Partisan Elections and OHPA: An Opinion

Submitted by Michael Harrison

April 4, 2016 6:10 a.m.

Note:  Slides presented in this Opinion were taken from a presentation Mr. Harrison made to the OHPA Charter Review Advisory Committee meeting on March 28, 2016.

The question of Partisan Elections is now back on the front-burner. It surrounds not only the race for School Superintendent, but it also was a topic at the Nassau County Ocean Highway and Port Authority (OHPA) Charter Review Advisory Committee (CRAC) meeting on Monday evening at Callahan.

FO readers will recall that I made three visits to the Florida Legislature a year ago to speak against the Adkins/Bean supported local bill to change the OHPA charter to legitimize Partisan elections. I was unsuccessful in stopping HB1201, but maybe my efforts contributed to the Legislative Delegation’s calling for a Citizen’s Charter Review Board to be established.

OHPA CRAC had placed Partisan vs Nonpartisan elections on the agenda for their March 28^th meeting, and I asked them to remove the requirement for partisan elections from the charter. In fact, I asked them to clear the charter ‘slate’ and assume that the original charter (silent on partisan elections) were their starting point. Would they then recommend that the charter be modified to restrict voting to ‘partisanal’, and if so, how would  they justify it?

CRAC gave me a good hearing and asked me questions which I will follow up on. There was then a lively committee discussion with ‘for’ arguments stressing the need for the increased community support of OHPA likely to come from unrestricted elections, and  ‘anti’ arguments divided between the need to ensure that OHPA commissioners are fiscal conservatives, and a belief that there is no problem except that Democrats do not run candidates for OHPA. My sense was that the CRAC members were expressing personal views, and that it would be valuable if they had input from members of the community. CRAC did not vote that evening.

I continue to believe that the imposition of Partisanship to the OHPA elections damages OHPA and stands in the way of the success of the Port of Fernandina. Whatever your view of the question, please contact the CRAC commissioners and let them know. (jlasserre@rtlaw.com; carifcahill@gmail.com; tpowell@pmsiofflorida.com; mstokes@timprep.com; sargeslawncare@comcast.net; santrylaw@gmail.com; dmartin@fbfl.org; lucianhb@comcast.net; HGraham281@aol.com; Karen@NassauFlorida.com; colin.campbell@westrock.com)

This is a special opportunity because it is most unlikely that any Partisan body (state or county, or OHPA itself) will change the election type – the majority will not cede power; the minority do not have the power. Since CRAC is not overtly partisan it is in a unique position to understand the problems with the election process, and act to eliminate one way of ‘fixing’ elections by removing the Partisan requirement.