To the Editor:
Within 30 seconds of walking through the doors to attend the candidate forum (PV Recorder, 7/11/24), the campaign manager for commissioners Henry Dean and Christian Whitehurst put a camera in my face and told me to remove campaign materials I had placed on the table for Dean and Whitehurst’s opponents, Ann-Marie Evans and Ann Taylor.
The incumbents’ campaign manager then brought over an organizer of the event who told me that I must remove the two candidates’ materials because they are not “positive.” She didn’t even pick one up to read it; the decision was predetermined. All three campaign pieces from “the Anns” were banned from the premises, and I later learned that policy was enforced by police. Yes, this happened in the United States of America — home of the First Amendment.
What could have been so objectionable in “the Anns’” literature that police were called to escort me out at the end of the meeting when I handed out a few flyers at the door? Here are some excerpts: “On Whitehurst’s watch: ‘Our #1 ranked schools dropped to #2’ (Fl. Dept. of Ed.)”; “65% INCREASE in the number of overcapacity roads from 2020 to 2023 in SJC (SJC Transportation Analysis Spreadsheets)”; “he voted YES to over 15,000 new homes”; “he voted NO to reducing clearcutting; [Whitehurst] voted to put a 15% higher tax on the ballot. It lost in a landslide.” It was all factual and cited.
The ground rule of the forum itself was “no personal attacks.” However, that somehow morphed into “you can’t talk about what your opponent has done, only about what you plan to do.” This rule heavily favored incumbents who spoke about all that they had done in office. Their records could not be mentioned or questioned. How convenient, considering that Dean alone has approved the development of nearly 30,000 homes and housing units.
Contrast all this “positivity” with the incumbents’ PACs’ attack ads that attempt to wholly shatter the reputations of Ann Taylor and Ann-Marie Evans. I sure wish I had a police officer to escort those lies out of my mailbox and off of my cell phone. They falsely claimed Ann-Marie wants to raise property taxes, citing a Facebook link to nowhere. She’s also accused of donating to a radical leftist group, when in fact she paid dues to her professional trade association for attorneys — without which it would have been difficult to practice law. Ann Taylor is depicted as supporting sex changes of children — all because an article came out about a puberty-blocking drug manufactured by a company Ann had left five years before! She marketed a painkilling gel for arthritis, not puberty blockers, at that company. The PAC ads also accuse her of supporting a “$7 million tree tax,” even though it’s the identical policy that Henry Dean says he supports, with no reference to a $7 million tax — which it is not.
The two very conservative, lifelong Republicans known as “The Anns” are now fighting a PAC of lies that has labeled them “woke liberals.” Their statements rebutting the false claims are on their Facebook pages: ElectAnnMarie.com and VoteAnnTaylor.com.
Nicole Crosby
Ponte Vedra Beach
