Supporters of an initiative that would allow the construction of a North Florida casino have dropped their legal motion for a temporary restraining order against groups and individuals who allegedly interfered with petition-gathering efforts.
Florida Voters in Charge, the sponsor of the proposed 2022 gambling initiative, filed a Dec. 1 lawsuit against groups aligned with the Seminole Tribe, which is involved in the majority of the state’s gaming activities.
The litigation initially sought an injunction against the defendants, including Mark Jacoby, the founder of Let the Voters Decide LLC, in the circuit court in Leon County. But the spokeswoman for Florida Voters in Charge told the Florida Record that the group dropped the effort to get a restraining order due to tactical reasons.
“We did not drop the lawsuit,” Sarah Bascom said in an email to the Record. “We withdrew the request for the emergency temporary restraining order because the judge asked for us to bring our team out of the field for multiple days of depositions – which is counterproductive to our signature-gathering efforts.”
Florida Voters for Change continues to press its lawsuit to deal with what it says are aggressive efforts to counter the group’s signature-gathering efforts, she said.
According to the motion for the restraining order filed last week, the defendants’ efforts to interfere with signature gathering included harassment and intimidation.
“The defendants, in concert with one another, and apparently on behalf of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, have embarked on a coordinated effort to interfere with Florida’s constitutionally protected citizen initiative process and ‘block’ Florida citizens from supporting a citizen initiative which is opposed by the Seminole Tribe, in an attempt to impress their will on voters not through the democratic process, but through fear, intimidation and payoffs,” the motion states.
The interference came in the form of payoffs to get workers to stop their efforts on behalf of the initiative and attempted sabotage to computer records, according to the motion.
Florida Voters in Charge said last weekend that it was on schedule to gather the remaining signatures needed to place the initiative before state voters on the 2022 ballot so that voters can decide whether or not to expand gaming in Florida.
“We will not allow any distractions, legal maneuvers or the Tribe’s egregious blocking tactics to distract us from that mission,” Bascom said. “Therefore, we have decided to withdraw our request for an emergency injunction so our team members can remain focused on gathering signatures and not be held up in the courtroom.”