HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY SCRAMBLES TO COLLECT PETITIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 24, 2008CONTACT:

Ryan HouckRHouck@Florida2010.org407.496.4035

HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY SCRAMBLES TO COLLECT PETITIONS

Hires more paid gatherers; raises price to $3 per signature (ORLANDO, FL - July 24, 2008) For a group that says it has already submitted enough petitions, Florida Hometown Democracy is spending a lot of time and money paying for more. An e-mail from Hometown Democracy leader John Hedrick confirms that the initiative campaign is now paying $3 per signature in a desperate attempt to collect 611,009 petitions before a possible court date in August. Although amendment leaders claimed they had already submitted enough petitions, their frantic effort to collect more signatures proves otherwise.

"Clearly, they didn't have as many as they claimed," said Ryan Houck, Executive Director for Floridians for Smarter Growth. "Hometown Democracy spent months criticizing the state's official petition count. It turns out that they were the ones with the wrong numbers."

In June, Hometown Democracy organizers filed a lawsuit in federal court to obtain placement on the 2008 ballot after failing to qualify on three prior occasions. Their lawsuit would overturn a voter-approved constitutional amendment establishing a February 1st petition deadline for citizen initiatives. As recently as July 2, Florida Hometown Democracy President Lesley Blackner claimed that her group had collected enough valid signatures to get on the ballot.

"If they had enough signatures prior to the deadline then why are they paying for more now?" said Houck. "Hometown Democracy fell short on February 1. Since then, we've seen the Ides of March, April Showers, May Flowers and a sizzling summer but still not enough petitions from Florida Hometown Democracy. This latest stunt is no more than a cynical attempt to convince the court that they've met their goal more than half a year later."###