In politics as in comedy, timing is everything.
In his recent ruling, Circuit Judge George M. Wright was positively surgical in splitting the GNV-GRU baby.
Yes, Gainesville residents can vote to take their public utility back from the Great DeSanitizer sock puppets (to be fair, the judge didn’t actually use that phrase) who are now running it.
But, no, the vote that already took place – in which 72 percent of the voters said “Hell yes!” – is invalid because of…wait for it…misleading ballot language.
The appointed GRU sock puppets are already running with their half of the baby to appeal Wright’s decision. Their hope is another judge will say that mere city voters cannot overturn the Florida Legislature’s decision to hijack GRU.
Meanwhile, the city commission, hanging tightly onto its half of the baby, is rushing ahead to prepare another referendum to reassert home rule control of a utility that is “owned by the people it serves.”
By a 6-0 vote the commission will hold a special election this fall to try it again – presumably, this time without any misleading ballot language.
I’m all for another vote. The bill to turn over GRU to a board appointed by the governor was a malicious act on the part of a couple of suburban politicians who hated GNV’s very existence.
But I gotta wonder if GNV isn’t rushing things.
Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, the lone dissenting vote, expressed concerns about spending upwards of $250,000 for a special, stand-alone election that will almost certainly turn out far fewer voters than showed up last November.
Then, more than 54,000 GNV residents voted, and just under 40,000 of them in the affirmative.
That’s a mandate no matter how you cut it.
In a special election, with nothing else on the ballot, GNV will be lucky to get 10,000 voters to show up. And with a lower turnout it’ll be easier for the opposition to run a campaign targeting residents (Republicans, independents, curmudgeons) who may not be all that enthusiastic about the city commission controlling GRU again.
Where’s the mandate if a meager turnout results in a less than impressive “Hell yes”?
The other reason to not rush into another referendum is more practical.
The appeals process is going to grind on for a while. And the chances of it being resolved one way or another before this fall are nil.
How is the City going to look if it spends a quarter of a million dollars on a special referendum, only to have some appellate judge say it was all for naught?
That’s a lot of money to waste, especially since the Guv’s sock puppets have been cutting the City’s share of GRU revenues to the bone.
And an inevitable City appeal will only further lengthen an ultimate resolution.
The good news is that the two GNV-haters who engineered this hijacking are no longer in the Legislature. And it appears that there is very little appetite within the existing legislative delegation to shore up the state’s control of GRU. Otherwise that would have happened in the session just passed.
And don’t worry about the Guv pressuring the Legislature to pass another bill keeping GRU under state control. These days our anti-Ron is about as popular with GOP lawmakers as head lice.
So what’s the harm of waiting another year for the 2026 general election? This assault on GNV home rule was years in the making. It was never going to be resolved overnight.
Listen, this is a blue city, and all indications are that the continuing antics of Trump and The Great DeSanitizer are only going to supercharge an anti-GOP backlash come the next election.
Plus, giving the Guv’s sock puppets another year to exercise their ham-handed GRU “stewardship” will only further incur the resentment of GNV voters.
Heck, the City ran GRU for more than a century. Is another year really gonna matter?
FreeGNV 