Tuesday evening I covered the “Town Howl” that County Commissioner Joe Mullins and Flagler Humane Society Director Amy Carotenuto hosted at the society’s building. It was an impressive performance by both–measured, thoughtful, probing with the right questions. Mullins’s intentions to possibly amend an ordinance the commission passed two months ago are clearly sincere. The ordinance allows dog-chaining under many circumstances, though the trend in more enlightened laws of the sort are toward more restrictions on the practice. Mullins seems to prefer that direction to the one the ordinance took, though he voted for it. He appears willing to change his mind. It’s the mark of a wise, non-dogmatic politician.
Why, then, Mullins insists on being vulgar, offensive, dogmatic, not to mention demeaning to the office and constituents he represents, is beyond me. There seems to be two Joe Mullinses. One of them is hard-working, challenging, interesting and unpredictable in the best ways.
The other is–well, it’s the sort of Mullins who thinks it perfectly acceptable to tell a woman, as he did this morning, referring to the Town Howl: “Sorry you didn’t make it. We did decide to chain and muzzle all radical liberals in the county.” He dropped that comment in a thread on the FlaglerLive story about Tuesday’s meeting, on that woman’s Facebook page. It was inexcusable on many levels, and it flies in the face of Mullins’s own efforts to deal with the dog-chaining issue seriously and, obviously, in a non-partisan way. It is also emblematic of a recurring issue with Mullins and his interactions with constituents.
In a text to me this morning, Mullins called it sarcasm. Really? Let’s see. Mullins is participating in the sheriff’s summit on domestic violence or sexual abuse. Would he make a joke about rape? About keeping liberal women in their place? About St. Paul’s Ephesians howler applying to liberal wives? Of course not. He talked about human trafficking at the Public Safety Coordinating Council meeting he chaired Wednesday. Would he have joked about keeping liberals in bondage? Trafficking little liberal children to Gotham? Of course not. He’s holding one of his opioid task force meetings. Would he joke about wishing liberals OD’d on Trump for a change? Would he joke about denying Narcan to a liberal passed out on fentanyl? Of course not. He’s holding a town hall at the African American Cultural Society. Would he make jokes about lynching liberals?
Why go so far: imagine how he feels seeing his name in the headline to this piece, as inappropriate a headline as any. After all, it’s all lol, as he wrote after his “joke,” as he always writes after his “jokes,” as if in self-ordained absolution.
Lol my foot. Yet he sees no problem joking about muzzling and chaining liberals on a thread to a story about the cruelty of dog-chaining, 48 hours after he along with everyone else at that meeting deplored images of dogs tortured by chains. The allusion to liberals as dogs–as bitches–is not lost on anyone.
“I have a first amendment right to respond any way I like,” he tells me in a text. (You can read the full text thread between Mullins and me in the sequential images accompanying this piece.) “Or does that just work for you all?”
He’s the one “joking” about muzzling liberals, yet accusing liberals of silencing him the moment his attempt at humor is merely challenged for being misplaced. How rich. But that’s how it often is in what passes for debates anymore where ideology corrupts all: challenge a conservative on any point whatsoever, and the deflective, Pavolvian response–in keeping with the theme of the day–is the inevitable you’re censoring! You’re trying to shut me up! God forbid you should address the actual point of the challenge.
The point is this: Mullins is not a private citizen. He is an elected official, presuming to speak as one. But he willfully ignores the distinction, as if he were two people. He’s not. And he can’t be constantly chalking up his inappropriate language to just Joe being Joe, or to a novice politician learning the ropes. He’s no novice anymore. Neither excuse works. We expect better.
Mullins did inform me that the woman on Facebook he made the chaining comment to has been baiting him and dropping comments insulting to him and Trump on his Facebook page for a while. “They have even made what I feel is threats by asking if my 4 year old child’s trump book bag is bullet proof. If you support that, and think I should sit back and continually take these shots then you are thinking wrong,” he wrote.
