After a fleeting summertime lull, the local campaigns went back to battle stations over the past few days, with fights flaring up on multiple fronts in hotly contested City Commission and School Board races.
The attacks and counter-attacks drew many eyeballs and reactions on Facebook and X/Twitter and prompted a mix of condemnation and kudos from residents, community activists, business leaders and politicians. Besides once again illustrating deep political divisions in Tallahassee, they served as anomen ofthe likely election negativity ahead.
Oneskirmish started Thursday in the Facebook comments of an otherwise innocuous Tallahassee Democrat news article about a coffee shop coming toSoMoWalls, a new dining and distillery project on South Monroe Street owned byBugraDemirel.
Will Crowley, treasurer of the Leon County Democratic Executive Committee, suggested people boycott businesses inSoMoWalls because he said it would enrichDemirel, chairman of the developer-funded Grow Tallahassee political committee that’s been active in recent elections.
That promptedDemirelto publish two columns on the Grow Tallahassee website, one blasting Crowley and the two city commissioners he supports, JeremyMatlowand Jack Porter, and another aboutSoMoWalls, a project touted as revitalizing the southside that got an infusion of $1.8 million in Blueprint sales-tax dollars.
Matlow, meanwhile, amplified Crowley's call for a boycott on X, formerly known as Twitter, and included a portion of a private conversation between him andDemirel, who asked him to pull back supporters who were attackingSoMoWalls.
“If your people continue to target my livelihood and my tenants, this will get very ugly very quick,”Demirel wrote in one text.
Matlow responded that "people have freedom of speech" while Demirel countered that minorities, himself included, don't "appreciate or approve your divisive tactics to discourage southside investments."
Matlow posted part of the exchange on X and quipped: “Nothing like an overt threat from a political operative to start the afternoon."
Demirel, in one of his columns, said the text was a warning that Crowley's comments would only escalate the "political back and forth." He went on to write that Crowley should be fired from his state job.
"The gloves are off now," Demirel wrote. "I am fighting back."
'I didn't take the money and run'
Demireldefended the $1.8 million Blueprintinvestment in SoMoWalls, saying it was the biggest redevelopment project for South Monroe/South Adams in 30 years.
Demirel and his partners "personally invested about $3 million, and secured around $6.2 million from private bank financing," according to his column, in which he reaffirmed his pledge to pay back $1 million of the Blueprint appropriation.
“I didn’t take the money and run,” he wrote. “We used every single dollar to revitalize an entire city block and attract amazing tenants."
Grow Tallahassee, which funded mailers in 2022 supporting Mayor JohnDaileyand City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox and David Bellamy, who challengedMatlow, posted and advertised the column on Facebook. Numerous people either commented or shared it, including City Commissioner Curtis Richardson and County Commission candidate IsaacMontilla.
“Before you push to boycott an existing business ... consider all involved,”Montillawrote. “The waiter, the manager, heck ... think about the people doing (maintenance) and all of their families. Let’s do better.”
Environmental activist Max Epstein pannedDemirel’scolumn and theSoMoWalls project.
“I’m not sure how a cookie cutter development with a heavily subsidized distillery with a few murals on the walls is somehow ‘new ideas, change and success,’ ” he wrote.
One person sharedon his personal page a link to another Demirel column called "The Ugly Truth About Matlow and Porter" which included a photo of Porter and Ray, chairman of the Leon County Democratic Party. The person who shared the link referenced the purchase of a pistol. Ray filed a report about the post Monday with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.
Ray also complained to the Leon County Supervisor of Elections Office after he said a fake slate of candidates purportedly supported by the Democratic Party were “illegally” placed in mailboxes. The Democratic Party tweeted that it had not made such endorsem*nts and called the alleged slate “electioneering fraud.”
School Board candidate calls GOP attack 'shocking and unprecedented'
In another dust-up, Evan Power, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and the Leon County GOP, lashed out atJeremy Rogers, candidate for School Board, after the Leon County Democratic Party posted a photo of him Sunday campaigning with LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida.
Also in the photo were Rogers' school-age daughter, Ray and others. Ray serves as aide toMatlowand is a close friend of Porter, who’s running for re-election.
“Oh look, Equality FL who wants to sexuallyindoctrinateyour kindergartner is campaigning for Jeremy Rogers," Power posted. “Jeremy Rogers does not share our North Florida values.”
Rogers, a Democrat challenging School Board member Laurie Lawson Cox, a Republican, called it a “very wild, bigoted insult.”
“My daughter and I were just exploited for political gain by a national political figure Evan Power,” Rogers said in a text. “It’s really shocking and unprecedented in our community’s elections.”
Bugra Demirel's Grow Tallahassee political committee drops attack mailer on Jack Porter
Meanwhile, some of the first attack mailers of the campaign season hit mailboxes courtesy of Grow Tallahassee,Demirel’s"pro-growth" political committee, which is bankrolled in large part by developers.
One side of the mailer features a photo of Rudy Ferguson, who’s trying to unseat Porter in the Seat 1 race. “Ethics matter. Honesty matters. Integrity matters,” the mailer says.
The flip side of the mailer has a photo of Porter, a Democrat, next to images of former President Donald Trump, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Ted Cruz. Included is a link to a Democrat article from 2020 that mentioned donations Porter received in her first City Commission run from both Democratic and GOP-linked political committees.
The mailer was a twist on others that have gone out in the past from thelocal Democratic Party linking local Republican candidates to state and national Republicans who are unpopular in Democratic-heavy Leon County.
Porter, who is part of the progressive wing of the City Commission, responded by saying she didn’t want to get “in the mud” with Grow Tallahassee.
“Our campaign is supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, coming together to make small donations to our campaign to reform city government and improve our city for everyone,” she said in a text.
Curtis Richardson ads with city-produced images raise questions
Richardson’s campaign put out its ownmail piece touting his support for $500 million in south-side infrastructure projects, $27 million for a new fire station and $18 million in investment in under-served neighborhoods.
But the mailer and a re-election commercial that appeared on Facebook drew questions from Matlow over their use of city-produced images, including Richardson’s official portrait and photos of city events picturing city employees.
Matlow, who is supporting Richardson’s opponent, former City Commissioner Dot Inman-Johnson, said the political marketing didn’t “pass the smell test.” Richardson bristled atMatlow’scriticism and defended the ads.
“Nobody from the city of Tallahassee has said that we did anything improper using those images,” he told the Democrat on Tuesday.
The city maintains a website, talgov.com/photos, that includes photos of city events, press conferences, commissioners and more. The photos are available to the general public.
The mailer includes an image of Tallahassee Fire Department Deputy Chief Richard Jones standing off to the side of Richardson at a news conference. That prompted questions from Joey Davis, president of the Tallahassee firefighters union, which endorsed Inman-Johnson.
On July 19, Davis emailedTFDChief Gene Sanders asking whether the mailer comported with standard operating procedures that say in part that members can’t permit their name or photograph to be used in a “commercial testimonial” or to endorse “any product or service” without permission from the chief.
Sanders replied in an email that Jonesdidn’t know he was being photographed or that the picture would be used in a political mailer.
“Since he was unaware of the picture being used, there is no violation of our policy,” Sanders wrote. “I can only enforce policy on employees that fall under my authority, and the commissioner does not fall under my authority. Neither Chief Jones nor I were contacted.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
