By Eddie Fleming |October 12, 2014 | EddieFleming.com
Nancy Shaver for Mayor of St. Augustine, FL
I publish this article with the intention of providing FACTUAL CORRECTNESS to voters and nonprofit organizations of St. Augustine, Florida who received a “DIRTY TRICKS” letter sent by Mayor Joseph L. Boles, Jr. misrepresenting City of St. Augustine, Mayoral Candidate Nancy Shaver.
Four members of Mayor Boles Political Machine also included letters along with Boles letter which had statements misrepresenting and misleading voters and nonprofits concerning Mayoral Candidate Nancy Shaver. (Please see my comment at end of article re: Political Machine.)
Please read very carefully – protect our city – it belongs to you – NOT JOE BOLES
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The following correspondence was brought to my attention by several concerned citizens:
DATE: October 11, 2014
SUBJ: Misleading Letter to all Nonprofits from Mayor Joe Boles
FROM: Judith Seraphin, St. Augustine, Florida
To my Friends,
I am sending this letter I received because if you are not aware of this type of “Dirty Politics” that has been going on from Joe Boles, you need to be.
Ken Bryant is also doing his own version of a “smear” campaign. I’m sure you know, after losing the primary election, Ken Brant is working for the Joe Boles Campaign.
With so many problems in our City it is ashamed that Mayor Joe Boles doesn’t devote his time to fixing some of the issues, instead of resorting to ridiculous and childish tricks.
The public is not stupid, Mayor Boles. We know why you are doing this
Judith Seraphin
St. Augustine, Florida
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DATE: October 10, 2014
SUBJ: Misleading Letter to all Nonprofits from Mayor Joe Boles
FROM: Pat Reilly, St. Augustine, Florida
Dear Friends,
I was very dismayed when a friend brought down a letter with attachments from Mayor Joe Boles addressed to “Friends in the Nonprofit Community”. The letter inaccurately states that Nancy Shaver plans to access fees on nonprofits. In the letter it states: “Help me make sure she has no chance to win and that this “dangerous “fee” dies with her political aspirations.” The letter purports to stem from an answer that Nancy gave in a July forum when asked about the impact of Flagler College on the City in a lot of areas. Part of her answer addressed voluntary payments in lieu of taxes that some colleges throughout the country make today. This conversation was only about Flagler College and it was about possibilities for conversation about this subject. How this got twisted into assessing fees on all nonprofits is just a matter of “political spin” on steroids.
I am so sorry if any nonprofit that you might be associated with was caused any anxiety over this thoughtless letter. This type of thing has no place in our little town’s political arena. I think we can all agree that there are plenty of real issues we can debate without using scare tactics.
I have enclosed a letter I wrote addressing this most recent attack on Nancy Shaver and hope you will take the time to look at the facts and allay any concerns this letter might have caused you or any organization with whom you have an association. I would be happy to discuss this matter with anyone who would like more information. I donate to many worthy organizations in our City because I value the work that they do and the wonderful programs they produce.
Regards,
Pat Reilly, St. Augustine, Florida
ADDENDUM by Pat Reilly
Payments in lieu of taxes are voluntary payments made by some colleges as a gesture of good will to help a city offset the loss of property taxes and to help defray the cost of services provided by the city. In no way should they be confused with fees and they are not assessed.
So why then did Mayor Boles send a letter to all non-profits in the City accusing Nancy Shaver of plans to impose fees based on the value of their property which he relates back to an answer Nancy gave to a question from the July Candidate’s Forum? What is very strange about this letter is that it was supposedly motivated by concerns raised in October about that answer from July. What in the world happened over the last three months that might have made this a concern now a few weeks before the election?
I expect a lot of things in political campaigns, but the use of this type of tactic of misleading those who have enough to worry about in their roles as leaders in the not for profit arena is just not right. Why in the world would the Mayor want to cause these folks any stress or concern over something that is not even a valid issue for them? He certainly should know what voluntary “in lieu of taxes” are.
Just Google “payments in lieu of taxes” and get the facts. Watch the video of the July Forum and see what Nancy really said.
Shame on you Mayor Boles for using your position to write such a misleading letter addressed to all of the nonprofits in the City. And shame on you for distressing them in this fashion. Don’t you think you can win fairly? Let’s stick to the issues about providing leadership to the City. This is just another example of your definition of a “clean campaign”. Folks are a lot smarter than you think and see this for what it really is.
Pat Reilly, St. Augustine, Florida
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EDITOR: The four members of Mayor Boles Political Machine
The four members of Mayor Boles Political Machine who included letters backing Boles statements misrepresented and mislead voters and nonprofits are:
• Mark P. Minor, former St. Johns County Commissioner;
• Dr. David P. Rice, senior pastor for Ancient City Baptist Church;
• Cathy Brown-Butler, former Executive Director at St Johns County Council On Aging;
• Dr. Larry B. Lake, executive director and CEO of the St. Johns Welfare Federation, a not-for-profit continuum of care health care organization in St. Augustine. The Welfare Federation operates a number of programs — The Samantha R. Wilson Care Center at BayView, The Pavilion Assisted Living at BayView, BayView Home Health, the Buckingham Smith Assisted Living Facility, Community Charitable Services and Caring Hands — Caring Community, an all-volunteer fundraising program that provides matching-fund resources for the direct health care and charitable assistance of clients and patients.