The politician’s art of stuffing words in his challengers’ mouths is generally as well honed as his love of straw men. I have no idea what this woman, or “they” have been writing on Mullins’s Facebook page, though if anyone is so much as hinting about or alluding to Mullins’s children in any political context, let alone making veiled threats, they’re being vile. The rare times I’ve ventured onto Mullins’s Facebook page gave me the sort of reaction my health plan isn’t good enough to treat, so I stay away, though the couple of screen shots he sent me this morning are stupid liberal memes about Trump’s impeachment issues, none of which are new, original, interesting or even daring. Nothing remotely in the league of Mullins’s statement about chaining liberals, for instance. And of course I would never suggest that he should sit back and take the shots: debate to your heart’s content, though if he felt his child was being threatened, I’d have immediately taken that to law enforcement (as I do when I or my family members are the occasional subject of threats, however vague).
Again, Mullins is brandishing a straw man, missing the point. Politicians get baited, goaded, insulted. That doesn’t mean they respond in kind. Not if they claim to be, as Mullins so often does–as he did Tuesday night–representing everyone. His actual line even on Tuesday night was: “If right now 80 percent of this county wanted pink mailboxes and I hated them, I’m going to have to accept pink mailboxes, because if I’m really representing you.”
If you’re representing us Joe, all of us, then act like it, whether the pink is on our mailboxes, in the color of our briefs or on our political tendencies. You showed on Tuesday night, as you have many times elsewhere, why you can appeal to broad coalitions and why you can be sincere–and effective–when you claim to see past partisanship or petty political fooleries. But don’t go undermining your own message by then acting like a playground bully, stooping to every bait in the book and responding in kind. You don’t want Joe Mullins to become synonymous with lol.
Here’s a suggested rule of thumb, Joe. Just a suggestion: if you ever feel the need to add an lol at the end of a line you’ve just written, you probably shouldn’t publish that line. Take that lol as the better angel of your natters: your angel is telling you something. Heed it. You’ll be amazed at the results. So will we all, whatever our stripes. It’s called statesmanship, and it’ll reap you more than any millions you can imagine.
Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive’s editor. Reach him by email here or follow him @PierreTristam. A version of this piece aired on WNZF.
Lnzc says
Too many liberals getting their panties in a wad,lol
Stever says
I’m glad you added lol, I might have taken that literally (lol)…oh wait, that doesn’t count. Lol…
Retardican Rightwinger says
Quit now trumper. You fall in line radical republicans are ruining this country. 2020 will end this nonsense if impeachment doesn’t do it first.
Save Palm Coast says
Please nothing wrong with wanting to a Trump – it is better than being Schiff face
Trump 2024 and be on .
Palm Coast is Trump country. Love it or leave it.
L Hen says
Commissioner Mullins and you seem to think that Palm Coast and Flagler is Trump Country. According to our Supervisor of Elections records-30.58% of the Voters are Democratic and 27.68% are Independent Voters who could vote blue or red depending upon the WIND. By my count, that means that Flagler County could go Blue by 58.26% EASILY and Commissioner Mullins would NOT be representing the majority of voters that he seems to think that he is doing. He was elected to represent ALL of his constituents, not just the RED ones. The sooner he learns this, the better off he will be.
Sandi says
My God I hope not. I’m so sick of the circus in D.C. I could scream! It was created by dems who hate Trump.
Resident Resistance says
tRump is his own enemy and there are more of us here that will vote him out in 2020
Right says
One of the things that shows the maturity levels of some on both sides of the aisle is the derogatory various renamings of “Republicans” or “Democrats” . In this instance it’s “Retardican” I haven’t heard that one before but surely offensive to those with developmental disability… But to me, anything that’s said after such a rephrasing is meaningless as I just assume you’re too immature to put any real point across that’s worth my time reading or engaging in.
Quepee says
Well put Sir
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
Joe Mullins is not fit to hold the office of county commissioner, or any office, not even dog catcher. He is a disgrace and an embarrassment to the people of Flagler County. It galls me that our tax dollars are supporting such a vile and undignified man who, in my opinion, never would have been elected, had he not spent a small fortune littering the county with his election signs. Dog-chaining is a terrible practice that exposes dogs to mosquitos, which carry heartworm. In the South, it is almost a 100% certainty that a dog who is not on heartworm preventative and is left chained outside will contract heartworm. Believe me, no one who leaves a dog outside on a chain will spend the money for heartworm preventative, which is expensive. On top of that, existing at the end of a chain is a lonely, awful life for a dog, and often owners put very heavy collars and chains on the dogs to keep them from breaking free. The weight from such collars and chains can cause permanent damage to their cervical bones and inflict a great deal of pain. I have yet to hear the “pros” supporting dog-chaining. Are there any? I don’t think so.
