Will Fernandina Become Pottersville or Bedford Falls? City Residents Are Now Making That Decision At The Polls

Fernandina Beach voters have a stark choice this election between preserving their Norman Rockwellesque town or turning it into Pottersville, the nightmare in the film It’s a Wonderful Life.

Residents desiring to preserve the current family atmosphere with kids riding bicycles, shooting hoops in driveways, families attending downtown church services, bustling ice cream parlors, Little League, and Pop Warner athletic fields, hiking trails, financially healthy local businesses, generous and prudent corporate entities, safe streets, and good schools, and much more, have a chance to do so during early voting and at the polls Tuesday, November 5.

The differences between candidates for the City Commission that will determine Fernandina’s future are as stark as those between Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey and Lionel Barrymore’s  Henry J. Potter, the contrasting characters in the film “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

I’m frequently asked by locals to suggest which candidates and issues I suggest they support. I respond by citing the candidates and issues I support and why. This election is one of the most critical in preserving the character and atmosphere of Fernandina Beach. Here’s how I’m  casting my national, state and local vote:

President, Donald Trump; US Senator, Rick Scott; Representative In Congress: Aaron Bean; State Representative: Dean Black.

I’m voting Yes on retaining all the Justices on the Supreme Court and the District Court of Appeal. They were all appointed by former Republican Governor Rick Scott and current Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.

I’m voting for Darron Ayscue City of Fernandina Beach Mayor; Bradley Bean, Fernandina Beach City Commission Seat 1; David Sturges, Fernandina Beach City Commission, Seat 2; and Christy LaByer Kelly,  Fernandina Beach City Commission Seat 3.

I’m voting NO on Constitutional Amendments 3 and 4 and YES on the others. Here’s why.

Amendment 3 will offer recreational marijuana statewide, threatening the safety of Floridians. It bans individuals from growing marijuana allowing only corporations to do so. Corporations sponsoring this amendment view Florida as a massive market, possibly the largest in the country. There is no benefit for citizens to this amendment, absolutely none, while the downsides are plentiful.

Amendment 4 is a Florida Constitutional Amendment stopping any law against abortion in Florida – cancelling existing laws and preventing new laws. It allows ANY medical provider to provide abortion procedures. This amendment enables abortion up until birth for any reason and doesn’t require parental consent. The groups promoting Amendment 4 are primarily from out of state with funding from ACLU, George Soros’ Open Society, Planned Parenthood among others. This amendment does not support Florida families, just the opposite. It undermines family values. Most churches oppose it. Gov. Ron DeSantis and a group of physicians urged Florida voters to reject it saying:  “You have no definitions in this amendment. You have no requirement that doctors be involved under this amendment. You have really extreme policies, such as the lack of legal limits. This is not something that belongs in any state’s constitution, much less the state of Florida.”

Following is a summary of the local races in a nutshell and summaries of who I’m voting for and why:

City Commission Seat 1, For Incumbent David Sturges vs. Genece Minshew:  Voters have twice rejected Minshew for a Commission seat. They don’t like her or trust her, for good reason. Nothing she has done since her last defeat has changed their minds, just the opposite.

While a member of the City’s Planning & Advisory Board she sided with blowhard Commissioner Chip Ross, on every agenda item he favored. That alone should be enough for locals to oppose her and encourage an enthusiastic vote for incumbent Sturges, a sixth generation resident and respected and reputable local business owner.

A registered Democrat, Minshew switched to the Republican party the day before she qualified to run for office. Why? Nassau County is close to 75% Republican. Called out for her blatant attempt to deceive voters she admitted:  “…it is clear that having an R behind your name is important if you are to be successful in working with the county and the state, so I changed parties so that I can better represent all the citizens of the city.” In other words, she admits to brazenly misleading voters. She doesn’t believe in the conservative family values of the Republican party and will say and do anything for a vote.

While serving as president of the local Pride organization, Minshew advocated promoting Amelia Island as a gay vacation destination exclusively concentrating on attracting members of the LGBTQA+ crowd. She publicly expressed those intentions but refused to acknowledge that when asked by local media. This is not part of any Republican platform, far from it. Republicans believe the community should be promoted as welcoming to everybody including the LGBTA crowd, not focusing on just one specific group. Minshew is a fraud, a liar and devious.

On social media including her Facebook page, Minshew attacked Christian values in Fernandina Beach and promoted racist and inflammatory concepts while disparaging evangelicals and conservatives she labels “white nationalists.”

