A.G. Gancarski
On Wednesday afternoon, we saw Senator Bill Nelson come to town on behalf of Mayor Alvin Brown, and this won’t be the last such public endorsement designed to help the Mayor. Just a few hours after that endorsement, the Duval County Republican Party countered with an email (“Top 4 similarities between liberal Democrat Bill Nelson and liberal Democrat Alvin Brown”) designed to undercut that endorsement and to advance certain tropes that will feature, perhaps, in future messaging.
The most potentially headline grabbing of the claims: the untimely reminder of Brown’s historic tendency to be described as an “attorney” on FEC forms.
The email contends that Nelson is an attorney but that Brown “CLAIMED to be an attorney as early as 2006, even though he never studied law and has never been a member of any state bar association.” This argument, which recycles claims that weren’t successfully promulgated four years ago, stems from Brown’s historic tendency to list his occupation as attorney on FEC forms.
(Interestingly, local activist and political operative Diane Melendez, who posted an unsolicited message of support for Mike Hogan four years ago on Lenny Curry’s Facebook page and had this info then, says that the word attorney and other synonyms “referred to the fellow whose name proceeded it on the form, not Alvin. So Alvin was working for the attorney, not claiming to be one.”)
The Brown counterclaim back then was that these entries were a result of sloppy paperwork by less than “conscientious campaign workers.” As Tim Gibbons and Steve Patterson reported in July 2011, months after the election of Mayor Brown, in the Florida Times-Union:
Through a spokesman, Brown acknowledged making 16 donations, dated from 2005 to 2010. The contributions, totaling $27,600 went to eight political committees and campaigns, ranging from the Florida Democratic Party to Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. All of those contributions listed Brown’s occupation as an attorney, which he is not. Three other donations, totaling $8,300, were made during the time but did not identify him as a lawyer.
A dozen donation records in Brown’s name list the mayor’s home address and identify him as an attorney for the Law Office of William Gray.
Another lists Brown as an attorney working for Willie Gary, a lawyer and philanthropist whom Brown is connected with.
The last donations listing Brown as an attorney, in August 2010, were made months after he had begun fundraising for his mayoral campaign.
More from the same article:
When during the campaign, the Times-Union asked Brown about three contributions where he was listed as an attorney, he said paperwork was filled out incorrectly when he contributed along with people who were attorneys.
The contributions that did accurately list Brown’s occupation and employer, Harding said, had forms filled out by more conscientious campaign workers.
The Republican Party was not able to make this charge stick in 2011, but clearly the Duval GOP believes it worthy of revival.
The email points out three other similarities between Brown and Nelson.
One similarity the email points out is that both Democrats “support Obamacare.” The email manages to use that charge to play a little inside baseball as well.
in 2013 Mayor Alvin Brown welcomed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to help sell it to Jacksonville residents. “This is just the beginning of what we are committed to doing [to promote Obamacare],” said Mia Jones, a special assistant to Mayor Alvin Brown. In fact, Alvin Brown was so enamored with the Obamacare team that he even hired a close Sebelius aide – Fabien Levy – to run his re-election campaign!
As we reported first, Levy has left the Brown campaign, in a move that Marc Caputo of Politico contended was “a ‘shakeup.’ Not normal to have this @ this stage.”
Levy was the communications director for the campaign of former Louisiana U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, who lost her race in November to current Sen. Bill Cassidy. Lenny Curry‘s campaign manager, Brian Swensen, was Cassidy’s political director.
Another such similarity, which is that Brown and Nelson both “support Barack Obama,” will surprise many local Democrats who thought that the Mayor could have done more for Obama in 2012; they contend that whenever the President comes to town, the Mayor can’t be found. Nelson campaigned for Obama. Brown said that he voted for him. Brown “was also a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention that nominated Barack Obama.”
That nomination, of course, was for re-election.
The final “similarity” that the email points out: that Brown and Nelson are both “ready for Hillary.” It points out Nelson’s support for Hillary Clinton‘s 2008 campaign and seeming support for her seemingly inevitable run in 2016, while reminding voters that Brown is a product of the Clinton machine, contending that “Alvin Brown also supported Hillary in 2008. That’s because began his work as a career politician in the Clinton White House and has been an ally of the Clinton’s since the 1992 election. Long time Clinton shill James Carville even said that Alvin Brown “would be a top choice for a senior cabinet seat” in a Hillary Clinton administration.”
As the joke goes, this email is “all about that base.” It also lets Republicans know that the party is willing to take the gloves off early in this runoff election, and begs the question: how will the Duval Democrats respond?
A hallmark of the Fabien Levy era was the spokesman’s repeated insistence that the Brown campaign did not go negative, even as their PAC ran negative ads. A reasonable expectation is that the Brown campaign and its adjuncts will fire back in the same spirit in which this email was written.
