Webster Barnaby campaign attacks Elizabeth Fetterhoff: 'Not just liberal. She's corrupt.'

The campaign between two Republican incumbent members of the Florida House of Representatives intensified this week with the release of an attack ad.

One-term Rep. Webster Barnaby of Deltona is squaring off with two-term Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff of DeLand for the new House District 29 seat in West Volusia. Redistricting forced the two to run against each other in the GOP primary Aug. 23.

State representatives serve two-year terms and earn $29,697. The winner will face Democrat Rick Karl in November.

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Barnaby's campaign released a video in which a voiceover explains that Fetterhoff takes campaign contributions from "liberals and lobbyists," votes for their projects, "then pays herself thousands of dollars from her campaign through a company she owns."

"Elizabeth Fetterhoff. She's not just liberal. She's corrupt," the ad proclaims.

Fetterhoff counters that the company was vetted with attorneys “to make sure we weren’t doing anything wrong,” and that she has nothing to do with the fundraising company, which is run by her husband, John P. Ward III.

“The fact that he’s attacking me on this issue shows that he has nothing to stand on. Going after me for something that’s not an issue, despite my great record in the Legislature … shows that he is a desperate man at this point,” Fetterhoff said.

Paying one's own family with PAC money

Under Florida law, anyone — including sitting lawmakers — is allowed to start their own political committee to raise money for political purposes. There are no limits on who or how much can be contributed.

And many lawmakers have established their own PACs.

Between her campaign and her political committee, United for Florida's Future, Fetterhoff spent nearly $12,000 on finance consulting from FWD Consulting Group LLC, a company that was established in April 2021.

FWD Consulting lists a P.O. Box in DeLand as its address, with Fetterhoff listed as CEO and her husband, Ward, as president. Ward describes himself as a campaign consultant and fundraiser in his Twitter bio.

United for Florida's Future has raised $115,000 since its start in 2019. Its largest contributor appears to be Florida Professional Firefighters Political Committee, which has given $22,500 in 3½ years.

That organization has also given to many other Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, including Barnaby's campaign fund.

Preserving Freedom, a PAC that does not list Barnaby as chairman, treasurer or registered agent, paid for ads promoting Barnaby and reimbursed him for travel. That committee has raised nearly $92,000, spending more than one-third of that on consulting, printing and advertising with Data Targeting Inc., a Gainesville firm with deep roots in electing Republican candidates in Florida.

Fetterhoff has advocated for public-protection workers in her legislative work; in 2020, she sponsored a bill creating the Firefighter Cancer Decontamination Equipment Grant Program, which provides funding for fire departments to purchase equipment that mitigates firefighters' exposure to cancer-causing contaminants.

"We started (FWD) so eventually, when I'm done being an elected official in 20 years or whenever, we will have this company already created. My husband is building it."

Upon its founding, Fetterhoff said she took "an indefinite leave of absence," and since has not had anything to do with it.

She said it's illegal for her campaign to have an unpaid fundraiser, and FWD charges a 10% commission, which is less than she's paid other fundraisers in the past.

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Ben Wilcox, research director at Integrity Florida, a nonprofit government watchdog, said it's not illegal for a campaign or PAC to hire a fundraiser, even if its one owned by the candidate or a candidate's family member.

“It’s not uncommon,” Wilcox said. “I’ve heard of similar scenarios in other political campaigns where the campaign is paying the candidate’s business for consulting services or things like that."

The question of whether it should be legal is debatable, Wilcox said.

"I don’t think it looks good to the general public, but it’s still something candidates are able to do under current law," he said. "It’s symptomatic of our whole dysfunctional campaign finance system, another loophole that allows political influence to basically be bought and sold by various donors to these campaigns.”

Prior to first being elected in 2018, Fetterhoff spent five years working as an assistant to the late state Sen. Dorothy Hukill. When Hukill first ran for Senate in 2012, she used more than $100,000 in campaign funds to pay a consulting firm owned by her son Jonathan.

