Mr.
Weimorts says people in Walton County are scratching their heads about who is behind the advertising by Our Generation and suggests we don't need to know. He then eviscerates their veracity by attacking their motives and stating the BBB gives them "a grade of "
F" for horrible behavior". Actually, the BBB gives them a rating of "
C-" and never mentions that it was because of "horrible behavior". While not outstanding, a "
C-" is a whole lot better than the "
F" rating Mr.
Weimorts is erroneously stating. Personally, I would like to know who is funding Our Generation because I would like to thank them for the mailers they have sent on my behalf and ask them to end the negative ads. However, I spoke to our Supervisor of Elections shortly after the mailers started appearing (and before the negative ads started) and expressed my concern the it could be done without my input or approval. I was informed that, if I communicated with them, I would be breaking the law as it is illegal for a candidate to communicate with an outside group. Not sure I understand the rationale of that, but certainly do not plan on breaking the law. In fact, an article in today's Northwest Florida Daily News contained the following, "Under Florida election rules, contact between candidates and outside groups is not allowed". My assumption is that Mr.
Weimorts was encouraging me and Mrs. Nipper to contact the group so we could be charged with a crime. In the August 4, 2016 issue of the
DeFuniak Springs Herald, I placed a full page political ad; the following paragraph is a verbatim section from that ad;
"Most of you have probably seen the negative ads being run against Commissioners
Imfeld and Chapman by a group called Our Generation. I emphatically and categorically deny any knowledge of the folks funding this group. Although I appreciated the mailers supporting me (something that was a complete surprise) I am strongly opposed to negative ads and wish they would cease. I'm not running against any of the other candidates, I'm running for all the citizens of Walton County!"
Lastly, some of the Candidates and others on social media are saying this election is about the Customary Use issue; nothing could be further from the truth! I've been to many Candidate Forums over the past several months and assure you that
every County Commissioner candidate is
for the public's right to the beach. Unfortunately, failure of the
BCC for many years to address poor code enforcement against those abusing beachfront homeowners property and strict regulations on beach vendors has escalated to the point where this issue will be decided in the courts and will cost Walton County taxpayers a great deal of money. Finally, absolutely no special interest group or individual has asked me to commit to anything. Anyone that knows me understands I don't operate that way.