Those of us who attended the Aug. 4 meeting of the Brevard County Commission felt like we had stepped into a bizarro world.
We had shown up on that Thursday to oppose the lengthening of commissioner term limits from eight years to 12, a proposal Commissioner Curt Smith had announced just two days prior, at the Aug. 2 meeting.
Smith’s proposal had been covered by FLORIDA TODAY’s Ralph Chapoco, who reported that “commissioners may vote on Smith’s proposal Thursday.” Obviously Chapoco had watched the same meeting the rest of us did. So did State Rep. Randy Fine, who encouraged citizens to attend in defense of eight-year term limits.
Yet, in a strange and confidence-eroding twist, Commissioners Smith, Kristine Zonka and Rita Pritchett chose to deny that Smith’s proposal had ever existed. Zonka said, “I watched our state representative (referring to Fine) encourage people to come to the commission meeting because we’re voting on term limits. That was never part of the agenda … To deliberately lie to people, misinform people to get them to come to a meeting. Don’t make things up just to get Facebook likes.”
Pritchett and Smith agreed with Zonka’s claim that there was no plan to change term limits. They must think the people of Brevard County don’t know how to use Google.
It is obvious, from both the video of the Aug. 2 meeting and Chapoco’s reporting, that the plan for Thursday was indeed to eviscerate eight-year term limits.
Smith had initially announced his intent to vote on Aug. 2. “We could vote on it tonight,” he said at the time. But after learning that Commissioner John Tobia, an outspoken term limits supporter, was not comfortable with the proposal, Smith asked Interim County Attorney Christine Schverak for a Thursday vote.
“Can we come back on Thursday night?” Smith asked.
“You can certainly come back on Thursday night. I wouldn’t wait until the 16th because you do need to go to the three-member panel,” Schverak answered. The panel to which she referred is made up of three attorneys who check the legality of proposed county charter changes before they go on the ballot.
More:Two opposing proposals on commission term limits both failed to get the necessary support
Smith then told his fellow commissioners: “Thursday night is our drop-dead. You don’t have to make a decision tonight, you have two days.”
It is absolutely clear from this exchange that Smith intended for commissioners to vote in two days, which would be Thursday, Aug. 4. Why Commissioners Smith, Zonka and Pritchett would team up to deny this reality is anyone’s guess, but it is a troubling form of gaslighting with the potential to chill public discourse.
Gaslighting, per Wikipedia, is the phenomenon of a person “presenting a false narrative to another group or person, thereby leading them to doubt their perceptions and become misled, disoriented or distressed.”
Here, Commissioners Zonka, Smith and Pritchett wanted us to doubt the reality of Tuesday’s meeting. As the old saying goes, “Who do you trust, us or your lying eyes?”
All three commissioners owe the public an apology for misstating the truth and attempting to revise history. They could have just said, “While we wanted to lengthen term limits, we’ve now heard from our constituents and believe that idea was misplaced.” Would that have been so hard? Instead, they let their egos convince them the idea never existed.
Quite frankly, this is only the latest in a line of bizarre and brazen things our commissioners have done recently, including new taxes and a $30 million earmark for a Gucci-wearing developer named Driftwood. Many citizens have been asking what’s in the water at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way.
Like trees which once stood tall but have been broken down by time, floods, and fungus, Brevard’s local leaders have been eroded by the echo chamber of lobbyists, bureaucrats and special interests that permeates county government. Our commissioners have become driftwood.
Nick Tomboulides is the executive director of U.S. Term Limits. He lives in Cocoa.