Chelsea Hawk says
As one of the liberals “attacking” Joe on Facebook (my name is even on one of the screenshots on this page), I want to thank Pierre for bringing attention and sunlight to Joe’s pattern of attacking constituents who do not agree with him or who hold him accountable for his words and choices and actions.
Vinnie says
Thank you for this interesting read. I’m new in Palm Coast, so I’m playing catch up on all our elected officials.
Vinnie
Duncan says
“They have even made what I feel is threats by asking if my 4 year old child’s trump book bag is bullet proof. If you support that, and think I should sit back and continually take these shots then you are thinking wrong,” he wrote.
Joe, its not about sitting back and taking these “‘shots”. It’s about acting your age and instead of acting like your the one that’s 4 years old in the family. Your an elected official that should be setting an example; did your comment resolve anything for you? I’m guessing not.
Carol says
Mr. Mullins only pretends to be sincere. He is a chameleon.
For example, he voted for Beachwalk, which did not adhere to the county’s own development guidelines for the Hammock, and then held a meeting to “help” those of us who were opposed to it (and there were many, many residents opposed to it). He could have simply voted against the development as configured.
Jane Gentile-Youd says
Commissioner Mullins does not confine his unacceptable behavior to his Facebook page
He used his official county email address to threaten securing a Gag order in addition to a lawsuit but excluded any allegations for doing so ( other than calling the recipient of the officially sent email “unhinged ” He actually signed his email Josepf F Mullins Flagler County Commissioner District 4.
Thank God for public record ( email dated Oct 27 2019 2;37pm) and Flagler Live for knowing when and,where the line needs to be drawn
RB says
Some obnoxious, deranged people need to have a gag order. They have a miserable, sad life and have to make others miserable. Know what I mean?
Land of no turn signals says says
This whole article is Lol.
Denise L Calderwood says
Commissioner Mullins is very far off the page on the issue of statesmanship and he is no James Holland or Jim Darby or Mary Ann Clark …. He has no standing in my world outside of getting in the way with all of his double talk. I think the real Joe Mullins is the Facebook Joe and in that medium that is where his trueness is coming out and posting items on Facebook regarding Trump when you are sitting at the dias as a county commissioner being paid by us all is beyond being a violation of the Hatch Act it is also immoral when you are calling people out for who they are and what they believe in and for him to say Flagler County is all for Trump and we are all Christian Conservatives who will do the right thing is blasphemy. I have had enough of the Joe Mullins Show and if he continues stumping for those Commissioners who are up for re-election than he should face at a minimum the Ethics Commission while in reality it should be FDLE. And it should be an early warning to those Commissioners who are seeking re-election to do the right thing by the people…. And I don’t care if he is doing it as Commisioner Mullins or Mullins Enterprises or any pact that he financially supports. He is just plain wrong and no God or any Pastor should condone the behavior. Joe I think it is time for you to seek help for your Facebook addiction just like you sought help for your opiod addiction but I forgot this is Flagler Country and the help is not here! You have to go out of county to get it! Mr. Cameron and Mr. Hadeed it is time for you all to reach out and ask for help unless of course you both support these antics. After all we all know that he is only just one of your bosses. But in the end it is the citizens who are suffering even though we have proclaimed it to be a new day in Flagler. It appears that it is the same old games with different players.
Peter A. Cerreta says
“by the people,” Denise, very important phrase often ignored by those politicians in office. Somehow, too many elected officials believe, contrary to citizen input on city or county issues, they know what is right and best for the people, and vote accordingly – relying on their premise, people forget and eventually “accept”. Denise, thanks for your input. People, remember and vote.
