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| PANHANDLE CITIZENS COALITION
(PCC) FILES BRIEF IN AIRPORT REFERENDUM CASE; SAYS ACTION BY BAY COUNTY
COMMISSION YESTERDAY DOES NOT MOOT CASE; REFERENDUM SCHEDULING IS PARTIAL
CITIZENS VICTORY, CRITICIZES PIP AND AGAIN CALLS ON PARTNERS IN
PROGRESS/BAY COUNTY FIRST (BCF/PIP)TO MAKE FULL DISCLOSURE OF THEIR
FINANCES Panhandle Citizens Coalition (PCC) today filed its brief supporting the overturn of Judge Glenn Hess's decision which denied the citizens of Panama City the ability to vote on a measure that could force a binding referendum in the city on the proposed new airport. Attorney Alvin Peters, who represents the PCC and individual plaintiffs said, "Fundamentally, we are asking the court to conduct a review from scratch of this case, and trustfully it will conclude that Judge Hess either erred when he concluded that the referendum would be a "meaningless" act and/or also erred when he stated the initiative would intrude upon the appointment powers the state created when it set up the Airport Authority. Legally, we argue the Court erred in granting summary judgment to Panama City. The city in this instance does have the power to place restrictions on its appointees to the Airport Authority, in the absence of any directives to the contrary from the state." If successful, the referendum would require the City of Panama City to instruct the Airport Authority to have a public vote on the airport before it could spend more funds on the airport. If the public vote did not happen, due to an adverse vote of any of the Panama City appointees, the City Council would be required to remove those appointees. The replacement appointees would also be required to vote against the seating of the fifth member, if that person did not favor holding a referendum on the airport. "This referendum is different from the one the Bay County Commission approved yesterday; that was a partial citizens’ victory. We are pleased that Commissioner Girvin at least kept his word and voted for the referendum, along with Commissioners Newberry and Ropa. However, that will be a non-binding referendum, whereas the city lawsuit referendum would ultimately be a binding referendum. If we win this case, and citizens approve this referendum, at least two members of the Airport Authority will be instructed not to vote to fund the airport any further until the public in a fresh referendum approves the airport. Hopefully, they will be joined by a third, since county appointee Jim Smallwood has expressed misgivings about the airport plan, and because we believe he would vote to uphold the will of the people. The bottom line is, our suit is not mooted by what the County did yesterday. In fact, it is all the more important that the binding city referendum be held," said Hedrick. Partners in Progress came in for some renewed criticism. "It’s not surprising that Ed Wright/Partners in Progress/Bay County First have once again expressed their opposition to the referendum. They apparently think that what they public wants doesn't matter in this process. Also, they still have not disclosed the amounts their financial backers have contributed and what the money has been spent on. The have been running a massive and very expensive media campaign designed to influence the public and elected officials. They obviously do not wish the public to know that their main contributors may be those who have the most to gain financially from this new airport. Now that we are in an election mode as of yesterday, so PIP and Bay County First will have to begin disclosing every penny of monies they have spent on these campaigns of theirs and who gave them how much, we call upon them again to reveal all their information back to the very beginning of their existence." "Elections are where the public makes important decisions, including this new vote on the airport, which is potentially the most important decision the county has ever made. Then we will have ultimate accountability during the selection of our elected officials in November. The public still has a very important part to play in this process, and that is to make sure the ultimate decision goes in favor of what they want for Bay County, not what the economic powers think they should get. The people are ultimately going to win." said Hedrick. --------------------------------------- This article is copyrighted material, the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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