Island Issues

Two Fernandina Commission Candidates Hiding Perverse Views

Two Fernandina Commission Candidates Hiding Perverse Views

Two Fernandina Beach City Commission candidates are being deliberately dishonest and evasive with voters by concealing their backgrounds and refusing to respond to questions about their views that all other candidates have openly answered.

I highlighted this issue last week, but because this election is so vital to the future of Fernandina Beach it demands further attention, particularly with the November 8 election just four days away.

The only Fernandina Beach City Commission candidates refusing to respond to a County Citizens Defending Freedom (CCDF-Nassau) voter questionnaire are:

  • Genece Minshew, President of Fernandina Beach Pride, an LGBTA advocacy Group.
  • Mike Lednovich, Current Commissioner and mayor, a California transplant who supports and promotes the violent and corrupt Marxist organization Black Lives Matter and now attempts to cover his tracks.

Both Minshew and Lednovich have repeatedly refused to answer questions posed to them about toxic theories such as gender ideology including child mutilation and Black Lives Matter.

Why won’t they answer? They won’t say. Both declined to respond to the CCDF, area media, and this blog. They have ignored phone calls and emails. Other than this blog the only other local media outlet to call them out is the new online publication  Citizens Journal Florida .

Do their refusals confirm their support for their perverse ideologies such as the dangerous, violent racist BLM organization and gender transitioning? If not why won’t they say so?

This disingenuous duo of cultural vandals are in the minority, not only in Fernandina Beach and Nassau County, but in Florida and the rest of the U.S.

Do Fernandina Beach residents want drag queens like Lil Miss Hot Mess reading to their children in their schools or the public library at a Drag Queen Story Hour? (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer.)

An overwhelming majority of American parents are opposed to this deviant ideology in our schools that these two refuse to oppose. Parents say they don’t want to be dictated to about what is taught to their kids, and they don’t want their children taken as ideological hostages. But Minshew and Lednovich, who want to represent us, refuse to tell us where they stand. Why?

Minshew is a registered Democrat and Lednovich is registered “No Party Affiliation”, another term for “Democrat” in Nassau County where 80 percent of registered voters are Republican.

The City Commission election is nonpartisan, but these two extremists have the full backing of the Nassau County Democrat Party, which is providing its South 8th Street County HQ to distribute yard signs, stickers, etc. for them both. Take a look: https://www.facebook.com/100003322985569/posts/pfbid0gC8wYDMgyZdjtQqCQngF8gMpz974Knieo4UcK8gqH5u7aLuzotdCaRV7jKLHfyrEl/?app=fbl

Is this what Fernandina Beach citizens want? No! But these two are going against public sentiment as voters across the country reject these perverse and violent views.

For example, Republican politicians have strongly criticized  drag queen performances for their impact on children; Candidates nationwide reject kicking God out of our schools and welcoming drag queens. Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio recently posted an ad criticizing drag queens, saying they indoctrinate kids in schools. He’s right.

A girl was suspended in high school in Wisconsin for saying she would not accept a trans boy using the girls’ locker room. A trans boy playing girls volleyball badly injured an opposing player by smashing the ball into her face. Is this the kind of crap we want in Fernandina Beach?

Trans people make up 0.6% of the population, but the other 99.4% are being told to change their lives and beliefs to accommodate this miniscule fraction of the population who made a voluntary choice to make believe they are another sex. This is what woke has brought, along with the media, teachers unions and people like Minshew and Lednovich.

“A recent survey done for America’s New Majority Project found that 62 percent of Americans believe it is ‘never appropriate’ to discuss gender changing with children in K-12 schools,” Another survey indicated that an overwhelming 80 percent say parents should be notified in advance of such discussions – and allowed to opt their children out of gender discussions. The issue of whether children should be categorized at an early age and manipulated into irreversible hormone therapies and sex change surgeries has nothing at all to do with gay rights. It has to do with child abuse because that’s what it is. What are Minshew’s and Lednovich’s positions? They won’t tell us.