Mary Fusco says
In my opinion, which means nothing, elected officials need to be off of any social media. Dogs should never be chained. If a person is getting a dog to just chain it up in the yard, what exactly is the purpose?
Politicians need to stop talking out of both sides of their mouth. It tends to confuse them. LOL.
Faith says
Great job Pierre!!!!
Is this County finally seeing the unstable Mullins?? He can’t shut his mouth to save his life.
I bet Georgia is glad they got rid of him and laughing at us for electing him into office. He sure fooled a lot of people.
BILL (William) NELSON Nelson says
It’s a simple solution: ELECTIONS are coming. Do your due diligence, and vote accordingly. No need of name calling or dragging
individuals through the mud. God knows we have enough of that at the Federal level.
Vincent Lyon says
Thank you for this article. I have difficulty understanding Commissioner Mullins. When he puts his shoulder to the wheel, he accomplishes good things for the county. Then he turns around and calls me and my friends and associates idiot, stupid, and other more colorful variance on the theme.
What he seems to forget is that if 80% of the residents want pink mailboxes, he still also represents the other 20% who don’t.
Mike Cocchiola says
There are two Joe Mullins. One, Commissioner Joe, is personable and willing to work improve Flagler County. Then there’s the Trumper Joe… a vulgar and insulting bully. I will work with Commissioner Joe at any time. I don’t always agree with his votes, but he does get some things right. The other Joe – the Trump acolyte, the one who insults his liberal constituents, the one who would defy our laws and our Constitution and force his religious beliefs on our public schools and government – I’ll fight that Joe to the bitter end of his term in office.
Do The Right Thing says
I wonder which Joe Mullins responded to a “citizen” back in September that claimed they had compromising material on a high ranking County official and asked this “citizen” to send the material to him and call him on his personal not County cell phone. Hmm….
Steve Robinson says
I’m guessing Mullins must have attended Trump University, where one of the majors was How to Play the Victim. Introductory-level seminar: Criticism is soooooo unfair.
Steve says
Nailed it ding ding. Look Elections come up Vote his sarcastic dual ass self out . I didnt because of his attitude . I have said this before shit rolls downhill. Its because the moron in the WH does it the wannabes come out of the woodwork. VOTE accordingly.
Focus More on Flagler says
YES! He had a dual minor in “Creating Problems, then Bragging About Being the ONLY ONE Who Can Fix Them,” and “Social Media Posts Sans Proofreading.”
The victim-hood shown in those screenshots is the very same thing he accuses the “Snowflake Crybaby Ineffectual Liberals” of. It’s so sad that those snowflake crybabies are so effective at bullying Joe so severely. (Eye roll)
The truth is that posts on Joe’s page will call liberals lazy, stupid, unAmerican,and Joe has given one of his critics a ridiculous nickname in an attempt to shame her for being a waitress. Since when are Republicans against hardworking people with jobs? Since they are rich dudes who like to get their own way and have their power go unchecked and their greatness unquestioned. Face facts District 4, Joe will vote for pink mailboxes only for one of two reasons: 1) Trump’s new slogan is “Make Pink Mailboxes Great Again,” or 2) Joe recently bought a pink paint company.
Steve says
Nice article. Call the joke out every chance you get. I assume there will be no lack of subject matter. TY
Bill Nelson says
Mr. Mike continues to be a “stone throwing” hypocrite. The ONLY difference is in “party affiliation”
Bill says
Now thats a FUNNY headline
John Kent says
Hahaha so glad we shall chain and muzzle libs, no respite from their stupidity and arrogance. The best thing Trump did was to let us all see that. Btw I am independent in case you all libs jump to assumptions. But might vote for him this time around so we all could enjoy this circus for 4 more years.
Joe is a duplicitous guy, always votes for something bad to hurt residents then start talking his way out of it. Didn’t vote for him either. We need term limits, locally and federally, everywhere, no such occupation as “politician” please.
And dogs shouldn’t be chained, so inhuman, don’t want to take care of animal don’t have it.
CB from PC says
Threatening a kid over their Trump book bag?
That is pretty low.
