Helped by safe, general questions, the News-Journal forum at no point resembled the mud wrestling matches that the Palm Coast City Council meetings they want to arbitrate have become. But the six candidates revealed their personalities, their sincerity, their deep lack of familiarity with the job–or their contempt for fact or truth.
Elections 2024
In Unprecedented Gridlock, Palm Coast Council Can’t Even Agree to Tentative Tax Rate, Skirting Legal Violation
The Palm Coast City Council was required today merely to set a tentative tax rate for next year, a routine step. It could lower the rate at will over the next few weeks. An ideological brawl prevented a vote, deferring the decision to August and effectively preventing the administration from refining the budget until then.
Milissa Holland’s Daughter Responds to Danko’s Fabrications: Stop Bringing My Family Into This Immaturity
“I am 25 years old and the amount of immaturity displayed in this campaign is embarrassing,” writes Tori Holman, former Mayor Milissa Holland’s daughter. “To Mr. Danko and his detractors, Stop bringing my family into this mess to try to boost your votes. Stop bringing my family into this at all. To the rest of you, thank you.”
Palm Coast at a Crossroad: Assassins of Civility or Governance
Ed Danko and Victor Barbosa since their election have turned the Palm Coast council into an embarrassment. The two are vying for a third vote in Alan Lowe and the mayor’s seat. That potential majority risks turning the city into a mirror of the toxic trio.
Robert Cuff: Palm Coast’s Choice for Mayor Is Between Competent Leadership and Truly Dangerous Dysfunction
Robert Cuff, the former Palm Coast city councilman, warns that the July 27 special election for mayor will need a large turnout from voters who seek smoothly functioning government and serious leadership. The alternative is partisanship, division, and dysfunction for the next three years, endangering the city’s future.
Early Voting Begins in Election for Palm Coast Mayor, Shifting Contest’s Virulence to Voters’ Judgment
Early voting started today (July 17) in the special election for Palm Coast mayor, continuing until July 24. In-person Election Day is on July 27, when, based on recent-year elections, only a minority of voters will actually cast a ballot. By then, most will have voted either by mail or in early voting. That’s been the case even in recent elections pre-dating the pandemic.
Danko-Lowe Campaign Fabrications: Governor’s Office Refutes Incendiary Claims About Holland “Criminal Charges”
Ed Danko, the Palm Coast City Council member working on behalf of Alan Lowe to get him elected mayor, has been making misleading or baseless statements, including outright lies, and leveling false and potentially defamatory accusations about former Mayor Milissa Holland, her ailing daughter and to some extent former City Manager Matt Morton, a FlaglerLive investigation found.
A Qualified Defense of Trump Supporters’ Obscenities in Flagler Beach
Obscene pro-Trump demonstrators’ signs now flashing regularly in Flagler Beach are no different than signs using similar language at BLM marches. The fact that BLM marches have justice on their side, as Trump demonstrators do not, does not diminish the goons’ First Amendment rights.
Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart Issues Statement on Election Security
Flagler County Elections Supervisor Kaiti Lenhart issued the following statement this morning, in light of the ongoing special election for Palm Coast mayor, which culminates with in-person voting on July 27. Mail balloting has been ongoing, and early voting begins Saturday and runs until July 24.
Renner and Other GOP Leaders Launch Digital Ad Promoting Conservative Ideals; Democrats Push Back
GOP state leaders are utilizing social media for their 2022 campaign efforts to promote conservative policies that they say have helped Florida to recover from Covid-19 and protect Floridians’ freedoms — though Democrats disagree.
‘It’s News to Me,’ Barbosa Tells Council of His Alleged Fugitive Status, Before Meeting Tips Into Brawl Again
The Palm Coast City Council’s five-hour workshop today had its share of tense moments before devolving again into a verbal brawl as Victor Barbosa professed ignorance about the allegations behind his apparent fugitive status before verbally dueling with Mayor Eddie Branquinho again.
Five Lessons on Bringing Truth Back to Politics
Democracies have felt precarious – in the US, during the Trump presidency, and in countries like Brazil, Hungary and Poland currently. Integral to such corrosion of democracy (as George Orwell made clear in his novel 1984) is the distortion of truth and facts in favor of a particular agenda.
An Alan Lowe Campaign Message: 60 Seconds, 2 Violations of Law, 3 Falsehoods, 4 Misleading or Deceptive Statements
Lowe’s contempt for facts was apparent in his run for the mayorship last year and has characterized his renewed run in the July 27 special election for mayor. If all six candidates are sincere, including Lowe, only Lowe makes explicitly false statements, misleading claims, legal violations, and ideologically-driven pitches that have little to no connection to Palm Coast governance.
Florida Realtors’ Support for Ballot Initiative to Protect Affordable Housing Fund Rises to $13 Million
If approved by 60 percent of voters, the proposed ballot measure would establish in the Florida Constitution the State Housing Trust Fund and the Local Government Housing Trust Fund. It would require that the trust funds receive at least 25 percent of the revenue from documentary-stamp taxes — which are collected on real-estate transactions — and would detail how the money could be used to address affordable housing.
