Scott Powers
Santa Rosa Beach lawyer, open beaches advocate, and President Donald Trump-needler Daniel Uhlfelder is turning up the heat on his feud with fellow Walton County resident Mike Huckabee to make it a super PAC crusade.
Uhlfelder and Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate who is a close Trump ally, have been battling over public access to beaches in Walton County. Uhlfelder, a highly-active tweeter, turned to attacking Huckabee on Twitter, calling him “beach thief” among other things.
Huckabee responded by filing a bar complaint against Uhlfelder, who formerly served as an attorney for the board of Florida Beaches for All.
Now Uhlfelder says he is retaliating by launching a hybrid super PAC named Make My Day PAC, which he said is “dedicated to the Americans who refuse to be silenced by bad actors.”
All of this began in 2016 when Walton County adopted an ordinance recognizing the public’s use of its coast for fishing and recreation through the legal concept of “customary use.”
The response helped lead to the creation and passage of HB 631 in 2018, expanding the rights of beach-front property owners like Huckabee to claim ownership of the beach to the water’s edge, and preempting local governments like Walton County from declaring and enforcing customary use rights of others to beaches
Currently, there is a movement by Florida Beaches for All to repeal HB 631; Uhlfelder is not involved in that effort.
Huckabee and Uhlfelder have been at it ever since, leading to Huckabee’s Florida Bar Association complaint in December, accusing Uhlfelder of using social media to post “vile and unprofessional attacks” and “repeatedly posting disparaging information about me.”
Make my day, Uhlfelder has responded.
In some ways, Huckabee already has. Uhlfelder stated on Twitter that at the end of 2019 he had about 400 followers, and since he took Huckabee on over the bar complaint that number has soared to more than 100,000. He’s still not in the same league as Huckabee, who has more than 1.5 million Twitter followers.
The PAC calls Huckabee’s complaint “false” and declares that it will promote action to “refuse to be silenced by bad actors, lift up victims that bad actors want to silence, and use social media and contributions to do good.”
6 comments
Alex Miles
February 18, 2020 at 10:53 am
3 questions, Scott:
1. What exactly was false about the bar complaint?
2. If the complaint was so false, why is it still under review, months later?
3. Why is social media “retaliation” needed by this attorney? (Instead of a valid legal response to the complaint)
David Rauschkolb
February 19, 2020 at 6:17 pm
For the record the 501C4 nonprofit, Florida Beaches for All, As of January 27, 2020 Mr. Uhlfelder no longer represents Florida Beaches for All in legal matters.
Ocean Joe
February 19, 2020 at 6:09 am
The law in question…dramatic proof that our legislature isn’t ours. It works for special interests, not for you.
James Bentwood
February 20, 2020 at 7:35 am
Dan was the cofounder of Florida Beaches For All…he was the wacko face until just a few weeks ago—he played the same stunts—EVERYONE knows this!!!
A Local
February 20, 2020 at 7:48 am
HB631 had nothing to do with Huck’s private beach just sayin
Jeff turner
February 20, 2020 at 8:32 am
Really sad part of this story is that the citizens of Walton County are being embarrassed twofold. 1) Nationally now being associated and represented by such a child boy tantrum activist who only has a platform as a result of his fanatical infatuation of hating Huckabee, and by so publicly and deliberately misleading innocent citizens just wanting to enjoy the beach.
2) Those same citizens falling victim to an orchestrated and tightly controlled social and print media blitz by the bad actors at FBFA, playing on unknowing citizens’ emotions, and keeping the truth from daylight.
Fact is, those beaches in Walton County have been private for 100 years, it’s the wonderful legacy of the area. Nothing has changed, no one did anything to take any beach from anyone. But these 2 carnival barkers have the citizens believing in conspiracy theories for their own personal financial gain and some sick need for social media fame. Sad days for the county at the hands of a couple of sick wannabes.
Comments are closed.