Tampa, Florida: A disgusting mail advertisement turned up attacking candidate Rose Ferlita. Funded by a 527 group, Less Government Now. It urges voters to vote against Ferlita because she is “Unmarried. Unsure. Unelectable.
This mailer implies that because Ferlita is not married, she is incapable of valuing family or holding public office. “Rose Ferlita has put her political ambition first and foremost, while her opponent is a dedicated family man with two children – Ferlita is an unmaried woman with a suspect commitment toi family values” it reads Further, as Florida blog Saint Petersblog notes, “unmarried” is a “code word” – “if you read between the lines is a subtle way of casting doubt on Ferlita’s sexual orientation.” Other mailers have been sent by Les Government Now going after men have focused on the candidates’ record or policy positions, not their personal lives, marital status or sexual orientation.
It seems that Less Government Now has ties to a defeated candidate, Scott Maddox, who rand for Agricultural Commissioner las year. He was used to bolster tea party candidates in an attempt to split the GOP vote. Tampa has non-partisan mayoral elections, but Ferlita, a current county commissioner is a Republican.
In the Maddox case, the Florida Education Association [FEA] was funding fake robo-calls to voters promoting fake Tea Party Candidate and Maddox supporter Ira Chester in the Commissioner of Agriculture race. It was a ploy of Scott Maddox, who was endorsed by FEA, to take away votes away from Adam Putnam by using life long support of Maddox. The FEA used a recently formed 527 called Less Government Now. The major funding for this 527 is the Floridians for Education and Development, the FEA Solidarity Fund, as well as the Trial Attorneys through another 527 called Floridians for Effective Leadership.
It was a sleazy move by Maddox and the Teachers Union to confuse voters with a fake Tea Party candidate. The Florida Education Association should explain to the teachers of Florida why they would spend their members’ dues to support a fake TEA Part candidate and interfere in the race for Commissioner of Agriculture when they have no stake in the issues relevant to the office.
In yesterdays Saintpetersblog.com there were these updates:
**Update***An alert reader sent me this link to a story in the Miami Herald linking “Less Government Now” with attacks on John Thrasher.
***Update***From a story in the Florida Times-Union: Less Government Now was formed in August and is based out of Tampa. Like other similar groups, the registration paperwork gives few answers about who is truly behind the organization or what their agenda is. The only name attached to the organization is Tracy Cintron, who, according to my Google and Twitter search, appears to be a Democratic behind-the-scenes type person in Tampa.
***Update***Bob Buckhorn disavows: This type of campaigning and personal attack is abhorrent, and we denounce those individuals, campaigns and organizations that have participated in it. We will continue to run a positive campaign focusing on the issues and ask that anyone perpetuating this ugliness stop doing so immediately.
***Update***Nat’l website www. Thinkprogress.org is now reporting on this.
An atrocious, and perhaps anti-gay, attack mailer has surfaced in Tampa’s mayoral race. I received a copy of this mailer last night from an anonymous reader, so I am not sure how far and wide the distribution of this mailer is.
What is particularly disturbing about this mailer is the codeword, “Unmarried,” which, if you read between the lines is a subtle way of casting doubt on Ferlita’s sexual orientation.
I don’t know much about who paid for this mailer because it says it was paid for by Less Government Now, a 527 which emerged during the general election with another anti-Ferlita mailer.
With early voting starting tomorrow and 11 days to go before Election Day, it looks like Tampa’s mayoral race is taking a decidedly nasty turn.
Now this should raise flags in all states. Is Florida’s Teachers Union an anomaly or is it becoming the standard norm? Do teachers in all states pay dues and have no information as to what their union is doing with their money? Do we say in Ohio, have a Less Government Now organization? In Florida there is only one member of that committee:
Committee Tracking System
| Less Government Now | |
| Type: | Electioneering Communications Organization |
| Status: | Active |
| Address: | 701 South Howard Avenue #106-126 Tampa, FL 33606 |
| Phone: | (813)205-0922 |
| Chairperson: | Tracy Cintron |
| Treasurer: | Tracy Cintron |
| Registered Agent: | Tracy Cintron 701 South Howard Avenue #106-126 Tampa, FL 336060000 |
| Purpose: | |
| Affiliates: | |
This information can be found on the DOS sites in each state. What is troubling is that women are being attacked in a different manner now than in the past. That a teacher union would use their member’s dues to fund a fake tea party candidate to divide voters for their own personal political gain. In this case the teacher’s union would gain nothing.
What they have tried to do Rose Ferlita is unconsciounable. I would hope that not all teacher’s unions or other public unions would participate in a sleazy dirty trick. We should all find out,
throwoutthetrash 