Governor Ron DeSantis emphasized those views by putting it at the center of his gubernatorial reelection campaign. The first sentence of his education agenda commits him to “student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency.”

It’s never appropriate to tell children that they can change their sex – something no one can do, not even through surgery and chemical castrations. Children should never be exposed to such vile perverse abuse. But Minshew and Lednovich won’t answer any of the questions on this topic. Apparently it’s OK with them.

Remember the guys your parents warned you about, who hung around playgrounds and were chased down the street by neighborhood dads wielding baseball bats. These perverts are not only being applauded now but invited onto the playgrounds and into the libraries and classrooms for drag queen readings and drag strip shows for children. Do we want that in Fernandina Beach? No. Do Minshew and Lednovich? We don’t know, they won’t say.

Mayor Mike “Left Coast” Lednovich

Their silence is frightening. That’s why it is so important to empower families in education.  Florida’s parental rights bill guarantees curriculum transparency and makes sure parents and not school officials and people like Minshew and Lednovich, have the final say in the upbringing of our children.

When it comes to the law-and-order issue, Lednovich refused to say if he does or does not support the violent Black Lives Matters ideology despite the fact he paraded up and down Centre Street draped with a BLM sandwich board. He even posted the picture here on Facebook, which he has since removed.

Both Minshew and Lednovich refused to answer any of the questions concerning the use of city restrooms by biological males as well as questions on abortion within the city limits, the removal of the city’s history, city governmental regulations and more. See for yourself who answered and who refused by clicking here: Voter Guide for Nassau School Board and Fernandina Council Election- 2022

Minshew refused to answer “yes” or “no” to the question: “Would you support the city positioning itself in promotional material as a Gay Vacation Destination?” A number of locals say she has been vocal in in the past for her support for such a movement. Lednovich also refused to answer. Why?

Minshew and Lednovich aren’t running for School Boards, but if elected to the City Commission they’ll be in a position to influence decisions made there and project their perverse rot into the classroom.

***

Minshew proudly displaying her pride in Fernandina.

Who Is Genece Minshew?  Normally candidates for public office tout their work experience and positions of distinction. If anyone is going to be out and proud, wouldn’t  it be a candidate running for public office! So, what is Minshew’s greatest distinction? You can’t find it! It’s been scrubbed from her campaign literature. What is it she is hiding and why?

She’s President of Fernandina Pride. So, why isn’t she boasting about that? She came out. But during the election, scampered back in. This seems the perfect time to recall an old Lewis Grizzard column comment when he was writing about gay folks coming out of the closet. “I don’t know what’s in that closet,” said the late Atlanta Journal-Constitution humor columnist, “but I reckon it’s a real mess in there.”

Does Minshew take pride in launching Fernandina’s Gay Pride parades, the upcoming Pride youth camps, and the Coming Out of the closet events? If so why doesn’t this “pride” carry over to her campaign for City Commissioner?

Maybe she doesn’t broadcast it because it doesn’t sell well hereabouts. In fact, most Floridians are doing everything they can to protect their children from this perverse encroachment in our society, let alone elect it to a position of influence.

Also, what happened to Fernandina Beach Pride’s sponsors? Thanks to the Internet which saves website history, we can determine which cowardly sponsors – including the print Fernandina Beach News Leader newspaper – scurried back in the closet during Minshew’s campaign. A partial list of  closeted pride sponsors include: Democratic Club of Amelia, Nassau Democratic Party, MUV Medical Marijuana Dispensary, First Love Brewery, and something called AHF. What’s AHF? It’s a gay advocacy group that sponsors such family friendly events  around Florida as Condom Day by staging shows including a burlesque based on “West Side Story.”  
AHF, an AIDs advocacy group organizes gay
events  ‘   

Guess which sponsor is  still hanging around waiting for Minshew’s Fernandina Pride organization to serve  the cheap white wine and rubbery cheese cubes? Brace yourself! It’s none other than The Chamber of Commerce. Can you feel the Fernandina as a gay destination creeping in?

