A secretive group calling itself Our Generation is stirring the political pot in Walton County.
The question is, are they doing it legally?
Incumbent county commissioners Bill Imfeld and Bill Chapman, the targets of Our Generation’s negative advertising campaign, have asked the State Attorney’s Office to decide.
They’ve also notified state elections officials about the antics of Our Generation, which defines itself at
generationwalton.com as “a group of concerned citizens who are fighting for a more prosperous Walton County.”
The organization first came to the public’s attention when slick cardboard flyers began appearing around July 1 in Walton County mailboxes.
Those first expensive mailouts advocated on behalf of Melanie Nipper, who is running against Imfeld in District 3, and Bill Fletcher, who is running against Chapman in District 1. All four are registered as Republicans.
The mailouts praised Nipper as “a proven leader who will provide common sense solutions” and Fletcher as “a proven business leader with the desire to improve our community.”
They were sent from an office in the Georgetown Business Center at 1101 30th St. in Washington, D.C.
Both Nipper and Fletcher say they don’t know who it is spending big bucks on their behalf.
“I know when I was being asked to run that a lot of people are upset with the way the county is being run,” Nipper said. “Maybe these are people who don’t want to come to the forefront and this is their way.”
Our Generation followed up on its praise of Fletcher and Nipper with an ad in the Sunday, July 10, Northwest Florida Daily News that heaped criticism on Chapman and Imfeld.
“Two Bad Bills,” an ad fashioned to read like a wanted poster, said, “Wanted for Failures.”
The advertisement, which cost Our Generation $1,950, ran caricatures of each incumbent and listed allegations against both.
Chapman said he is as much in the dark as anyone about who is behind the One Generation assault. Imfeld said he has some theories, but didn’t want to point fingers.
Both incumbents said they suspect whoever is campaigning against them is a proponent of protecting private property rights on Walton County’s beaches, and therefore opposed to their votes in favor of customary use.
“The bottom line is customary use. They’re opposed to it,” Imfeld said. “They want people in office who will allow them to own land out into the middle of the Gulf.”
Imfeld and Chapman voted in support of hiring attorney David Theriaque to explore the concept of customary use — a theory that much beach property is public by virtue of historic precedent.
Theriaque’s findings could result in some beach area presently considered private being declared public.
But fellow Commissioner Cindy Meadows, who also is seeking re-election this year in District 5, voted to hire Theriaque, too, and she hasn’t been targeted thus far by Our Generation.
Both Imfeld and Chapman have gone to the Walton County Supervisor of Elections, the First Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office and the Florida Elections Commission to lodge complaints against Our Generation.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille confirmed he’s received the complaints and is reviewing them.
“We’ll determine based on the allegations what actions this office should take,” he said.
Marcille couldn’t provide specifics about the allegations.
Information provided by the Walton Supervisor of Elections Office indicates Our Generation could be found to have committed a first-degree misdemeanor.
The Supervisor’s Office contacted Jordan Jones, assistant legal counsel for the Florida Division of Elections, on behalf of Chapman.
Jones advised LaJuana Rinker, the chief deputy of the Supervisor of Elections office, that an organization or person making an “independent expenditure” of more than $5,000 without registering with the state commits a first-degree misdemeanor.
Jones also suggested Our Generation advertising could be declared a “political advertisement” if state officials decide it “expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate.”
A political advertisement must include a disclaimer, something that does not appear on anything Our Generation has sent out or paid to run.
Imfeld and Chapman both said they will continue to plow ahead with their campaigns while investigations of Our Generation are conducted.
“I’m just going to allow the investigative agencies to do what they do and we’ll go from there,” said Chapman.
Marcille said that a thorough State Attorney’s Office review would not likely be completed before the Aug. 30 primary that will virtually decide the county commission elections.
The Florida Elections Commission could take much longer than that to announce findings if Walton County’s own history is any indicator.
In 2004, a complaint was lodged against Scott Brannon and a group called the Walton Association of Voters after Brannon defeated incumbent Lane Rees in a nasty election battle for a commission seat.
Two years later, Brannon agreed to accept a $1,000 fine rather than fight allegations that he’d committed campaign finance violations. WAV organizers paid a $15,000 fine.
Brannon had been made Walton County Commission chairman by the time the fines were doled out, and the deposed Rees complained after the $1,000 punishment was levied that the amount was not enough to deter future campaign violations.
“Small fines without further sanctions may not be enough of a deterrent to stop future shenanigans,” Rees said.