Two Daytona Beach Shores city commissioners have resigned as the latest in a wave of local elected officials leaving before Jan. 1, when they face more stringent financial disclosure requirements.

Mel Lindauer, a Shores commissioner since 2016, told The News-Journal on Wednesday the new requirement − submitting what’s known as Form 6 − is “totally invasive” and serves no purpose.

Commissioner Richard Bryan, who has also served since 2016, said in his Dec. 21 resignation letter that he had another priority but added the Form 6 issue “affected the timing” of his decision.

Many state officials already file a Form 6, including the governor and Cabinet, legislators, county council members and sheriffs. The forms require disclosure of the filer’s net worth and holdings valued at more than $1,000, including bank accounts, stocks, retirement accounts, salary and dividends.

  • derf82@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “What difference does it make if one elected official is worth $100,000 and the other is worth $10 million?” he asked. “That’s totally irrelevant.”

    Because I trust someone worth $100k or less to have my interests at heart far more than someone worth $10M. Do these people really not get that?

    People are sick and tired of being ruled by the wealthy. The truth is, city government pay is often so bad, it’s only the wealthy with large passive income that will go for it.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      It also shows who’s accepting other money. If you’re worth $10m but entered office with a lot less, the office doesn’t pay enough for you to have earned all of that. You must have accepted bribes “donations” to get there.

      • cogman@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Exactly this. Finance transparency should be a requirement for public officials. I honestly don’t care if my politician has a NW of 10 million. I do care if that’s tied to industries they are supposed to be regulating. I also care if they started out with nothing and became millionaires after joining politics.

        That said, billionaires should be barred from ever interacting with politics. Congratulations, you won capitalism, now leave the rest of us alone.

      • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        City officials typically don’t take bribes, they’ll buy land after learning about a project, or select a company for a job that uses supplies from your company. One of the famous politicians in my area bought a bunch of land when a highway project was announced and made millions.

    • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, sponsored the legislation in the Florida Senate. Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, sponsored the House version of the bill and said it brings “parity” among elected officials.

      Also sponsored by Republicans, voted for by a state Congress with a Republican super majority, I’d love to know what the catch is, but it’s definitely a law that should be everywhere, public servants should always have transparency to prevent corruption and as the sponsor said “bring parity” to local elections.

        • Neato@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          The law, for example, requires listing off every single asset you own that’s worth more than a thousand dollars. And punishment for errors is jailtime.

          Absolutely obscene. Just thinking about my average apartment that would include 5 desktops, 2 phones, 2 tvs, couch, sundry jewelry, etc. Plus cars and other big ticket items. And I really don’t have a lot of stuff outside my computer hobby. I’m almost certainly missing quite a few things, as well.

          • chaogomu@kbin.social
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            9 months ago

            I also see room for creative interpretation.

            That laptop might have been worth more and $1K a few years ago, but is it still? Probably not, but does the law make that distinction?

              • chaogomu@kbin.social
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                9 months ago

                The law was written to specifically target city level officials (who are often Democrats) and includes jail time for any errors found during an audit.

                The law specifically does not apply to state level officials (who are almost all Republican).

                So it is an open question if depreciation is considered at all, because this law is not a Transparency Law, it’s a “Punish Democrats we don’t like with Jail” law.

          • tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            9 months ago

            Is that actually average in the US? I own not a single thing worth more than $1000 and I do have a job. I’m not trying to make a point or anything, just interesting to think how much people have.

            • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Many computers are going to be more than $1k, especially when talking about laptops that aren’t shit hardware. Gaming desktops can easily move into the $3k tier now for high end systems, not even including other expensive components like gaming monitors which can be over $1k by themselves.

              Then there’s large quality TVs and home theater projectors. While a large TV can be purchased for fairly cheap now, there’s a big difference in image quality and capability between a $500 TV and the $4k one sitting next to it even through they’re the same size. TV technology has a pretty wide range now, it’s no longer a simple question of resolution, size and maybe a couple simple panel categories like LCD or Plasma.

              And for whatever reason flagship phones are in that range now as well. A new iPhone 15 Pro is $999, the 15 Pro Max is $1199. The Samsung Galaxy S23 and 23+ launched at the same price points. For the base capacity, without any upgrades.

              • tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                9 months ago

                That’s why I love my thriftiness! I have a gaming PC, not the nicest but it can run any modern games well enough at 1080p/60fps, it might be worth around 1000 but I’ve upgraded it slowly over years. I have no TV, I bike to work, I got my phone for 300 in 2019 and it still works great.

                I looked into upgrading my phone recently, I can’t even find a phone that has better hardware that I would want for a reasonable price, the only major improvement would be the camera, all other stats on mine are just as good or better than comparable new phones.

        • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I live in Florida too, just didn’t see what the catch was in this one instance, but I’ve been paying attention to the Monique Worrell fuckery that DeSantis pulled to get her out of office over her political affiliation. There’s been a whole lot of stupidly specific legislation to gain the Republicans meaningless or homophobic/racist political clout, my own in the closet state rep sponsored the anti-Drag show bill, while his wife hosts an event where pageant kids get sexualized. Overall the GOP are trying govern via legislation while doing all kinds of corrupt and inhumane shit like participating in sending migrants all over the country with our tax dollars, yet next election these idiots will keep them in office while they continue to not improve the state for anyone but the rich, white, and Christian.

      • Meltrax@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The catch is that it applies to city officials, not state or national level. So, not to any of the Republicans who sponsored or supported it.

        • danl@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Nah. It already applies to everyone else - this is maybe just about limiting the pool of challengers.

          From the Florida Government site :

          Who Must File Form 6: All persons holding the following positions: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Cabinet members, members of the Legislature, State Attorneys, Public Defenders, Clerks of Circuit Courts, Sheriffs, Tax Collectors, Property Appraisers, Supervisors of Elections, County Commissioners, elected Superintendents of Schools, members of District School Boards, Mayor and members of the Jacksonville City Council, Judges of Compensation Claims; the Duval County Superintendent of Schools, and members of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation Board, each expressway authority, transportation authority (except the Jacksonville Transportation Authority), bridge authority, toll authority, or expressway agency created pursuant to Chapter 348 or 343, F.S., or any other general law, and judges, as required by Canon 6, Code of Judicial Conduct.

    • takeda@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I was about to say that finally something good is coming from the state. Got used to disappointing headlines.

  • UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev
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    9 months ago

    Meanwhile in Norway every citizen can look up any other person’s tax returns. Income and fortune all neatly presented on a government website.

    • azimir@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      I just today learned that Finland does this as well. It took a while to consider, but it would help people to get paid fair wages, detect corruption, and to generally ensure people are more honest about their finances. Overall, it’s a very different approach to what it means to be in a society together.

      • lad@programming.dev
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        9 months ago

        I think this works much better in society with low inequality, or maybe for ones that got rid of most robbers, scammers, and fraudsters. But then again, maybe Finland and Norway are good in that regard and that’s great then.

        • jwt@programming.dev
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          9 months ago

          And by ‘works much better’ you mean: there won’t be country-wide outrage, I assume? I think it’s actually meant to bring to light inequalities, awkward as it may be.

          • lad@programming.dev
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            9 months ago

            No, I meant less targeted robbing and burglary, and people that can rest peacefully knowing that they earn pretty much the same amount as their neighbour

      • hglman@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        Privacy is by and large the tool of the powerful to abuse power and privilege.

        • Hardeehar@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          This swings both ways. Public information such as voting records, for example, were used to coerce, intimidate, and physically hurt innocent people in the past. I think it takes a mature culture/society to use public information responsibly and I don’t think we are there yet.

          Then again, a ton of awful stuff happens in private already, so there needs to be a balance of some kind.

    • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’m in favor of transparency, but this sounds like it was designed to put democrats in prison.

      It only applies to city officials, not county or state, (more likely to be democrats) and has stiff penalties for any errors discovered during an audit.

  • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Every level of government should require this, IMO.

    If folks want to resign over it, I get it, and that’s fine. You are meant to be replaced regularly anyway. Career politicians are more of a bug than a feature.

    If you don’t want people to know your finances, you shouldn’t be a public servant. Power should include transparency.

    • Ooops@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      There’s only one problem: Until it’s a requirement on every level it shouldn’t be one for single levels.

      This law is not a tool for transparency, but a weapon for state politicians against local politicians disagreeing with them.

      What we have here is a law in a majorily red state that does not apply for state officials (republicans) but does apply for local politicians (democrats in several big cities) that can punish minor infractions (please try to make a list of everything you own with the correct values that can withstand an audit by the state…) with jail time. Go figure…

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Many state officials already file a Form 6, including the governor and Cabinet, legislators, county council members and sheriffs.

      • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Thanks for the context, that certainly changes my view of it. Sounds like the usual “rules for thee, not for me” dick move.

  • crackajack@reddthat.com
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    9 months ago

    I am surprised they even passed that law. For Floridian standards, this is good and the bar isn’t even high 😂

  • Chessmasterrex@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The one’s resigning are the people that shouldn’t be in office. It’s likely a great benefit to Florida that they’re gone.

  • JokeDeity@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Hmmm, 2016… Did something else happen around that time that may have emboldened certain people with certain idealogies to get into positions of power?

  • fne8w2ah@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Corrupt Florida men and women fecking off from positions of power they shouldn’t deserve.

  • moody@lemmings.world
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    9 months ago

    People are afraid of others knowing how much money they make. Either out of pride or shame, or out of fear that something out of place may be discovered.

  • Nougat@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Some quick looking doesn’t reveal the political affiliations of either Lindauer or Bryan.