Minshew is going incognito in her campaign literature and scrubbing Pride’s website to hide it from voters.

***

How I’m Voting: I’m expressing my opinion at the ballot box this Tuesday by voting for local chiropractor Dr. James Antun and firefighter Darron Ayscue, candidates who endorse traditional values and will maintain normalcy, sanity, and fiscal responsibility for Fernandina Beach. Bradley Bean, who also fits that description, gets my vote for mayor. Shannon Hogue and Albert Wagner, a duo that support parental rights, student success and curriculum transparency are my choices for the School Board. In state-wide races I’m voting for Marco Rubio for U.S. Senator; Aaron Bean, U.S. Congressman District 4; Ron DeSantis, Florida Governor; Ashley Moody, Florida Attorney General; Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer; Wilton Simpson, Florida Secretary of Agriculture; Clay Yarborough, State Senator District 4; Dean Black, State Senator. I’m voting “No ” on State Supreme Court Justices Canady, Labarga, Polston and Rowe. The other six get my “yes” vote.

 ***

“Yes” To The Teachers: I was leaning toward voting “No” on the Nassau County School District’s levying an ad valorem operating millage of 1 mill annually to attract and retain high-quality teachers and staff.  Rob Hicks, School Counselor at Fernandina Beach High School swayed me to a “Yes” vote with a persuasive and compelling argument. The fact that my wife, Linda, is a retired kindergarten teacher also entered into my decision.

Here’s what Rob had to say that convinced me:

A couple of years ago, FBHS hired a young person to teach English. She had a degree in English, and she had worked in the writing lab at her college. That hire turned out to be a homerun. We gave her the keys to some of our most advanced English classes and she was flourishing. She was off to a great start this year when a friend called her. That friend worked in a corporate setting and despite the fact that our teacher had no business background or experience, the friend told the teacher her corporation had a job for her where she’d have better benefits and make 50% more than her teaching job on day one with opportunities to advance. I don’t have to tell you we lost the teacher. She was excellent, she was youthful, she was only going to get better with experience, but she’ll probably never teach again–at FBHS or anywhere else.

“Last year, we lost a member of our support staff because he needed to make more money. He found a higher-paying job at the deli at Winn Dixie. This is why we need the millage increase. The schools are losing good teachers and workers to retirement or higher-paying opportunities, and we can’t compete when we try to recruit their replacements.

“I’m writing this in the 11th week of school. We still have an open teaching job we’ve been unable to fill. As we work to cover those responsibilities with either someone who already has a full list of responsibilities or a substitute teacher, we either exacerbate the frustration of an overworked, underpaid employee or diminish the product we deliver to the student–or both of those things. This initiates a cycle that weakens the very foundation of the strong schools we have in Nassau County. 

“We can’t have good schools without good teachers. We won’t have good teachers if we cannot compete for them. Job competition boils down to pay. Right now, Nassau County schools are losing that competition and the problem will get worse if the millage rate does not pass.”

Mr. Hicks emphasized that the Ad Valorem Millage Election is separate from any belief anyone might have about the superintendent or any school board member. “If someone hasn’t been happy with their leadership or are upset with what they’ve done or haven’t done, those elected officials will have their own referendum if and when they run for re-election,” he says. “This millage increase is about the people who work in schools.”

***

Gay Doesn’t always Mean Happy! It’s  often been reported that City Commission candidate Genece Minshew wants to make Fernandina Beach a “gay destination”.

Fernandina resident Steve Hall personally experienced what can happen to a community once that toxic perverse gay destination camel gets its nose in the tent.

He grew up in a vacation destination that was turned on its head by labelling itself a “gay destination.”

Mr. Hall, who purchased a home in downtown Fernandina about three years ago, shockingly relates what labelling Fernandina Beach a “gay destination” would do to our city’s Noman Rockwell image:

“In the 1960’s I spent my high school years living in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts, only 23 miles south of Provincetown. Members in my family (and my elderly mother) live in the Wellfleet/Eastham area of Cape Cod. I visit once or twice a year. I’ve visited P’town a few times over the past decade and a lot has changed.