In Bunnell, One Commissioner Resigns, Another Is Ailing and Absent, Leaving 2 Seats Vacant for Budget Season
Bunnell City Commissioner Bill Baxley resigned–or retired–after eight years on the commission, and Donnie Nobles has been absent after strokes, leaving the commission with the choice of leaving the seats vacant until next March, or making at least one appointment.
Ed Danko Fumes, Accuses and Menaces as Politics of Destruction Point to Palm Coast Council’s Potential Direction
In a preview of the sort of council to come if Ed Danko gets Alan Lowe elected mayor and aligns with Victor Barbosa, as Danko has continuously suggested, Tuesday’s Palm Coast council meeting was a rank display of the politics of destruction, of an elected official lashing out publicly and brutally against his own colleagues and the only two people on the council who report to him while distracting from a still-active internal investigation against him.
Carol Bacha, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Carol Bacha is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
David Alfin, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
David Alfin is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Cornelia Downing Manfre, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Cornelia Downing Manfre is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Dealing Florida Legislature 2nd Blow in 2 Days, Federal Judge Blocks Law Limiting Contributions for Ballot Initiatives
The law, passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature this spring and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, would impose a $3,000 limit on contributions to political committees collecting petition signatures to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Kathy Austrino, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Kathy Austrino is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Supreme Court Blunts Voting Rights in Arizona, and Potentially Nationwide, in Consequential Ruling
Arizona may keep two voting laws that Republicans say protect election integrity and Democrats believe will make it harder for some residents to cast ballots. That’s the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, one of the decade’s most important voting rights cases.
Alan Lowe, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Alan Lowe is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
Doug Courtney, Palm Coast Mayor Candidate: The Live Interview
Doug Courtney is a candidate for Palm Coast Mayor in the July 27 special election. All registered voters in the city may cast a ballot in that non-partisan election regardless of party affiliation or location in Palm Coast.
The Insurrection: New Details Suggest Senior Trump Aides Knew Jan. 6 Rally Could Get Chaotic
Senior Trump aides had been warned the Jan. 6 events could turn chaotic, with tens of thousands of people potentially overwhelming ill-prepared law enforcement officials. Rather than trying to halt the march, Trump and his allies accommodated its leaders, according to text messages and interviews with Republican operatives and officials.
Political Emails Reach New Lows
Modern media, both professional and social, were supposed to create a better informed electorate and a rich diversity of political opinion. Instead, our tools are used to build barriers. Email is worst. At least when campaigning via regular mail or with paid ads in print and on television, out-of-pocket costs force some limits.
Florida Supreme Court Justices Again Reject Recreational Pot Amendment Despite Strict Regulatory Language
Justices, in a 5-2 decision, said a proposal by the political committee Sensible Florida included ballot wording that would mislead voters. By the same margin, the court in April rejected a recreational-pot proposal by the committee Make It Legal Florida.
A Debate Breaks Out During Florida Cabinet Meeting Between Fried and DeSantis, Imminent Contenders
Sniping between DeSantis and Fried was a marked feature of the meeting Tuesday. DeSantis, a Republican, has not yet announced for reelection next year but Fried is among a number of Democrats seeking her party’s nomination to try to deny him a second term. (So is Congressman Charlie Crist of St. Petersburg.)
Records Reveal Trump Wanted U.S. Supreme Court to Order New Election in 6 States
The complaint prepared by the Justice Department at Trump’s order but never filed asked the Supreme Court to nullify the electoral votes of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and to order all six states to hold special elections to appoint presidential electors.
Fourth Court Challenge to Florida’s New Election Law Is Filed, Targeting Voter-Registration Hurdles
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the groups HeadCount and the Harriet Tubman Freedom Fighters Corp., is narrowly tailored to one section of the law that involves what are known as third-party voter-registration organizations.
Sexism + Socialism: The Republican Line on Florida’s Democratic Women Candidates Is Emerging
“Do-nothing.” “Delusional.” That’s the way Republicans are talking about Nikki Fried and Val Demings, the top Democratic women running for governor and U.S. senator in next year’s elections, reflecting a concerted strategy of sexism and denigration with no factual basis.
Orlando Democrat Val Demings Launches Bid to Unseat Sen. Marco Rubio
With the theme “Never Tire,” Orlando Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings on Wednesday formally launched her campaign to try to unseat U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2022.
Candidate Drops Out of Mayoral Race, Creates a Ballot Problem and ‘Endorses’ Lowe: ‘He’s Sorry for Hating America’
Kevin Cichowski’s brief candidacy for the special July 27 election for Palm Coast mayor ended today as oddly as it began a week or so ago–with cryptic statements, a back-handed endorsement of candidate Alan Lowe, and the proposal for an “active shooter system” in the schools.