Nassau County is one of the most conservative counties in the state with close to 75 percent of its voters registered Republican. Minshew is attempting to dupe them. Faking she is a Republican is a desperate, deceitful attempt to deceive voters. She doesn’t believe in the values of the Republican party and will say and do anything to get elected.

Minshew is a shameless, dangerous, vile, and dishonest candidate who should never be part of city government or its decision making process.

City Commission Seat 2, For Incumbent Bradley Bean vs. Joyce Tuten: Part two of the Minshew/Tuten ticket is Joyce Tuten. Tuten and Minshew have been campaigning at events and knocking on doors together. They are totally aligned in their values, their political views, and their radical ideology. If residents want obscene books in school libraries, drag queens and explicit sexual performances in public venues, boys on girls’ sports teams and in girls’ bathrooms, harassment of local companies, and extreme regulations Tuten and Minshew are your candidates.

A vote for Bean is a no-brainer. Tuten is a “get-off-your-own-lawn” one-trick extreme environmentalist pony whose only issues are no bioethanol and no development. Before arriving here, and registered as a Democrat, the Maryland newcomer prattled on in her home state at conferences where fanatical leftwing ideologies were being promoted. Her frenzied views on climate change were her only speaking points. They still are.

Jack Knocke, head of the local chapter of Citizen Defending Freedom, in a series published in the Citizen-Journal, does a thorough job of reporting Tuten’s extremist views, that she is so eager to inflict upon an unsuspecting Fernandina populace. It can be read at https://www.citizensjournal.net/fernandina-beach-city-commission-candidates-deceiving-voters-part-2/ It’s not Jack’s opinion but Tuten’s views in her own words. Like Minshew this is an extremely untrustworthy deceptive gal, one of the last people this city needs on the City Commission.

Tuten “conveniently” changed her voter registration from Democrat to No Party Affiliation just prior to registering to run for office. Why? Like Minshew, she did it to deceive voters.

This extreme left-wing environmental activist hasn’t fessed up to her fanaticism, apparently thinking the voters are dumber than the tree stumps she mourns. There’s not a tree-hugging, anti-business, far-left group hereabouts she hasn’t joined or supported.

This Minshew-Tuten duo’s credibility is more untrustworthy than a covered dish supper following a Haitian Voodoo ceremony in Springfield, Ohio. In a nutshell if residents want massive city debt, unwieldly regulations and fines and fees strangling local businesses Tuten is your candidate.

Current mayor and incumbent Commissioner Bradley Bean, whom newcomer Tuten opposes, is an exemplary candidate. A life-long resident of Fernandina, he is a member of a respected local family that has contributed for decades to the city’s quality of life through politics, charitable endeavors, and local businesses. During his term Bean has kept a lid on taxes. Under his guidance for the first time in 10 years there were no tax increases while at the same time city infrastructure from playgrounds to sidewalks, streets, and more improved. During his tenure the city has more protected conservation land than ever before while new businesses are popping up and prospering all over town.

What I hear on the street is that support for incumbent commissioners Bean and Sturges is stronger than ever, their momentum fueled by the frantic screeds of their two deceitful, leftist challenging candidates’ extremist views.

City Commission Seat 3, For Christie LaByer Kelly vs Tim Poynter. Poynter served as Commissioner once and got booted during his reelection attempt. He says he’s a Republican but his alignment with the Minshew train wreck is more than troubling. She served as Poynter’s campaign treasurer, before deciding to run on her own. The problems he says face the city are the same ones that existed when he was on the Commission. Why didn’t he fix them then? Poynter should stick to running his successful restaurant and entertainment venues.

Life-long Floridian and a widow with three daughters, Ms. Kelly is a successful entrepreneur, owning and operating a variety of businesses, many started with her late husband. This savvy gal has identified city issues that have plagued the city for years including the delicate balancing of the environment and the taxpayer burdens of excessive fees, taxation, and deregulation. Kelly, like Poynter, opposes the ethanol facility. She said she will also focus on fixing the illegal impact fee issue, an albatross that’s been hanging around the necks of city businesses for years and nobody else will focus on. Poynter already had his chance and failed.

Mayor Of Fernandina Beach, For Darron Ayscue vs. James Antun: Antun is a chiropractor who desperately needs a mental adjustment. His accomplishments as commissioner have been to abandon the anti-impact fee promises he made during his first campaign and then nod adoringly at, and consistently vote with obnoxious blowhard Commissioner and town nemeses, Chip Ross.