“Today, Provincetown is a ‘gay destination’.

“Provincetown and Fernandina Beach have many great things in common. They are both historic, charming and attractive to visitors. Both are both geographic destinations in that you don’t ‘pass through’ on your way to somewhere else.

“Provincetown sits on the very end of Cape Cod and its isolation helped an artist’s community form here in the 1960s. With that community, gay men and women felt that they had found their own very special place on Cape Cod.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provincetown,_Massachusetts)

“There are 16 gay bars in Provincetown (see: https://ptown.gaycities.com/bars).

“There is a nationally recognized “fetish festival… to add to your k*nky calendar”, the Mates Leather Weekend (see: https://www.gaycities.com/articles/64099/6-big-fetish-festivals-in-the-us-worth-adding-to-your-knky-calendar/2/)

“Is Provincetown a good place for vacation with young kids? TripAdvisor lets you decide for yourself. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g41778-i483-k5425281-Is_provincetown_a_good_place_for_vacation_with_young_kids-Provincetown_Cape_Cod_Massachusetts.html

“A member of my family works for a public school in P’town. Most of the kids are bused in from other places on the Cape. In 2010, the school committee voted unanimously to phase out the high school students in Provincetown High School due to declining enrollment. High-school students who live in Provincetown are now redistricted to attend Nauset Regional High School in Eastham. Provincetown High School’s last senior class graduated on June 7, 2013. The final Senior class numbered eight.”

I don’t need to add anything to Mr. Hall’s testimonial.

***

Thinking Out Loud: LGBTA History Month was celebrated in October and featured a local LGBTA crowd headed by Fernandina City Commission candidate Genece Minshew, who is also president of Fernandina Pride. They paraded through Fernandina, which is well within their rights as long as participants don’t display vulgar and indecent behavior.

But why do we spend an entire month celebrating LGBTQA folks? And why are there only two days a year, Veterans Day, Nov. 11 and Memorial Day, May 29, to celebrate those who fought and died to give them the right to do that?

Also, what exactly is the difference between a “transvestite” and a “transgender?” Aren’t they both guys wearing women’s clothing? Why are the perverse drag shows and story hours always for kids? Why don’t they have drag shows and story hours for accountants and welders and lawyers and engineers? And how did this perversity get connected to reading trans books to young school kids in the first place?

***

Good Advice Department: Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton are calling voters names. Biden says Republicans are dangerous and a threat to democracy while Clinton labels them, stupid on top of her “deplorable” classification.

The late Roger Ailes, one of the founders of Fox News and a media consultant to President George H.W. Bush, cautioned candidates never to call voters stupid. To do so, he said, would insult two large and powerful groups: all the voters who are stupid and all the voters who are not.

An Election Reminder

13 Comments

Ron Barone - 07. Nov, 2022 -

I know few people who are against higher teacher pay; however, it should go hand-in-hand with a full review of the bloated school budget. That the current head of the school board is against a Citizen’s Advisory Board, who would evaluate and opine on the entirety of the budget, speaks volumes. What is she afraid of? What is she and others hiding? Why wouldn’t anyone want a full and complete financial review in order to find misplaced spending and allocate it to under placed spending? Again, a NO vote is not about teacher pay. It’s about correcting misplaced funding.

Jack Knocke - 07. Nov, 2022 -

Dave,
Thanks for driving transparency of the candidates running for election locally. CCDF-USA – Nassau County asked the tough social questions that were not asked in typical forums. These leaders should be transparent and honest about their alignment and values so that voters can make an informed decision.
Jack

John Goshco - 05. Nov, 2022 -

I totally agree with Ken Timmernan and CoCoNut Harry (below).
1- The teachers should be paid more, but it should be addressed through the contract negotiation process, not the election process.
In addition, teachers receive valuable pension and other fringe benefits (i.e. time off) that most grocery workers and small businesses do not provide.
2- There are likely many places in the school budget that can be cut in order to compensate for some of the teachers’ raises.
3- Percentages can be misleading. 1 mil is 1 mil. Most of us are receiving our annual property tax bill this week. If your assessed value is $300,000 then your tax bill will increase by $300 next year. If your assessed value is $600,000, then your tax bill will increase by $600 next year. If your landlord’s assessment is $3,000,000 then he will pay $3,000 more next year and likely pass most of that on to you in the form of increased rent.
4- The homestead exemption does not apply to school taxes. EVERYONE pays the full amount.