Pierre Tristam says
I asked the writer of the comment on Facebook to send me the exchange that Mullins is interpreting as a threat to his 4 year old. She did. I’m not posting Mullins’s initial post because it’s a photograph of his child, but it shows Mullins doing the thumbs up with his child, showing the bookbag and its “Keep America Great” message. You can see Jilli Nel’s thread here, here and here. Her first response to Mullins was: “Is it bullet proof Joe???” This was on Mullins’s Facebook page, not hers. If someone left that comment on my Facebook page, in response to me showing my young child with a backpack (me as a journalist who’s pissed off enough people and drawn my share of threats) I would have no choice but to take that line as at least concerning. Without context, without qualifiers, it would not at all be unreasonable to see it as a veiled threat. According to Mullins, Jilli Nel is a frequent critic, so it’s even less unreasonable for him to have taken it as at least some kind of intimidating message. I think it’s poor judgment on Nel’s part and ethically suspect, given that she’s doing that on the other guy’s page, at a time when a line like “is it bulletproof,” in the context of a political post by a Mullins opponent in response to Mullins, can’t exactly be interpreted as a statement of tender concern for father or child. So the line was ill advised.
That said, it appears that Nel, the moment someone else (unsurprisingly) picked up on the concerning line, clarified, and explained that she was referring to the actual bulletproof backpacks for sale. I had no idea there were such things, I suspect most people didn’t either (the more reason for the original line’s ill-advised assumptions), but a six-second google check reveals that yes, according to NBC News, bulletproof backpacks saw a 300 percent increase in sales in August, selling for from $99 to $490. (The story is shoddily written: 300 percent in what context? 12 such backpacks sold in 2019 as opposed to three in 2018? That’s a 300 percent increase, but it’s meaningless. 12,000 as opposed to 3,000 last year? Story doesn’t say, though it does say that the bulletproof ones are useless.)
Anyway: giving Nel the benefit of the doubt, that’s what she was referring to, and in comment after comment she elaborates and stresses that it was only in relation to those concerns that she’d made the original comment. She makes that clear again and again and again. It doesn’t erase the original line’s misjudgment, but it explains it amply, and anyone who bothered to read her explanation would then have been dishonest, if not malicious, to claim that Nel was making threats, veiled or not. It stinks of opportunism for Mullins to have done so, as he did again and again even after Nel had made her explanations ridiculously clear (and he played me very well while doing so, because I gave him the benefit of the doubt before checking out the comments for myself). It would be the same thing as if I took one of Mullins’s own harebrained comments after my column posted as a threat to have me arrested by whatever Handmaid Tale fantasy branch of ICE he has in mind and deported back to my shithole country, to quote our beloved president. To quote Mullins: “We as a county are a conservative community that will stand for our President and Country. They have gotten the polite joking response. Maybe it’s time to be a little more politically correct. Let’s load the Bus and ship them out.” Really? What bus, I wonder? Who’s them, I wonder, besides me? Who’ll be my company on the bus? Who’ll do the shipping out, I wonder? I could sure as hell take that as a threat to be “removed.” Hasn’t this country known its share of Emmett Till posses who trunked people out for so much as whistling the wrong way? And here we are being seen as somehow blaspheming Trump even though none of this has anything to do with the guy, and everything to do with one more local guy.
But of course I didn’t take that as a threat. Mullins wouldn’t be that mad. He knows he doesn’t own this county any more than I do, or than the homeless guy off Palm Coast Parkway does. None of us has more or less of a claim to this county than anyone else, whether we masturbate to Ronald Reagan’s speeches, sing the Internationale in the shower or, more appropriately for many of us, cry the beloved country. But we do know fact from fiction, we do know a threat from a stupid statement, and we do, some of us do anyway, appreciate context, the exhaling sigh of a moment’s reflection, the leavening fairness of giving someone the benefit of the doubt. A moment’s reflection: imagine how far that would go to defuse our worst instincts and dumbest comments, this example by no means excluded. But I hear a knock at the door. Must be my Bus.
CB from PC says
Do you really expect anyone to believe this refers to a bulletproof backpack?
Sorry, go after Joe with comments, but leave 4 year olds out of it.