That story was reported in The News-Journal but didn't make much difference in the election. Hukill defeated Frank Bruno that year.

Barnaby campaigns on bringing home bacon

Barnaby, a 62-year-old businessman from Deltona, was born in England and has been an American citizen for more than two decades. He reported earning nearly $97,000 from a business he owns, Selling Connection Unlimited LLC, in addition to his lawmaker salary.

As a pastor, he was asked to twice give an invocation before rallies for former President Donald Trump.

He lists his priorities as improving education, growing the economy and improving quality of life for Volusia County residents, emphasizing access to health care, protecting water quality and improving transportation infrastructure.

Barnaby argues he has been more effective than Fetterhoff.

“In two years of being in the Legislature, I have far more results than my opponent,” Barnaby said. “In fact, the latest appropriations shows that I requested $14.7 million for … the west side of (Volusia) County, and I received almost exactly $14.7 million, whereas my opponent requested $5 million and had $3 million, approximately, vetoed by the governor. You want results, Webster Barnaby delivers results.”

Some of the projects Barnaby has helped secure funding for include $6.6 million for the Daytona State College Law Enforcement Training Center at the DeLand campus, a fire station for DeBary and money for an ongoing septic-to-sewer project in Oak Hill aimed at cleaning Mosquito Lagoon.

Barnaby also noted he was voted most conservative lawmaker at the CPAC convention in February, and says he was pushing for stronger abortion restrictions even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs case last month.

However, Barnaby said he is not planning to refile the Texas-style abortion bill, banning abortions after a physician can hear what Barnaby terms a “fetal heartbeat,” usually around six weeks. House leadership didn’t go that far, instead backing a bill that cut abortions off after 15 weeks.

“I’m not going to be pushing for anything other than working with the leadership of the House of Representatives to fulfill the agenda of our governor, the great Gov. Ron DeSantis, and (incoming) House Speaker Paul Renner,” Barnaby said. “The governor has pledged, as well as the speaker, there will be pro-life legislation in some form next year.”

Fetterhoff said Barnaby failed to discuss the heartbeat bill with House leadership prior to filing it and he didn't get a Senate sponsor.

"He doesn't know how this process works," she said.

Fetterhoff cites effectiveness, responsiveness

Fetterhoff, 40, is a DeLand native who served from 2011 to 2014 in the Florida Army National Guard. In her financial disclosure, she reported earnings only on her state lawmaker salary, $29,697.

She compares herself to Barnaby this way: "Webster likes the title of representative. I like the job of representative."

She said she frequently meets with constituents, learning their concerns and seeking ways to remedy them in Tallahassee.

Fetterhoff said she passed nine of the 10 bills she filed in 2022. They include:

• Speeding up the process in which clerks of court must transmit protective injunctions to law enforcement agencies.

• Allowing private provider inspections for onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems.

• Allowing for more use of peer specialists by the Division of Children and Families in cases involving substance abuse or mental illness.

Fetterhoff lists her legislative priorities as fighting inflation; protecting "God-given rights," including the Second Amendment; supporting veterans and first responders; protecting students and parental rights; and "combatting woke culture."

Fetterhoff said Barnaby's attacks on her as being "liberal" are off base.

"We're in the Republican primary and he thinks that's the only way he can win," she said. "I'm probably the most conservative person you'll ever meet."

She said she hasn't filed a lot of "red meat" bills because she has been serving in a Democratic-leaning district and was often working on bipartisan legislation.

"I work on issues and legislation that actually affects people in the state of Florida, things that make a difference in the quality of people's lives."

Fetterhoff said she has heard a lot of concern from constituents about growth. She said she doesn't believe the state should impose growth-management restrictions on local governments but should instead support smart growth by making resources available for infrastructure.

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Republican lawmakers reach attack mode in race for Florida House seat