Ken Timmerman - 05. Nov, 2022 -

The school board proposition is not a “yes to teachers” but a Yes to higher taxes without proper authorization.

The friend who convinced you, Dave, to change your position was using the typical liberal argument of policy by anecdote. This is what NPR always does. So do CNN, MSNBC and the rest of them. Because we’ve found a rotten apple, throw out the whole barrel.

CCFD found that the 1 mill increase amounts to a 44% increase over current school tax assessments.

If the board believes it’s necessary to renegotiate the teacher pay package, they should make that argument to the County Council, not do an end run around them.

If this one goes through, i have zero confidence in any
Oversight board. The money will eventually wind up as a slush fund for power-hungry superintendant Kathy Barnes. We have a budget process at the County level for a reason. And it’s to avoid this type of camel’s nose under the tent stealth money and power grab.

I am not a no, but a HELL NO.

Elizabeth Anderson - 05. Nov, 2022 -

Those working in the private sector will fund their own pensions… unlike teachers and public sector workers. If we do away with those pensions, we could and should increase pay.

Tom Yankus - 04. Nov, 2022 -

Google search reveals…
Average Florida STARTING teacher salary. $39,857.
Average Georgia STARTING teacher salary. $40,591.
A bachelor degree is required.
Zip Recruiter reports…
Average FL. grocery chain STARTING pay? $40,964
Average USA grocery chain STARTING pay? $49,392
No degree was mentioned as a requirement.
Retired educators Tom (Principal in Forsyth County GA) and Dr. Annie Yankus (Administrator in SC & FL.) will both cast “YES” votes on Tuesday for the benefit of our students and faculty.

Micah Ward - 04. Nov, 2022 -

Whatever political or social cause First Love Brewery supports is neither here nor there as far as I’m concerned. They serve up some of the best craft beer, pizza and burgers on the island. I’ve been to over 120 microbreweries in 15 states and First Love is as good as any. Disclaimer: I do not work at First Love nor do I know anyone who does. I just know it’s not right to smear local businesses over petty political differences.

George Miller - 04. Nov, 2022 -

Thanks for shedding light on what others (media, politicians, candidate forum sponsors) are studiously ignoring. Hiding the activities/positions of Minshew and Lednovich is flat-out lying to the voters. If these were people who just did this in private and didn’t let it affect their legislative priorities, I would have no problem with them. That is clearly not the case, though.

Regarding the 44% school millage increase: I agree that teachers are underpaid, but a quarter of a $BILLION- — $258 MILLION – school budget for 12,000 kids amounts to $21,00 per student! There must be enough fat in that bloated budget to reallocate millions to the teachers,

George Miller - 04. Nov, 2022 -

That’s $21,000 per student, not “$21,00”.

CoCoNUT Harry - 04. Nov, 2022 -

Right on, George – the school boards need to prioritize their spending which should be teachers first. They spend the tax $ on pet projects instead of teacher salaries & benefits. And wasn’t the state lottery take supposed to go to education ? That’s what I was led to believe.

Rob Hicks - 05. Nov, 2022 -

That 44% thing is a bit misleading. It’s actually a 44% increase of a narrow slice of your total property tax. My own tax bill would stand to increase by a total of less than 7%. An increase to be sure, but it’s far less than what most people believe.

bobby carter - 04. Nov, 2022 -

Vote, vote vote !!!!!! These are troublesome times.

Wil Wielgosz - 04. Nov, 2022 -

Mike runs his mouth at the gym. So show up with coffee and join the round table.