Mary says
There is such a thing and they were featured on a number of newscasts and stations..
I don’t think for a second that she was implying anything else.
Joe Mullins on the other hand better start to be more humble in his approach or he’ll find himself looking for another job next Nov.,
Less Is more Joe.
Take the high road Joe.
Chelsea Hawk says
As someone who saw the original thread as it was happening…it was really because of the backpack. Nobody attacked the child. Nobody even said anything about him.
They win when you’re divided says
Americans and their armchair Politico zeal, looks like partisan politics is doing just what it was designed to do… make everyone bicker like children amongst themselves over trivial matters, while staying ignorant to hypocrisy from their elected officials. This country has lost its friggin mind. Switch off that network “news,” delete that silly “Facebook brain vomit, and break that godforsaken “smart”phone. Good god this is asinine. GROW UP AMERICANS.. ALL OF YOU
Person who lives in Palm Coast says
Amen! What are the issues and how do we address them?
BlueJammers says
Pierre, you hit one out of the park by shining a light on this chowder-head, Remember Mullins in the voting booth, folks! It’s time for him to go.
tulip says
It appears to me that Mullins has taken on the persona of Trump and that is not a good thing at all. Being Trumpian is trashy, and all trash should be put to the curb.
steve says
Joes minds eye has been blinded by the big RED bonfire hes been dancing around celebrating, unbeknownst to him, its been extinguished and all that’s left is smoke and mirrors.
Jeff says
Trump 2020! Make Liberals Cry Again!
A proud liberal says
Why? What hs he accomplished? Is Mexico paying for the wall? Where is the infrastructure plan? Has coal come back? Has N. Korea give up a single nuke? What happened to the middle class tax cut he promised for Nov. 1, 2018? What happened to the 10% raise he said he was giving the military? Where is the healthcare plan he promised? Has he paid down the national debt as he said he would do? Where is the 4% GDP he promised? Why have his tariffs cost the taxpayers $23 billion in bailout to farmers? Do you consider spending over $110 million taxpayers dollars to pay for his golfing a good thing? Has he balanced the budget? Why did his travel ban not include any of the countries that have actually sent us terrorits? He exited the Reagans’s signature leagcy, the nuclear arms treaty without negotiating anything better. He left our Kurd allies to be massacred by Turkey. What, other than putting children in cages, has he actually done to curb immigration? And since he is so worried about the money Biden’s son made in Ukraine why is it ok that Jared and Ivanka made $82 million last year while working at the White House? I could go on and on and on.
richiesanto says
Yes and anyone who is an objective thinking independent could (go on and on) as well. Partisan politics is destroying this country. Most or these trumpers are uneducated, republicans that would vote for satan if he was running on the red ticket. Trump is a scourge to our country and will be eradicated soon.
Jim O says
Dear Proud Lib, I could outline the other side of every inaccurate statement you have made above. However, is America better off than with the 8 years under Obama? Did the Dems run a flawed candidate in 2016 and are now pissed? Get over it big boy. We did it for 8 years.
Steve says
Nobody cares about the Election now. Its about enforcing the Constitution. Your rhetoric is right out of MAGA .Its old tired doesnt work.SMH
steve says
I.E SEE VA., KY. ,GOP marginally win in of all States Mississippi?! The BIG Blue Tsunami coming(see midterm Election results) because the GOP have lost any focus on agenda except support the next EXPOTUS and damn the Constitution, laws, rules, procedure, process, ethics,etc.. only Reelection matters isn’t that right..Racism, bashing, name calling, stooping to all time lows and wallowing in it like it is accomplishing anything is buffoonery and you are the clowns. Face it besides his hardcore braindead followers this thing in the WH has pissed way too many segments of Society off. IFF he makes it thru this process he wont run. He hasn’t the capacity to lose. Not a humble bone in his being. He will not turn voters even with his non stop campaigning. His inner circle is collapsing around him. Stone found guilty 7 counts Federal court today. RUDY next. Your finger is not on the pulse and your mind is in Trump mode, one channel. Enjoy while you can the BULLY getting run out of the playground. For the record GDI……..
