tax and the rewriting of the city charter (which failed on the ballot in 2012), opposes the city’s involvement in the Inspector General lawsuit, and the way the stadium has been handled.

In group 3, Vice-Mayor and 21 year councilman Eric Jablin is opposed by Mirabella HOA president Michael Peragine. Mr. Peragine is a venture capitalist and owns a web-hosting firm. Opposed to the stadium location, he is responsible for the “movethestadium.com” website, and thinks the proposal has been mishandled by the city. His opponent, in office for 21 years, he feels is “out of touch” with the residents.

In group 5, newest council member Marcie Tinsley, elected in 2010 after the resignation of Jody Barnett, is faced by Bent Tree activist Robin Deaton. Ms. Deaton, an engineer with the South Florida Water Management District with a background in manufacturing engineering, environmental compliance and corporate finance, lives in Bent Tree near the site of the proposed stadium. In response to the perception that the city was moving forward with the stadium over the objections of her neighbors, she has been collecting petitions in opposition, and speaking at council meetings. She is unconditionally opposed to the proposed location for the stadium, and seeks more transparency on the council and effective oversight of city manager and staff.

Kevin Easton and Michael Peragine both sit on the board of “Palm Beach Gardens Needs Term Limits”, chaired by former council candidate James D’Loughy. The group seeks to put a term limits amendment on the November 2014 ballot.

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