Peter Schorsch
Dirty politics apparently is not taking a holiday in the House District 17 special election.
While families in St. John’s County prepared for Christmas – a day of peace, love and celebration – candidates dispatched their most heated rhetoric to date.
And a “Happy Holidays” to you, too …
HD 17 opened when Ponte Vedra Beach Republican Rep. Ronald “Doc” Renuart entered the race for John Thrasher’s Senate District 6 seat.
A post-holiday email from Republican candidate Cyndi Stevenson tells supporters of a Christmas Eve tale worthy of Dickens — minus the heartwarming end.
In the message, “failed candidate” Mike Davis was accused of using the holiday lull to launch a “false, negative” attack on Stevenson’s budget votes during her time on the St. Johns County Commission.
Davis lost the District 17 Republican primary in 2012, gaining less than a third of the ballot.
The budget votes in question, Stevenson points out, included funding for fire stations and libraries, beach access and road improvements.
You know, for innocent children and puppies (probably).
Davis – the Ebenezer Scrooge-like villain of this story – hid cowardly behind a Tampa-based third party to launch his attack, at least according to Stephenson.
“I had been warned that Mike had become desperate to win after his failed campaign for this seat two years ago,” she says. “I had no idea that he and his friends were against budgets that increased public safety and enhanced educational opportunities and our quality of life.
“I was also quite surprised that he had an issue with cumulative budgets that had cut county spending by $151 million since 2007.”
But Stephenson was not done decorating Davis a Grinch that may not have stolen Christmas, but is certainly ready to do what it takes to win a special election.
She points to Davis’ reputation for “negative campaigning and being loose with the facts.”
“Clearly he did not learn from that loss and does not understand that the people of this district would rather see Christmas cards in the mail on Christmas Eve than his false attacks,” she adds. “He and his friends should be ashamed.”
Although Stevenson is not surprised Davis used a third party for his dirty work, she was surprised the group was “so low as to attack on Christmas Eve.”
Nevertheless, no matter who received coal in their stockings for Christmas, Stevenson will still have to face Davis and John R. “Jack” Capra in the GOP special primary Jan. 27. The winner then faces write-in candidate Mary Anne Boczek and No Party Affiliation candidate Judy Stevens on April 7.
It remains to be seen who, if anyone, is ultimately able to stay off the “naughty list” next year.