Steve says
FYI To all the followers who think 2020 is in GOP bag, not so fast, (over 20 ) I think actual number is 22, GOP House and Senate seats will be open due to early retirement, not running for Reelection or other personal reasons. Anyone in the know Politically sees that this is a daunting task. With marginal Majority nothing is certain. All up for grabs to the best agenda,and people. Cya
Steve says
Nice WIN WIN in Louisiana last nite. Ahhh the winds of change are a blowin. To the curb with you …… LOL
Person who lives in Palm Coast says
I personally find some of his comments on social media to be a bit cringe worthy, but when I see him in action, I feel conflicted. Is he doing a great job with a very unprofessional habit of back-talking constituents? If so, what can we accept in the name of progress? It’s very conflicting!
I can’t help but wonder, since he is the district liaison for the taxing district of Daytona North, if the residents there have any pull in electing their B.O.C.C. representative. They are unincorporated but do pay this limited, special municipal tax. So they require some for of representation. Is it possible, theoretically, that Daytona North residents could ALL vote for someone who doesn’t get elected to represent their taxing district? What if 99 percent of the residents in that taxing district voted to re-elect McLaughlin, for example, but the rest of the county voted for him?
It seems like a bit of a public democracy challenge for this group of people. And I’m not saying that’s the case. They may have voted for and love Mullins (although it appears this isn’t the case for a few of the residents there, at least).
Dennis says
Toughen up cupcake.
Ron says
Joe lives in his own little fantasy world, his dream is to be Trump. What a joke!!!
He stood in a town hall meeting and said, he just got back from the white house where he was in a meeting with Trump. Nothing but hot air Joe. I can’t believe anyone trust or believes a word he says.
He can run his mouth and call people names, but as soon as you stand up to him, he plays victim. Grow some balls buddy! One day you’re going to mouth off to the wrong person.
Flagler County isn’t your home!! You have bought some people, but honest people can’t be bought! Move on!!!
Haw Creek Girl says
I’d like to point out that many times people can exibit distinct personality differences depending on the spirits they are partaking of. Just a thought of mine….
Faith says
Joe need to GO
carol says
Joe Mullins, you are dinging a deeper hole for yourself.
As a Republican, I suggest you resign before you are voted out. Save face and do the right thing.
Resign and leave the county. Try luck somewhere else.
CJ.
Dave says
So providing proper and responsible care for an animal makes you a Liberal now?
Save Palm Coast says
Get two more chains and muzzles for Sullivan and O’Brien. These guys are recking Palm Coast.
Property taxes, traffic, low income housing, environment, crime
Person who lives in Palm Coast says
They aren’t on the City Council, though. If the roads in Palm Coast are congested, then this is an issue the city, not the county, must address in terms of infrastructure.
And zoning in Palm Coast is up to the city of Palm Coast, not to the county. I don’t know that the city has proposed any low income housing, and the type of housing still remains relatively non-diverse in type (not many studios, one or two bedrooms, no row housing or dense housing). There are multi-family housing units being proposed, some with required “affordability” standards, but unless the area is low-income, affordability is based on the people already here, so if people are earning $50,000, then affordable might be looking like $1700/mo. I don’t think that’s “low income.” :)
Ron says
I’m sitting back laughing my ass off at all you that voted for this “showboat”, and all you that could be bought!!! You get what you paid for!!!
Joe Mullins is nothing but a wanna be Trump. Regardless of what you think about Trump, he is a business man and worked for what he has. Joe doesn’t even know how to wipe his own ass!! He’s damn good a lip service though.
Steve says
Trumps Father left the Family 400 million in the 70s. Donald Trump is a failure as a Business man, see Bankruptcy. .They have been CONNED plain and simple. Thats what he is a CON. He worked for nothing.
BW says
Here’s my perspective opinion of Joe Mullins. He is a joke and a stop-gap. It was time for change, and Nate McLaughlin really needed to go. Since the Democrats did not have a candidate they needed to be thinking 4 years from the last election. So they needed someone to beat Nate, have a replacement that would do the least amount of harm during their 4 years in office, and be beatable in 4 years. They were the reasons I suggested the Democrats tell everyone they could to vote for Joe. Because he’s more harm than good for Republican competition.
