Recruiting bogus candidates is shady politics for scared politician | Commentary
Orange County Commissioner Betsy VanderLey is obviously nervous about getting re-elected — and for good reason.
She has cast a number of rotten votes, including one to give Universal Orlando up to $125 million to help build a road for their new theme park (even as the county prepared to ask residents to raise their own taxes to pay for new roads elsewhere). And another vote supporting a toll road that would plow through an environmental preserve. (Because nothing screams “environmental protection” like four lanes of concrete.)
So, with VanderLey running scared, her campaign team recruited — and funded — a bogus write-in candidate to run against her.
That may sound strange … until you realize how Florida’s whacked-out elections work.
The candidate — a 20-year-old college student who’s the stepdaughter of VanderLey buddy Scott Boyd, a former county commissioner — filed to run as a write-in.
That means 20-year-old Hannah Burns’ name will never appear on a ballot.
But, under Orange County’s interpretation of election laws, her write-in candidacy has the effect of moving VanderLey’s heads-up battle with a savvy challenger from November to August, when far fewer people will be voting.
It also means VanderLey’s opponent — who has less name recognition and money — has less time to get her name and message out to voters.
VanderLey has already amassed $139,000 in campaign contributions, thanks in part to maximum-level $1,000 checks from Universal, Disney and a concrete company.
Her challenger (the real, named one) is Nicole Wilson, an environmental-law attorney who has collected about $8,900, mainly through individual donations of $25, $50 and $100.
Less time for Wilson to campaign. Less time for voters and media to study VanderLey’s record. All good news for VanderLey.
Now, VanderLey claims she had no idea her campaign supporters were helping her write-in opponent … even though VanderLey’s campaign treasurer is that write-in candidate’s one and only donor.
Please read that last part again.
VanderLey said she only learned that detail after she read about it in the Orlando Sentinel. (Subscribe now!) But she admits she welcomed the last-minute write-in stunt, saying: “When I learned all of that, I thanked them and moved on.”
How nice.
Recruiting write-in candidates is a shady practice I’ve long loathed. (State Attorney Aramis Ayala benefited from a similar scheme back in 2016.) I think it’s dirty pool played by candidates scared to face a full slate of voters.
That’s my take as a political columnist anyway.
But I also have a take as a father. And as a dad, this strikes me as a cavalier scheme in which to involve your own stepdaughter.
See, I have a 20-year-old daughter, too. And the last thing I’d want to do is create a public record and internet history for all the world — and all potential employers — to see that showed she was a willing participant in such an sketchy scheme.
I watched a YouTube video where Burns peppily talked about the power of positive thinking and again thought of my own daughter, wondering: How did such a bright young spirit get sucked into something so shady?
When a Sentinel reporter asked to speak to Burns about her campaign — for public office, mind you — Boyd responded: “You don’t need to talk to her.”
Boyd said Wednesday that he may have chosen his words poorly and that his stepdaughter would talk about her campaign when she returns from a vacation.
Still, the whole thing just has an icky air to it.
Boyd claimed he was motivated to get involved after he saw a campaign sign that promoted both Wilson’s campaign and an environmental amendment, something Boyd thought was improper.
Um, OK. (Maybe.) But your solution to that concern — or, heck, any campaign concern — was to recruit your stepdaughter to run as a phantom candidate?
I think politics does strange things to people.
Boyd offers no apologies for exploiting Florida’s write-in loophole, saying he believes lower-turnout primaries encourage voters to study those races more closely.
In fact, Boyd also filed as a write-in candidate himself this year — in the property appraiser’s race — along with another write-in candidate. The effect? Orange County’s Republican and unaffiliated voters will never get to cast a meaningful vote on whether they want to keep or replace Rick Singh. They’re simply shut out.
More games with democracy.
Boyd said he and his stepdaughter filed their write-in papers together, making it a family affair.
There’s a lot scummy about write-in schemes. If you want to run for office, man up or woman up, and run a real campaign that gets your name on the ballot.
Worth noting: There’s an amendment on the Florida ballot this year, No. 3, to open up primaries and prevent rigged write-ins from ever again messing with voting in certain state races. I hope it passes.
But don’t let concerns about general shenanigans overshadow the specific shenanigans in this one race.
VanderLey has a record that’s ripe for challenge.
Her supporters are scared of what might happen if voters have time to study that record — and if larger number of citizens vote on it.
So they tried to play games with democracy.
Voters will decide whether it pays off.
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