July 20, 2010
Dear PURRE Members:
As you may know, a group called Tea Party in Action recently staged a demonstration against the U.S. Sugar land purchase at last week’s meeting of the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board. They purchased numerous television ads and launched an extensive Internet campaign against the purchase. That effort is ongoing as the deal remains pending.
I contacted the group’s lead political strategist, Tim McClellan of Pompano Beach, Florida, urging him not to go forward with this disastrous demonstration and campaign against a deal that is clearly in the best interest of Florida’s environment, economy and way of life. I attempted to educate him about the facts and stressed to him that this purchase is without a doubt the single most important item for the future of all of south Florida and our way of life.
I offered to meet with Mr. McClellan at his convenience but he answered me with an email laying out his opposition point by point, which I answered thoroughly with solid facts and figures – yet the Tea Party in Action demonstration went forward, as you may have seen in the TV news coverage and elsewhere.
Now, the Rivers Coalition on the East Coast has sent out the below statement, and it applies to the West Coast and the Caloosahatchee as much as it does to the St. Lucie River. Misleading and irresponsible public relations campaigns like the one put forward by the Tea Party in Action aimed at killing the U.S. Sugar land purchase deal are threatening to kill our best chance at achieving a long-term fix to South Florida’s very damaged and failing water system.
As you can see, the public relations campaign on the east coast mirrors almost exactly the Tea Party in Action campaign here on the west coast (see in particular the sections we’ve marked in red):
FLORIDA CRYSTALS BARONS ATTACK RIVER OF GRASS PURCHASE WITH DECEPTIVE PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN
Even though our tarnished and damaged St. Lucie estuary stands its best possible chance at recovery due to the planned state purchase U.S. Sugar lands for a flowway, residents are being peppered with advertising and phone calls aimed at killing the deal.
Orchestrated by U.S. Sugar's competitor, Florida Crystals (Fanjul family) is claiming that the River of Grass Acquisition is a "bailout" of cigar-smoking fat cats (TV images) and that everyone's real estate taxes will skyrocket. [Those are the same claims the Tea Party in Action is making: that the deal is a bailout of U.S. Sugar and the taxes will increase.]
The truth is that the purchase will be done under existing tax structures in the South Florida Water Management District and the result is expected to bring savings, not cost increases.
Meanwhile, the St. Lucie is being bombarded by nasty water that often exceeds a billion gallons per day, mostly discharged through Lake Okeechobee and then out the St. Lucie gates at Stuart. The U.S. Sugar purchase would provide land for a flowway south from the lake that would greatly reduce the inundations of the estuaries on both coasts.
Citizens are urged to read about the plan at the South Florida Water Management District website (sfwmd.gov) and at RiversCoalition.org.
And let's remember our sugar-coated politicians who fail to support the U.S. Sugar purchase. It’s not likely that our beloved estuary will get another chance for recovery anything like the River of Grass purchase.
PURRE members, don’t be swayed by public relations scare tactics. Get the facts. Go right to the source. Log on to www.purre.org. Visit www.RiversCoalition.org. Visit www.sfwmd.gov. Call PURRE at 239.472.2703 Monday-Thursday if you have any questions. And spread the truth to your friends and anyone who will listen. Florida needs desperately to purchase that U.S. Sugar land.
Yours truly,
Michael Valiquette, Chairman
