INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — If you’ve visited the Indian River County Tax Collector’s offices in Vero Beach or Sebastian recently, you might’ve noticed brochures and leaflets opposing Amendment 2 – this fall’s statewide referendum on the proposed legalization of marijuana use for medical purposes.
But the chief of staff for Tax Collector Carole Jean Jordan said Monday the presence of the brochures and leaflets in the offices was not a political endorsement.
“Absolutely not,” Brenda Bradley said. “This office belongs to the public, and we have an open-door policy. If people want to put out information that is important to the public – as long as it’s professionally and tastefully done, and as long as we have room – we’ll put it out there.
“So if the people who are for Amendment 2 come in and want to put out their brochures, they can do so. We’ll place them side by side. This office is not biased in any way.”
Although Jordan is a staunch Republican, Bradley said: “I know I speak for Carole Jean when I say that what she does politically is outside this office.”
A small stack of glossy brochures displayed in the tax collector’s office state, “The Devil is in the Details” and claim that “Amendment 2 is backdoor legalization of pot-smoking.”
The leaflets urge residents to “Vote No on 2,” there are accompanying leaflets that say, “Marijuana isn’t medicine” and list a series of “unintended consequences” of the possible legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.
There were no other politically-oriented materials on the tables in the offices.
What happens if the office gets overwhelmed by different groups wanting to leave brochures and other materials?
“If it gets to the point where everyone wants to do it,” she said, “then we might have to reconsider.”
