Indian River elections nasty. Will state political committees try to steal your vote?
If you're like me, you miss football offenses where backfield misdirection makes defending difficult.
Misdirection can be a great offense for a political campaign. It can also backfire. It can depend on how a communications campaign is run and how well voters sniff out the fakery.
There's been no shortage of it in Indian River County elections this year. However, there's been nothing — so far — as bad as the ridiculousness of 2006, when our editorial page highlighted atrocious attacks against county commission candidates and others, or 2016.
That's when a political committee, the Conservative Leadership Fund, mailed flyers linking Vero Beach's Erin Grall, then running in a GOP primary for state House, with liberals Hillary Clinton and George Soros. Grall's conservative bona fides have been proven as a state representative and senator the past eight years.
The worst: Make your pick in 2016 Indian River County election mailer Hall of Shame
More: TCPalm Editorial Board recommendation 2024: Indian River County School Board races
State PAC controversy: Indian River fire union mailer shows Hurricane Election here in Vero Beach area
More: Indian River County Primary Election 2024: Candidates reply to questionnaires
Worst efforts in school board race
That year also saw all sorts of nonsense from political committees bashing GOP Senate candidates Ritch Workman and Debbie Mayfield. Mayfield won that election, and after 16 years representing the Treasure and Space coasts is seeking another term in the Florida House.
Back in Indian River County, Tallahassee-based political strategists and donors, in some cases from all over the nation, are trying to manipulate what goes on in our community. It's sad, but true.
As I write ― three weeks before the election — more than 7,000 people and 6% of registered voters in the county had cast ballots by mail, according to Leslie Swan, supervisor of elections.
Expect to be fed more bogus emails, texts, social media ads and mailers. Be prepared to call foul on any attack stuff you see; chances are well-paid, unaccountable, out-of-town political consultants send it. So far, here's some of the worst or strangest stuff I've seen.
The worst: An email blast from school board candidates Robert MacCallum and Kevin McDonald, who claim to seek civility on the board, made various claims about incumbent Peggy Jones and David Dyer, the former CEO of brands such as Land’s End, Tommy Hilfiger and Chico’s.
The email claims erroneously the Jones and Dyer “team” “Supports Boys in Girls Sports.”
Didn't GOP used to be known for character?
MacCallum gigged Jones for voting against a May school board resolution objecting to April federal changes in Title IX related to transgender athletes.
The resolution, approved 4-1, affirmed what’s already in state law: Two sexes are determined at birth, Jones said in voting simply to delay the vote by two months to get further guidance from the state education commissioner and not expose local taxpayers to potential litigation.
Then, in an anonymous text message sent July 16 from area code 833, Republicans were told “Jones voted to allow boys in girls sports. True Republicans say no! Vote Rob MacCallum for School Board.”
True Republicans would not resort to such bogus communication. True Republicans would speak the truth, talking about their values and the facts, such as that for two straight years Indian River County has been rated an A school district. Boys don’t play girls sports. Why? It’s the law. The resolution was meaningless, political red meat.
As for voters, they should read the words Jones, a career-long educator, had on the 40th anniversary of Title IX, which gave girls the right to play on their own teams, in 2012. She has been a staunch advocate for girls.
While MacCallum and his Moms for Liberty crowd have been twisting Jones' vote, a Tallahassee-based political action committee, Empower Parents Florida, chaired by outgoing House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, has been touting the party designation of MacCallum and McDonald in what the state Constitution says is a nonpartisan race.
State records show the committee's largest donation, $1 million, came from a closed political committee of the same name that netted almost $226 million from 2018 to 2023 from donors nationwide. The closed committee was chaired by state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, who in 2023 filed a bill, "the Ultimate Cancel Act," that would have effectively banned the Democratic Party.
Does GOP infighting seek party purity?
As someone who has had an R in his party registration far longer than most people have lived here, I find such legislation odd. To me, competition is healthy. I wish there were some from non-Republicans.
Locally, some GOP candidates, who represent 51% of the county’s registered voters, are making party an issue in the two races where only GOPers can vote.
I don’t care that, according to a mailer sent by County Commission District 5 candidate Tracey Zudans, her opponent, Laura Moss, “registered as a Republican at the age of 62” in 2015 after losing an Indian River County Hospital District race in 2014 to Marybeth Cunningham as a “No Party Affiliate.”
What the mailer neglected to mention was, according to records, Moss was a Republican in New York before moving to Florida. Anyone who knows Moss recognizes her GOP bona fides as a county commissioner, city council member and first vice president of the Republican Women of Indian River, the fifth oldest GOP women’s club in the state.
And how many Republicans, for example, care that Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump were former Democrats? And how many care Trump contributed to past Kamala Harris and Joe Biden campaigns?
There's some unusual stuff in the sheriff’s race, too, which is open only to Republicans.
Linda Ceilley, president of the Republican Women of Indian River, felt she had to clarify her club does not endorse candidates in primaries after an email was sent by Elect Republican Women, a political action committee touting incumbent Eric Flowers.
Thornton a victim? Playing both sides of aisle?
The committee’s registered agent is Charlie Wilson, one of the most controversial local political operatives of the past 30 years. At $100, he was the sole donor to the committee as of Tuesday.
More interesting are the question marks in Milo Thornton’s big-money campaign run by the controversial Tallahassee-based Front Line Strategies, which also is running Zudans’ campaign.
I didn’t think much of it when I saw a Thornton mailer showing him with Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (who endorsed Flowers), saying Thornton stands with them. It says it was paid for by his campaign and, other than the mailer size, looks identical to his other literature.
Then I heard from someone who switched parties to vote for Thornton that the mailer might be a fake. I texted Thornton.
“That was not approved by me,” he said. “I am addressing that with my team. Not sure who’s behind this.”
A few days later, after TCPalm’s sheriff’s candidate recommendation was published, Thornton texted to say the editorial was wrong about Tracey Zudans’ husband, Val, being affiliated with Thornton’s political action committee.Florida Division of Elections records show Val Zudans, an outspoken GOP and Trump supporter and controversial Vero Beach mayor, is the registered agent.
When sent a screenshot of state filings, Thornton said Front Line registered it incorrectly. As of Wednesday, the "mistake" remained online with the state, though records show Zudans in February resigned as chair of the committee.
Bottom line: Don’t believe everything people tell you. Try to do your own research.
We live in a community where you can call or email candidates for office. Don’t be scared to contact them and ask questions.
If they don’t get back to you, that’s a hint. Get at least two sides of the story.
Doing that will make you a better voter.
This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.
If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Beware pols' voter misdirection tactics when voting in Indian River
