A.G. Gancarski
Robin Hood, Little John, and Maid Marian were nowhere to be found Saturday in Sherwood Forest.
To be clear, we’re talking about the Northwest Jacksonville neighborhood … not the fabled fictional hideout.
The House District 14 race between Kim Daniels and Leslie Jean-Bart has become increasingly personal with each passing week, but Saturday saw a new milestone.
The allegation from Jean-Bart’s camp: Daniels’ team was trailing Jean-Bart’s canvassers, with candidate Daniels herself becoming confrontational with Jean-Bart’s team, even intimidating some canvassers as young as 16.
FloridaPolitics.com spoke with Angie Nixon of the Jean-Bart campaign Saturday evening, just after police left her house. She told a tale of tactics from the Daniels campaign that crossed the line, with the candidate herself “yelling at children about signs and knocking on doors.”
A video records Daniels asserting “I don’t need nobody’s signs in that neighborhood but mine,” as “7413” is “where had Mike Mike,” one of her sons.
In an example of microtargeting, the signs call for voters to send Mike Mike’s mother to Tallahassee
“I don’t care that the enemy is watching, because, guess what, if they come in there, run them out of there,” Daniels said in the video.
Daniels’ actions and tactics remind Nixon of Daniels’ blow-up during early voting in 2015, with her obscenity-peppered outburst at reps from other campaigns, delivering her signature quote: “The pastor ain’t here, Kim is.”
“Clearly, she was Kim today because she was yelling at kids,” Nixon said. “She’s supposed to be a woman of the cloth.”
Her team was canvassing, and they noticed Daniels’ team was tracking them. As they received permission to place a sign, Nixon said, Daniels ran up to them and started yelling to get the signs. This narrative was backed up in writing by a 17-year-old canvasser who felt “fear,” describing Daniels as following the Jean-Bart team, trying to get Jean-Bart signs moved out of people’s yards.
There was also a dispute about the endorsement from Corrine Brown, who initially backed Jean-Bart, but then shifted to Daniels when she got in the race.
Jean-Bart’s team frames that as a co-endorsement; Daniels sees it as Brown changing sides.
Daniels was so out of control, Nixon said, canvassers from the Jean-Bart team retreated into their car. Meanwhile, Nixon added, a man on Daniels’ team was writing down plate numbers, and reinforcements were arriving for Daniels’ side.
Then, Nixon continued, Kim rolled by slowly, and her people kept riding by, also to intimidate.
The police came, and Nixon said “Kim’s people were straight up lying to police,” who were reluctant to file a report … perhaps, she suggested, because Daniels was the preferred candidate of the Fraternal Order of Police.
This created a problem.
Nixon wanted to document the harassment because of Daniels’ pattern of erratic behavior, and because of the attempted intimidation in this situation, where Daniels’ crew was “three cars deep,” with two tall white guys and up to 10 people at the height of the situation.
Jean-Bart’s campaign has tried to run its own race, but “today we had to focus on Kim,” a candidate who Nixon said plays by her own rules, including fronting her campaign $65,000 of unaccountable money and creating campaign ads that also promote federal candidate Corrine Brown and local school board candidate Bradford Hall, as a co-branded ticket with only Daniels’ disclaimer.
Daniels had anomalies in her most recent campaign for Jacksonville’s city council, including using campaign funds for personal expenses; specifically, the promotion of her book, “The Demon Dictionary,” and recording two max donations from the Fraternal Order of Police.
We have reached out to Daniels for her side of the story. She didn’t respond, but took to Facebook, claiming “misleading and false information about my campaign.”
She quoted a text, also from a supporter.
“Leslie busted … caught red-handed telling folk congresswoman was endorsing her … Kim Daniels called congresswoman and gave the phone to the constituent and the truth was told … the lady took up all Leslie’s signs on the street … Angie Nixon started crying and called JSO … no report was written. According to the constituents, they’re supporting KD on this one … Team Leslie is in desperation … Leslie should wear a veil of shame for lying to the community to rally votes.”
When asked about the disputed endorsement. Brown deferred comment, with Sen. Audrey Gibson saying Brown was focused on her own race.
