A Gainesville-based Republican attack operative has expanded his negative campaign tactics to target all three city commission candidates including those opposing the current incumbents Fernandina Beach Mayor Bradley Bean and Vice Mayor David Sturges.
City voters Wednesday received a 5th 'smear' flyer in the mail attacking city commission candidates Genece Minshew, Joyce Tuten and Tim Poynter.
The flyer is funded by Conservative Leadership for the First Coast run by Stafford Jones, former chair of the Alachua County Republican Party and operator of more than 175 Political Action Committees. Jones controlled PACs previously targeted Minshew with four attack flyers which began appearing during early voting.
Bean and Sturges - running for re-election - and City Commissioner Darron Ayscue, running for mayor, are involved with Jones' effort to defeat the three opponents.
Bean's re-election campaign is being partially funded by two Jones PACs. State records show Ayscue has contributed $2,500 to the Jones PAC behind two of the mailers, including the one Wednesday. Bean is running against Tuten.
“Why are political PACs in Tallahassee so financially vested in our City Commission race? Do these PACs share our concerns about overdevelopment and Bioethanol? Why do these PACs want Bean, Sturges and Christy Kelly to win? What future votes are these political PACs interested in?” Tuten said of the most recent mailer.
Sturges has been using a Jones ally in local elections attack tactics in his re-election campaign against Minshew.
"When does the law of diminishing returns kick in when close to 50% of voters have already voted? This has become sad and pathetic and a huge waste of money," Minshew said of the most recent mailer.
City commission elections are non-partisan, but City Attorney Tammi Bach ruled earlier that candidates could express their political party affiliations. She said this week that the mailers go beyond the scope of the Escambia County court case on which she based her ruling.
Poynter, a two-time city commissioner, is running against Christy Kelly, who is supported by the local GOP and the far-right conservative group Citizens Defending Freedom.
"Anyone who knows me knows I’m a 'compassionate conservative' who takes pride in working hard for our businesses and our community. I try to surround myself with capable people who share these same values. This flyer and the people behind it are jokes!” Poynter said.
Jones' expanded campaign represents an escalation in what has become an increasingly contentious local election. Jones, who has documented connections to various local Republican figures, has historically wielded significant influence in Nassau County politics through his network of PACs that have contributed millions to disrupt local campaigns.
Vice Mayor David Sturges, whose campaign is linked to Jones through political strategist Alexander Pantinakis's company On Target Messaging, recently issued a statement distancing himself from the negative campaigning. "I want to make it clear that I have no control over others, or their messaging," Sturges wrote on his Facebook page, which reaches approximately 350 followers out of the city's 8,000 voters.
The latest developments come as local political observers note the increasing influence of outside political operatives in municipal elections. City Commissioners Chip Ross and James Antun have publicly condemned the attack tactics, while Mayor Bean, whose previous campaigns received support from Jones's PACs, has remained silent on the issue. Ayscue has also refused to comment on his contributions to the Jones PAC.
Minshew characterized the expanded negative campaign as a sign of political anxiety: "The local Republican Party in Nassau County is terrified of losing their three-vote majority on the Fernandina Beach City Commission," she said, adding that she believes voters "want a city commission that is focused on residents and not political agendas."
State records show significant financial connections between local political figures and Jones's operations, including a $2,000 payment from Sturges' campaign to On Target Messaging, a firm that has received substantial funding from Jones's PAC "True Conservatives."
This is the filthiest sort of politics which should be illegal and the people distributing them should never be placed in offices of the public trust. These are vicious lies in this smear flyer tantamount to libel.