Voting Rights Advocates Seek to Block New Law’s Requirement that Limits Ballot-Initiative Contributions to $3,000
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and other supporters of three proposed constitutional amendments designed to expand voting want a federal judge to block a new state law that places a $3,000 limit on contributions to ballot-initiative drives.
7 Qualify for Palm Coast Mayor Race as Commissioner Criticizes $188,000 Election Cost to Taxpayers
The special election for mayor to replace Milissa Holland will cost $188,000, according to an itemized bill from the Supervisor of Elections. Five Republicans and two Democrats qualified to run in the July 27 election. The qualifying window closed Monday at noon.
The DeSantis Pandering Machine
DeSantis is the perfect public face of the GOP as it is now: Obsessed with hanging onto power, fact-averse, representing an ever-shrinking coalition, and loyal, not to the American public, but to the sad, strange old man who can’t accept that he lost.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried Enters Race for Governor, Citing Tallahassee’s ‘Rigged System’
Fried, an attorney and former medical-marijuana lobbyist who scored a narrow victory in 2018 to become the only statewide-elected Democrat, criticized Republicans’ two-decade hold on Florida government in a video announcing her gubernatorial campaign.
Candidates from the Obscure to the Expected Piling Up to Run for Palm Coast Mayor in Winner-Takes-All Election
The qualifying window for the special election for Palm Coast mayor doesn’t close until next Monday. But eight candidates have already filed to run. Six candidates are Republicans, two are Democrats. It’s a non-partisan election, but only ostensibly so. Three of the candidates are Realtors.
After Holland
The resignation of Milissa Holland and the coming special election for mayor puts Palm Coast at a forking path between the course Holland set and a more radical change in a different direction. The two views seem to be represented by Alan Lowe and David Alfin, the leading contenders for the seat.
Survey Experts Have Yet To Figure Out What Caused the Most Significant Polling Error in 40 Years in Trump-Biden Race
Lingering questions about the misfire in 2020, in which voter support for then-President Donald Trump was understated in final pre-election polls, suggest that troubles in accurately surveying presidential elections could be deeper and more profound than previously recognized.
Palm Coast Council Sets Special Election for Mayor on July 27, Requiring Petitions or Fee to Qualify
The council agreed unanimously to require candidates to qualify for the election either by gathering 497 signed and certified petition or by paying a $1,140 fee. Petitions may be gathered between May 24 and May 28. Qualifying is set between June 1 and June 7.
David Alfin and Alan Lowe Announce for Mayor as Palm Coast Council Readies to Set July 27 Special Election
David Alfin and Alan Lowe, both Republicans who ran unsuccessful campaigns last November–Lowe for mayor, Alfin for a council seat–said they would run in the special election to replace Mayor Milissa Holland the Palm Coast City Council is expected to schedule at a hurriedly-called special meeting this morning. The proposed date for the election is July 27.
John Fischer, Ex-School Board Member and Omnipresent Booster of All Things Flagler, Dies at 76
John Fischer, who served on the Flagler County School Board from 2011 to 2014 and was a ubiquitous presence throughout the community for years, died in the aftermath of complications from an infection and surgery on Friday.
Anti-Transgender Bills Are Latest Version of Conservatives’ Longtime Strategy to Rally Their Base
Mischaracterizing LGBTQ-supportive policies as harmful to young people are a staple strategy conservatives use to galvanize their base. A record number of anti-transgender policy reforms were introduced this year in state legislatures across the country.
DeSantis Signs Bill Retrenching Voting Rights on ‘Fox & Friends’ as Opponents Immediately File Suit
DeSantis, who will be on the ballot in 2022 as he seeks a second term as governor, signed the bill (SB 90) on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends” after an event with supporters in West Palm Beach.
Why Facebook Created Its Own ‘Supreme Court’ for Judging Content
Facebook’s quasi-independent Oversight Board today upheld the company’s suspension of former President Donald Trump from the platform and Instagram. Six questions and answers on this Oversight Board that made one of the most politically perilous decisions Facebook has ever faced.
Charlie Crist Launches Bid to Reclaim Governorship
More than a decade after walking away from the governor’s office, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist launched a campaign Tuesday to try to unseat Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.
Why Trump Is More Likely to Win in the GOP than to Take His Followers to a New Third Party
Former President Donald Trump has claimed at times that he’ll start a third political party called the Patriot Party. In fact, most Americans – 62% in a recent poll – say they’d welcome the chance to vote for a third party. His chances of success taking that route are slim.
What Stolen Election Diehards Owe Holocaust Deniers
Holocaust denialism’s dregs on the fringe don’t get much attention because responsible institutions from publishers to campuses to media organizations kept them in their gutter. Election deniers are owed no less.
Florida Senate Passes DeSantis-Priority Bill That Would Force Political Candidates’ Speech on Social Media Platforms
The bill, in part, would bar social-media companies from removing political candidates from the companies’ platforms. Companies that violate the prohibition could face fines of $100,000 a day for statewide candidates and $10,000 a day for other candidates.