ST. PETERSBURG -- Remember the uproar a few years ago when City Hall used your tax dollars to tell you how to vote on some amendments to the Pinellas County Charter?

Yeah, well, they want to keep doing that sort of thing.

City Hall plans to send a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist asking him to veto Senate Bill 216, which bars local governments in Florida from using public funds for political advertisements.

City officials argue that the bill would infringe on their constitutional right to express themselves. Never mind that they could still take sides on political issues, they just couldn't use public money to do so.

"Elected officials are elected to do what's in the best interests of the citizens and city, to stifle that duty takes away one of their responsibilities and may actually have an unconstitutional chilling effect on their First Amendment rights," the letter states.

To read the rest of the letter, click here.

The City Council will discuss the letter Thursday.

Cristina Silva, Times Staff Writer

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