Kim Daniels Times-Union ad funded by Jax heavy hitters

The first week of early voting has started out badly for Jacksonville At Large Council Candidate Kimberly Daniels. This past Monday she found herself in a heated dispute at an early voting location. On Friday’s edition of her radio program 25 Minutes of Power, she clarified events, explaining that she had been “set up” by political adversaries who would preclude her from “using this platform to speak to the saints.”

In her Friday radio broadcast, she devoted time to tell how The Florida Times-Union had demonstrated bias against her: The local daily, she said,  “shut down an interview” when she ran four years ago, after she alleged “somebody offered me a bribe to get out of the race.” He comment was part of a larger discussion of how “secular media. .. can make you or break you.” Apparently, those with a stake in her messaging have opted to let the Jacksonville daily “make her” by subsidizing an ad on Page 2 of Sunday’s Metro section.

The picture accompanying the text depicts Daniels dangling out of a picture frame, with a caption reading “I’m not missing … Here I am!” The graphic is no accident: It’s a response to a mailer from 904WARD that shows Daniels on a milk carton, lampooning her absences.

The Democratic Councilwoman, running for re-election, bemoans the “snakes coming out of hibernation” in the lead paragraph. It’s “snake season” and every person in the game has a “political agenda.”

Reminding us that “There is life after the election,” Daniels reiterates a theme found in previous messaging. The trope in the second paragraph about a war fought on American soil was introduced on her Friday radio broadcast. From there, her commentary continues to keep one foot in the secular world, the other in the spiritual.

Contending that “most of the problems associated with our city government are rooted in division and strivings” brought on by the agendas of “special interest groups and political prowess,” Daniels asserts that despite such infleunces, “during the last term we have done a good job of cleaning up the mess.” That said, she adds, “This city will not move forward with the political roadblocks placed in this city’s path.”

“If you cannot find me or are not feeling me, it does not mean that I am not present. I have a burden for my city,” Daniels says, before discussing some aspects of the burden.

The Democrat discusses her opposition to what is called a “Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Gay, and Transsexual Bill.” Daniels does not support it; her opponent, “Anna Broche” (SIC), does. Daniels contends the Bill, known less colloquially as the Human Rights Ordinance, is a “bad bill” supported by “some of the meanest people I have ever met.”

The other major focus of the conclusion of the piece is her attendance record. Criticisms of that are just “political rumor” and fail to overlook extenuating circumstances, such as the fact that “her assistant at the church was found dead in the St. Johns River.”

As interesting as the text of the ad is, the financing struck some observers as even more interesting. Jimmy Midyette of the Northeast Florida LGBT Leadership PAC did some digging and found the ad was paid for by Next Generation Leaders Trust (otherwise known as Next Generation Leaders ECO, which has gotten significant capital in recent weeks from Lee Ann Rummell, wife of Peter Rummell) and Regent Consultancy LLC, whose title manager is Shahid Khan.

Lee Ann Rummell donated $19,000 on Feb. 23; Khan’s company donated $20,000 on March 4.

This convergence surprised Midyette, given that Peter Rummell is a high-profile supporter of Lenny Curry for mayor, while Khan backs the re-election campaign of Mayor Alvin Brown.