When a beachside government runs amok and its leaders begin to operate outside the will of the people, what can the little man do?Well, history repeatedly tells us there is nothing the little man can do. There is too much money involved. Folks just seem to roll over, throw up their hands, order another margarita and say, "Woe is me," while the fat cats and their building machines begin lining pockets and pouring concrete over paradise.
The inhabitants of this beachy Pinellas barrier island are proving, however, there is a much simpler solution: throw the bums out.
Throw all the bums out.
Taking cue from the antics of what resident activists call a "rogue government," a grassroots campaign is moving solidly and purposefully through City Hall, aimed at taking out all the highest officials in Treasure Island (pop: 7,450). It is conceivable that by spring, the mayor and the entire city commission, the city manager, the city attorney and the head of the powerful planning and zoning board will be gone — most of them victims of an unrelentless and righteous citizen hunt.
"What you are seeing are city leaders who are completely out of touch with their constituents. Bad leaders who got in because of voter apathy," says citizen leader Ray Green. "This is a whack on the side of the head to the citizens. If you want responsible government, you have to be responsible for who you elect!"
Soon to be gone is Mayor Leon Atkinson.
When "Da Mayor's" dreams of tall hotels and crowded beaches were dashed — first by a citizen initiative referendum and again by a successful citizen lawsuit filed against the city — he announced he would not be a candidate in the March city election. The white-bearded mayor also announced his retirement as the Treasure Island rooftop Santa Claus because people were driving by and cursing at him. Atkinson has publicly vowed to spend his retirement "fighting the Sunshine Law," a Florida statute that he brags of breaking.
"How can you not break it? It's a stupid law," Atkinson says, unabashedly. He has an interesting, if awkward, rationale to back up his statement. He also does not like television cameras at public meetings.
Sunshine Law violations, however, are not even touched on in the report just finished by the Florida Commission on Ethics and sent to Attorney General Charlie Crist last week. Rather, state ethics investigators were more concerned with a "conflict of interest" charge levied against the mayor by a constituent who felt Atkinson's votes regarding the city land development regulations (LDRs) were also raising the value of the Mayor's own property.
The ethics report only states the facts. Conclusions and charges, if applicable, will come later.
Once the pro-development symbol for the type of government most of the residents did not want, the lame duck Atkinson is no longer a target of reform-minded residents: "Leon's gone. We don't have to worry about him," says Attorney Ken Weiss. "Butch Ellsworth? That's another story. He's still in office another couple years."
The same ethics commission has sent another report on Treasure Island District 2 Commissioner Irving "Butch" Ellsworth to the attorney general. Citizens charged Ellsworth with conflict of interest for voting on LDR issues that would significantly increase the size of his employer's wallet. Ellsworth works for Sid and Agnes Rice, largest landholders in Treasure Island, owners of more than 10 percent of the city's commercial-zoned property. No one in the city benefits more from LDR height and density increases than the Rice Family.
State ethics investigator Wayne Maxwell discovered a 1998 letter in Treasure Island city files in which an ethics commission staff attorney explicitly says Ellsworth is "required to abstain from voting" on issues which involve "gain/loss to one's employer," or risk violating the state's voting conflicts law.
In Maxwell's report, obtained recently by the Weekly Planet, Ellsworth says he contacted the ethics commission again, prior to a controversial vote last October, in which Treasure Island commissioners rushed to pass an LDR ordinance favoring developers before residents had a chance to vote on the same issue in a November referendum. The commission refused to issue another opinion on the matter since Ellsworth was under investigation.
Despite the presence of the 1998 opinion, Ellsworth found daylight in the state ethics commission's refusal to write another opinion: "I feel this is a very important vote that I must vote on," he told investigator Maxwell. "I cannot recuse myself or abstain from voting just because I feel there might be a conflict of interest … it is my duty and obligation to vote unless somebody's (sic) tell me in writing that they do think there will be a problem."
Ellsworth's "yes" vote helped the controversial ordinance pass 3-2; it was filled with developer-favored height and density tools. Two weeks later, the largest turnout in Treasure Island election history approved an initiative requiring all future LDR height and density changes to go before voters. But that could not change the ordinance passed by the commission.
"Butch tried to cover his ass by contacting the ethics people at the last minute," says Mike Daughtry, whose eye-patch and boundless energy make him the reformers' most recognizable spokesman. "Unbelievable. There is already a letter in the file telling him not to do it. They were already investigating him!"
In the past Ellsworth had recused himself several times on issues involving the Rice family, once regarding a bungee-jumping exhibit; more recently, he abstained rather than vote on closing a city right of way (through a Rice-owned area) so the University of Florida marching band could practice.
"When you have a commissioner who recuses himself from voting whether a marching band can use a parking lot but refuses to step down on an issue that could change the entire character of a community, you have someone who has totally lost touch with reality," says Green. "Butch will recuse himself on selling snow cones but not on putting up high-rise buildings all over his employer's property."
A hearing regarding the ethics commission investigations of Ellsworth and Atkinson is scheduled for mid-March in Tallahassee. Citizen leaders predict Ellsworth will be taken out by recall as soon as Crist renders his opinion. "All you need are a couple hundred signatures or so to get the ball rolling," says Daughtry. "That's a couple hours of knocking on doors."
