Clay group appeals to Florida Supreme Court on charter amendment ruling
By BETH REESE CRAVEY My Clay Sun The Citizens for Term Limits and Accountability Committee has appealed to the Florida Supreme Court a recent 1st District Court of Appeals ruling that a committee-sponsored Clay County charter amendment was unconstitutional.
The amendment, which passed in the Nov. 4 general election, required 60 percent voter approval of future Clay charter amendments.
“We had been deliberating this possibility for some time," committee co-founder Jane Padgett said in a prepared statement. "We believed it was in the best interest of the Clay County electorate that overwhelmingly voted for approval of the this amendment to appeal."
The Appeals Court ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Clay resident Roy Lyons, who challenged the legality of three charter amendments on the general election ballot. The committee collected petition signatures to get the amendments on the ballot.
Lyons plans to appeal the 1st District panel's rulings on the other two amendments. The panel ruled as legally viable the amendments that abolished two newly created County Commission seats and decreased commission salaries. Submitted by alabayea on Tue, 12/09/2008 - 3:20pm.
Looks like Roy Lyons will be spending some more of his money. Isn't is wonderful one citizen is so concerned about all these amendments that he will spend lots of his $$$$ only to loose?
Submitted by Magnumforce on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 8:05am.
Sounds like it may be a lot of money wasted. Are you sure it’s all Roy’s money or are there players funneling money to him for the attorneys? It does make one wonder. If he would like to put the money to good use put it towards a worthy cause. Let’s see there are families that have lost their jobs that need feeding or an electric bill paid, elementary school children that come to school with soled clothes or no winter jacket. I could go on and on but I am tired after a long night of patrol duty. Have a good day.
Submitted by joeriley08 on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 8:17am.
I have noticed that it has been very, very quite around here for the past couple of days...I guess there are no "retorts" from the L&L clan..... People are talking about ...Here are the recent blog postings with the most comments. |
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Several weeks ago I suggested that if the appeal of this Petition and its results were to be heard by the Supreme Court that the chances were good that it too would be vindication of the CTLAC's efforts.
The reason that I believe they will approve it is that over 80% of the people expressed support for it and that charter government by law is supposed to be more friendly to the people than non charter governments.
The Court will recognize that the communities are permitted to have higher standards than those of the State. It will recognize the will of the people is more than technical arguements.
I expect Roy's appeal may also be heard but I believe they will uphold the 1st Districts ruling on the salary and the 5-2 issues. I think the only reason they would accept it is if they piggy back on the CTLAC's Constitutional appeal.
Regardless, I believe the Supreme Court will rule in Favor of all three of the CTLAC's amendments to the charter. I also believe that the Charter will be attacked by the Commissioners and any CRC members they appoint. They should be wary of such an attack, one thing that charter governments have to combat this is the right to recall their commissioners. Too much smelly smoke is not good for the Republican party, hopefully Governor Christ after his nuptials will start to restructure the Party to reflect the will of the people. Influence by lobbyists will have to be curtailed in the future their greed has harmed the people too much.