State: Groups can't do issue polling

In a decision that is likely to jolt Florida's political world, the state Division of Elections has ruled that political committees are prohibited by law from paying for issue-oriented polls. Candidate polls? Those are legal, the state says, but issue-oriented polls are not. For decades, interest group political committees all along the political spectrum have been doing issue polling.

The legal opinion, issued last week, was authored by Gary Holland, an attorney in the elections division. It was issued in response to a request by Jon Kislak of Florida Red and Blue Inc., the group opposing efforts to put a ban on same-sex marriages into the state Constitution. The effect of this opinion is that groups keenly interested in, say, the Jan. 29 property tax referendum are barred by law from sampling public opinion on the issue. Read the opinion here.

Comments

That is rediculously stupid. How can you ban polling? I think the state supreme court will be taking this issue up.

Better yet, get the legislature to amend the law to include issues polling.

so, therefore, Mr. elections division lawyer, everything not expressly stated in statute is therefore prohibited. Great argument. How about a committee that polls an issue with the intent of using that information to support or oppose a candidate?
Seriously, now. What a waste of 4 sheets of paper.

[Gene Smith]

I thought we lived in the land of the free - as in we are free to do anything we like which is not otherwise prohibited by law.

I breathe. The legislature did not autorize me to do so. Am I breaking some law?

yeah, right.

See you in court on that one.

yes gene, according to case law you are breaking the law.

The torch is now passed from Katherine Harris to Amy Tuck. Even Harris was not this dumb.

Profile of Amy Tuck (who evidently has no college degree - at least none is mentioned in this article)

Tuck, 32, raised in Neptune Beach and a graduate of Fletcher High School, is the state's new elections director. Appointed in January by new Secretary of State Kurt Browning, she is one of only a handful of former Northeast Florida residents in Gov. Charlie Crist's 6-week-old administration.

A native of Texas, Tuck grew up in Neptune Beach, where her parents still live. She turned a 1999 internship in the state House into a clerkship at a Tallahassee law firm, and then moved to a job in the Secretary of State's Office.

From 2003 to 2005 she was a lobbyist for KB Home construction, and in 2005 she became a lobbyist for the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce. While at the chamber, she organized lobbying trips, helped develop chamber strategy and represented the organization before legislative bodies.

paid $95,000 a year

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022207/met_8026524.shtml

Looks like the Division of Elections can go back and assess fines against hundreds of political committees which conducted issue polls over the last several years. That, or issue a more expansive reading of the authorizing statute.
Or maybe the Legislature can add one more item to special session C to correct this opinion.

When non-lawyers drive legal opinions, we all end up in Court. Amy - do your homework. Little Elections Division Lawyers - grow a pair and get a real job. Citizens, prepare to fight this in Court.

Is she a political appointee or is she careered in?

1:20 is right on. Let the General Counsel for the Dept of State issue these opinions.

Amy, you got rolled by your lawyers. Now you have to take the heat.

If you had let the lawyer issue the ruling, then at least you could have been the first point of appeal.

No problem.

I'll just use corporate money to do the polling, which will save my ECO money to jam some more negative crap up someone's a**.

[BadBob]

This is a poor ruling that will not serve the interests of the citizens in any way at all.

[GOP Girl]

Does that statute expressly say that political committees can have letterhead with their logos? It doesn't? Uh oh, even more violations likely to be cited.

These people at DOE are fools. Perhaps she needs help pulling her head out of her a**.

Absurd decision.

Stupidest thing I've ever heard. Maybe she's a Bronson and not a Tuck.

So we have a director of elections that has no real experience in elections. yes she worked there in 01 but nothing close to the kind of experience we are used to in that office, Clay Roberts and Dawn Roberts. We have taken two steps back, she is a nice person but we need soem more experience and age in that office.

Is she one of Crist's people? Just wondering.

Is Amy Tuck related to Michael Brown?

[Impressive]

I am truly impressed with some of these blogs. Have anyone you got education or is it you can't write worth sh*t. I have never laughed so hard at this blog.. If you are so good about tossing out garbage then get of your .... and do something about it. Or are you just to LAZY like most of the general public.

[Impressive]

Amy Tuck must be doing her Job right ... Good Job TUCKER..

[Impressive]

By reading these blogs now I know why the FCAT is so bad in FL.

[Boca Grande]

An outrageous abuse of the First Amendment and Florida's Declaration of Rights. Get mad.

Absurd decision.

Great groundwork for oppressing any efforts, either for or against, constitutional amendments.

12:21 Don't rely on the Fl. Times Union - she has a law degree...