Information regarding conflict of interest complaints against City Planning and Zoning (P&Z) chairwoman Roseanne Petit and Vice Chair Gary Dion were not released by the ethics commission, since neither Petit nor Dion signed a confidentiality release waiver. Dion has already stepped down from his post; Petit, who has run the powerful P&Z Board for more than 15 years, was re-elected chairwoman in an internal board vote last fall; it was Petit who pushed the board to finish the required P&Z review of the LDRs in time for the commission to beat the referendum.
In their letters to the State Ethics Commission, Sunset Beach residents Walter Herring and Rhonda Anderson accused Petit and Dion of conflicts of interest in their votes regarding the LDRs. Both own property in areas likely to benefit from height and density LDR increases.
Neither Ellsworth nor Atkinson returned phone calls from the Weekly Planet. Petit and Dion cannot talk about the case.
Next to go may be District 4 Commissioner Barbara Blush, whose term as the Sunset Beach representative still has two years to go. She may not last through this month.
A "Recall Barbara Blush" movement, headed by Sunset Beach resident Donna Boren, resulted in 175 "get rid of Blush" petition signatures (40 more than were required) turned into the city clerk. Blush is one of three commissioners accused of violating state law by voting for the controversial LDR ordinance before it was properly advertised to the public.
"This is a Commissioner who voted for an ordinance that 75 percent of her constituents did not want. When it was pointed out to her that her actions were illegal, she has done nothing to reverse her vote," says Donna Boren, the recall petition leader. "No apology. No effort to heal the wounds. There is a tremendous amount of bad feeling towards that woman out here on Sunset Beach."
Blush refused to discuss the recall: "I am consulting my attorney," is all she would say.
City commissioners Stephanie Lavino (District 1) and Mary Maloof (District 3) also will be out of office soon. Lavino cites health reasons for her retirement. Maloof is running for mayor against three other candidates, including former Commissioner George Makrauer. A popular Treasure Island socialite, Maloof may be politically scarred by her membership on the current commission.
Also on shaky ground are the city's two most powerful non-elected officials: City Attorney Jim Denhardt and city Manager Chuck Coward. "I believe Denhardt is probably gone no matter who gets in there," says Jim Dobyns, director of the local Voters Watch organization. "Virtually everybody in town wants to get rid of this guy."
Denhardt has been criticized for his handling of various city lawsuits and for an ongoing eminent domain case that may cost the city more money in legal fees than the property is worth. Residents also discovered correspondence between Denhardt and Ellsworth that prove the city attorney has been researching ways that the commission could take down the recent referendum (which passed by a 66-34 percent margin). "The people are paying the guy to find ways to take down the very measure that the people voted for?" asks Dobyns. "What?"
"I want to know what kind of advice this man is giving these commissioners," says Daughtry. "Everything that has happened here has happened under his watch."
Denhardt did not return phone calls from the Weekly Planet.
Watchdog Dobyns finds it odd that neither Denhardt nor Coward mentioned the Ellsworth 1998 conflict of interest opinion letter during the yearlong LDR controversy: "We watch things pretty close. We never heard of that letter. If we had, there would have been a lot more pressure on Butch to recuse himself from the LDR issue, I can tell you that."
Coward says it was not his role as City Manager to be concerned with Ellsworth's letter: "I vaguely knew about the letter. I knew it was in there. I'm not sure I am a person who should be the one to answer questions about that."
Green says Coward is merely a reflection of his employer, the commission. "Chances are that with a more responsible commission, you would see a more responsible city manager," says Green, whose business is leadership training. "If I am the president of the corporation and my director is screwing up and I don't tell him to fix it, then it is my fault."
Mayoral candidate Makrauer says: "A competent city manager has to be concerned with every aspect of city government, including the behavior of public officials. Frankly that whole world is out of control over there."
He points to a housewife who approached City Hall to have a "Slow Children Playing" sign on her busy street. "She was told the city could not do that because they felt such signs actually attracted children to the street!" says Makrauer. "Now, that is Treasure Island government for you!"
Contacted by the Weekly Planet, the lady confirmed the incident, but did not wish her name used.
Citizens are not going to stop with just "throwing the bums out," but are actively seeking and preparing replacement leaders, says Daughtry: "People see these characters on TV and say, 'I can do better than that.' There are some real good leaders out there that can and will clean up this city."
Last week Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Thomas Penick granted a six-month injunction against the ordinance that Atkinson, Ellsworth and Blush had rushed into law. A final hearing will be scheduled soon. In their haste to beat the referendum, the commission had not properly advertised the ordinance, the judge found.
"All they have to do is vote to rescind the ordinance, but they won't. More money from the city treasury for Denhardt to defend the case! When is it going to get through their thick skulls?" says Daughtry, who along with Green filed suit to force the injunction and posted a $25,000 bond to ensure the hearing.
"We aren't gonna quit. We are right. We will outlast them all."
Freelance writer Peter Gallagher lives in St. Petersburg. For background info on the Treasure Island land development regulations conflict, read Gallagher's cover story "Shore Subject" at http://www.weeklyplanet.com/ 2002-10-16/cover.html.
This article appears in Feb 12-18, 2003.