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leeboy

Beach Lover
Aug 19, 2015
220
100
Mike Huckabee Files "Tweet" Complaint Against Walton County Attorney

Internet fame can come from the most unusual places.

Walton County attorney Daniel Uhlfelder found his Twitter following increase from 422 to nearly 75,000 as of Monday afternoon, after he shared an article about former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee filing a bar complaint against him.

“On Saturday, I was at my daughter’s ballet recital and I had just about 400 Twitter followers,” Uhlfelder said. “Now it’s close to 75,000. That’s more than Walton County has full-time residents. My notifications are going off every three seconds.”

In the complaint filed Oct. 24 by Huckabee’s attorney, J. Nixon Daniel III of the Pensacola firm, Beggs & Lane, Huckabee alleges that Uhlfelder used social media to “harass” him by repeatedly posting about the quiet title/customary use issue in Walton County.

The complaint includes examples of Uhlfelder retweeting a joke someone made about Huckabee “slathered in Noxema, clad in ‘Fox & Friends’ T-shirt, khaki shorts, black socks and sandals, wandering around the beach with a metal detector.” In another tweet, Uhlfelder shared a screenshot showing that Huckabee had blocked him. In the complaint, Huckabee said did so because of the “vile and unprofessional attacks on me and my family.”



A final example refers to Uhlfelder responding to a tweet about a possible Secret Service code name for Huckabee, his suggestion was “beach thief.”

“He accused me of being a thief, disparaged me and my family,”Huckabee said in the complaint. “Mr. Uhlfelder’s conduct is an embarrassment to the reputation of the Florida Bar.”

Uhlfelder and Huckabee have never met in person, but they’re on opposing sides of a beach-access battle that has been waging since July 2017. Uhlfelder is the counsel of Florida Beaches for All, a citizens group working to save the “customary use” ordinance that allows beachgoers to access dry sand areas of private beach property, which became void when House Bill 631 was signed into law in April 2018.

Huckabee, who owns a beachfront home in Walton County, has been opposed to customary use and even wrote an email to state Sen. Kathleen Passidomo of Naples thanking her for sponsoring House Bill 631.

On Dec. 2, Uhlfelder’s lawyer, Mark Levine of Levine & Strivers, LLC, responded to the complaint saying “a lawyer — simply because he or she is a lawyer — does not check First Amendment rights at the door to admission to The Florida Bar.”

The news of the complaint blew up when The South Florida Sun Sentinel shared an opinion piece chiding Huckabee. “Ol’ Huck can dish it out, but he can’t take it,” wrote Steve Bousquet.

When Uhlfelder shared the article, he started to see responses from U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, of California, to former “Star Trek” star George Takei.

“I had to take time away from work and my Thanksgiving holiday to respond to the complaint,” Uhlfelder said. “But I’m grateful for the outpouring of interest and support.”

The Walton County attorney said he’s not going to stop tweeting. In fact, now with a bigger audience, he feels even more compelled to share.

“Apparently, it’s resonating with people,” he said. “The followers are from all over the world. I don’t think many people publicize their bar complaints …. I was raised by my family to stand up for what I believe.”

Attempts to reach Huckabee were not successful.
 

Bob Wells

Beach Fanatic
Jul 25, 2008
3,380
2,857
Did Governor Huckabee complain about Representative Gaetz comments about the former lawyer of Presidents Trump, Michael Cohen? Would venture to guess that any punishment will be less than what Representative Gaetz recieved.
 

FactorFiction

Beach Fanatic
Feb 18, 2016
494
409
What a shame that this is the way people handle differences. Name calling, disparaging, ridiculing, and spreading hate all divide our citizens and resolve nothing. This is true for both sides of the customary use issue in my opinion and our politics in general. No wonder so many children become bullies at some time in their life, if not for all their lives. Just look at how adults jump on a bandwagon and spout off without truly understanding the full issues or discussing them intelligently and respectfully. Our political climate is a disaster and this interchange involving Mr. Uhlfelder and Huckabee truly brought politics into the CU battle in spite of the claim that CU is a totally bipartisan issue. The courts will decide many of the controversial issues of our day, whether CU or a wide assortment of political issues, but no matter what, we have all lost the precious ability to have a respectful dialogue among our citizenry and resolve issues in a positive manner that may not make either side 100% happy, but can restore civility. Social media may ultimately be the straw that brings our nation to the point of no return. What a horrible state of affairs that hate is the common denominator for so many.
 

jodiFL

Beach Fanatic
Jul 28, 2007
2,476
733
SOWAL,FL
I am sure that the ol' Huckster is trying to silence his detractors because when the facts come out nationwide about how he and his "engineers" scammed the DEP its not going to bode well for him.
 

Poppaj

SoWal Insider
Oct 9, 2015
8,149
19,906
Using social media to warn everyone social media is going to be the downfall of the nation, got it.:thumbsup:
 

mputnal

Beach Fanatic
Nov 10, 2009
2,289
1,799
Supview, at first I thought the word "zealot" was a bit harsh. Do you know the history of the word? It goes back to the roman occupation of Judea Province (Palestine) and the political movement to unseat the Romans. Many translations define the word as "loyal to God" or "true believer". Paul the Apostle may have been a zealot. Of course modern translations are more related to fanatic and idealogue and even the biblical use of the word seemed to indicate those that are willing to go a little too far. Of course I speak only for myself and I am pretty sure the word was not used as a compliment but it does have a history of political activism. The incessant posting by those wanting private beach enjoyment at the expense of public beach enjoyment seemed to be tied to a particular political party with a lot of power at the moment. How else could a bill get thru our legislative branch that quickly? In politics it is all about power and where that power comes from. Our Constitution give us checks and balances on that power because man abuses power. My research of many of those who support private beach enjoyment seems to believe in a Constitutional and maybe even religious mandate. Since every one of those in this forum who support private beach enjoyment are hiding their identity we are left with a simple game of connecting dots. I think the dots are all connected to an abuse of power because I know of very view individuals who can build a mansion on the beach that requires access to loopholes in the building codes, has a direct effect on the legislative branch and then justifies elite wealth and power with "well life just ain't fair so deal with it". I am very disappointed because the political party that I have always supported seems to be that abuse of power. I sincerely hope that we will use those checks and balances to bring this abuse of power back to where fairness and equality AND public beach enjoyment is a realistic ideal for not just this community but all communities...The End :)
 
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