Lehigh Acres, as of the 2010 census had over 86,000
residence. That was an increase of over 50% since the 2000 census. This is a
substantial number of people in the county. So why is it that it appears to be
the forgotten land when it comes to representation in government? Three factors
play a major role; voter district mapping, at large voting and incorporation.
Lehigh Acres is located in State Senate District 23, a Senate
District which represents not just Lehigh Acres, but Bonita Springs, Naples and
Marco Island. Compare Lehigh Acres to
those cities. They are different in
several ways, it would be impossible to list them all. Bonita Springs, Naples, and Marco Island,
they are all very similar, and very closely located to each other. So they are obviously represented by their
Senator.
At-Large voting is practiced in Lee County for County
Commissioner seats. This means that regardless of the district a candidate is
running for, all voters of Lee County vote for your districts representative. In
2012, the voters of District 5 (Lehigh Acres, Alva, Buckingham and North Fort
Myers) for County Commissioner overwhelmingly voted for me over the incumbent. However,
I am not your County Commissioner. Why? The further away from District 5 the
voters resided, the fewer the votes I received. How did this provide the people
of this area with unbiased representation? It didn't. The people of Cape Coral,
Sanibel, Captiva, Estero, etc. got an additional representative to affect their
interests. Once again, Lehigh Acres goes
unnoticed, with a County Commissioner whose job is supposed to be to represent
them, but instead ignores them.
Back in 1996, a referendum made it on the ballot to
incorporate Lehigh Acres. It failed. Incorporation would have provided local
representation for Lehigh Acres in the form of a Mayor and Council. Since this
is not the case, your remaining elected officials (State Senator, State
Representative and County Commissioner) become exponentially more important to this
districts interest. I am, again, wishing to represent the interests of the
people in this district, and now, as their State Representative. This time, the
People of this District will not have their choice diluted by interests outside
of their District. Your vote counts.
Paid
For By Matt Miller, Republican, For State Representative, District 79.
In fact, Lehigh Acres is also ignored by its U.S. Congressman, Tom Rooney. According to local media, Rooney has visited his 45,000 Lehigh Acres constituents ONCE in 3.5 years.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, Rooney derives most of his contributions from lobbyists and PAC's like Big Sugar, who are kept in business by sugar tariffs imposed on imports by Congressmen like Tom Rooney. In return, Big Sugar pours phosphates and nitrogen into lake Okeechobee, that winds polluting the Caloosahatchee and lands up on beaches and canals on both of Florida Coasts. And we get dead fish.
Matt Caldwell ac