Antun has no original thoughts, lied to his supporters to get elected, and has no platform. He adds nothing, zip, zero. He’s as useless and responsive to constituents as the plastic potted plant in the commission chambers.

Fortunately for locals I’ve heard that Antun will soon lose his mentor as the term-limited Ross is packing up and moving to Jacksonville, as if that city doesn’t have enough troubles.

Life-long Floridian and 20-year Fernandina resident, firefighter and Commissioner,  Darron Ayscue has approached his Commission position with common-sense solutions including the city’s dysfunctional building department. The head of that chaotic group is gone, as are out-of-control inspectors who are now contracted. There is still more to be done and Ayscue says he’ll keep at it including  focusing on the illegal impact fees. Meanwhile Antun sits mute, staring blankly at the wall, awaiting direction from Ross.

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Speaking Of Inept: Just when we thought failed Fernandina City Commission candidate, Black Lives Matter activist, and play-acting online Observer reporter Mike “Left Coast” Lednovich, couldn’t get more ridiculous he does….repeatedly. The Daily Planet’s  Jimmy Olson wannabe has no shame.

Lednovich’s over-the-top slobbering coverage of City Commission candidates Genece Minshew and Joyce Tuten are recent examples of his gross ineptitude and the Observer’s overall bias. He is singlehandedly making the Observer a special brand of irrelevant.

The Observer’s “Crack” reporter and California transplant, Lednovich, has never mentioned the two candidates party switch, much less questioned it.

The only difference in election coverage between the bi-weekly News Leader and the Observer is that the News Leader’s extreme liberal theatrics are in print while the Observer’s are online. These local outlets have no interest in disguising their bias or educating themselves or their audiences about the most basic facts any more than the two extreme candidates that they so blubberingly adore.

Fortunately residents now have alternative sources of news, the print Yulee News www.YuleeNews.com and the online Citizens Journal Florida, https://www.citizensjournal.net/, newcomers that are proving an embarrassment and financial threat to the stale leftist News Leader and irrelevant and confused Observer.

Despite what these pathetic Observer and NL outlet scribblers may think, their recent media quasi-lynch mob rants aren’t pushing the extremists toward  victory, just the opposite.

For example, one of the more hilarious Lednovich-bylined pieces is headlined: “Legality of Sturges campaign use of officers photo raised”.  In it he alleges that a photo of Commission candidate and current Commissioner David Sturges with two police officers violates city code. The police officers posed for the photo on their own time and were not in violation. They say they complied with city procedures and Police Chief  Jeffrey Tambasco agreed. So did an outside counsel hired by City Attorney Tammi Bach.

Even the News Leader’s  pathetic reporter with the fortunate name of Julia Roberts, tried to malign Sturges in a front page story. She failed miserably. Some of the goofy News Leader editorials make more sense than anything with this gal’s byline on it. Lednovich is such a flat out liar with zero credibility that even the opposition paper, try as it might, couldn’t cover up for him.

During his single failed Commission term the unashamedly hypocritical Lednovich was often pictured parading around town wearing an FBPD cap thereby implying he was a cop. He still does. He isn’t a cop, never was a cop and anybody giving him a badge and a firearm would probably be locked up as an accessory to assisting an obviously unhinged person endanger the public.

He is a member of the Police Auxiliary, and fortunately unarmed. His only assignments are waving cars thorough intersections and pedestrians across the street, duties equivalent to that of a volunteer school crossing guard.

Lednovich has consistently been outed as mostly a dunce at a particularly dumb level of ineptitude. That became apparent while he was a Commissioner and paraded down Fernandina’s Center Street wearing a BLM sandwich board, an FBPD cap, and a red clown nose. He even posted the photo on Facebook. He has since taken it down, probably at the insistence of  embarrassed family members. Did he lose a bet or is he as dim as he looked?

Rumors abound in local media circles that the confused folks that run the myopic Observer are considering replacing Lednovich with a barrel of hair, an inanimate object that isn’t that much of a departure but has more reasoning capabilities.

Genece Minshew and Joyce Tuten, the two extremist candidates running for the City Commission that the Observer desperately and slavishly promotes, are no better than their dishonest bumbling press agent, Lednovich, or the hopeless Ms. Roberts.