Joe is what every typical self-identifying “conservative” is today . . . he desperately needs to feel a part of something, needs to feel superior, can not be who he truly is because he doesn’t know who that is and therefore has to try and adopt someone else’s persona, can’t go off of the tired talking points because he has no original thoughts, and plays the victim game to try and silence the conversation mainly because he has no original thoughts or can’t formulate intelligent opinions on his own. Every “conservative” and Republican today are not victims and they are not being silenced. Yes, everyone has the right to say whatever they like. Which also means everyone else has the right to respond whatever way they choose to. It also means that one is accountable for what they say and there can be repercussions. Others and society-at-large are not required under the right of free speech to ever accept anyone else’s thoughts or opinions. So whenever anyone says “I’m just expressing my freedom of speech.” just respond, “And so am I.”
More importantly “conservatives” are hypocrites. They do not seek to protect freedom. They seek control and have adopted drastic means to get there such with the use of fear-mongering, coordinated spreading of false-messaging and propaganda, are willing to overlook illegal/unethical acts by their leaders and compromise their own values to get to their goals, push the ideas of extreme nationalism and false patriotism, and they demand compliance from their followers. They want a single-party system and that is obvious especially with their lack of respect of our democratic institutions. They are not “conservatives”, as “conservatism” is a philosophy and not a club to be a part of, they are actually fascists and seeking to implement a fascist form of government. Fascism is typically identified as having three distinct qualities single-party system, strong public military presence, and strong nationalism. This is today’s “conservative” movement. And they are following the exact same playbook used in past history to get to their desired result . . . focus on the less educated and those who feel left out of society, get those people riled up by tapping into their fear and anger, create enemies and segments of society to blame for their issues (i.e. immigrants, political opponents, ideological opposition, “the left”, etc.), attack opponents and cast them out of public discourse either by ruining reputations or physically removing them (think about how people could easily disappear in a mass ICE raid and get lost in one of those crowded facilities), create the false sense of improvement even if resorting to lying about issues, and do this all while claiming to be protecting the freedoms of all. It’s not new, and it is truly a shame how the decent people I know have allowed themselves to become a part of this cult-like wave. The end result is not a form of government who would remember and reward those loyalists to such a movement. It is one that is elitist and will serve and protect only those at the top while simply demanding further loyalty from those at the bottom and turn on any who oppose it. It is the only way that it is sustainable.
Should we be outraged at Joe? Not really, because he is simply a foolish man who can’t even figure out who he is He needs to be something other than what he is. And he is emulating someone that I find difficult to believe any Father of any daughter would ever want to be perceived to be like. He is a flash in the pan in terms of Flagler County. You really want to make a statement boycott anything he sponsors with his company’s name on it and do it loudly, get a good candidate to oppose him (and start doing it now), and vote him out in the next election. What we should be outraged and concerned with is the societal trends I laid out above. It’s happening in plain view, those are the truths that movement does not want revealed, and it is dangerous.
Sherry says
@TheyWinWhenYou’reDivided, Steve, ProudLiberal, Tulip. . . ALL EXCELLENT COMMENTS!
As a person who read and remembers Orwell’s 1984 very well, and who sees his vision of the very disturbing future playing out in this context. . . I would urge everyone to step back and take a look at the big picture here.
It is my belief that posts to “Social Media” and sites like excellent Flaglerlive reveal the inner character of a person. Why is it that so many use the “First Amendment” to the Constitution to excuse their often horrifically unacceptable perspective, thought process and communication? Words still do matter, even if they are on social media!!
For me, if such communication reveals a despicable, immoral, dishonest, and corrupt foundational way of thinking and acting, that person should absolutely NOT hold any office where they would represent me, or my community, or my country in any way.
Yes, I realize that such standards would eliminate possibly most politicians, especially in today’s world. However, we must remember that we ultimately live in the world we settle for. . . don’t we deserve far better? Why are we allowing such unethical, immoral behavior to be “normalized” and therefore acceptable, especially by those on the “public payroll”?
It appears to me that this is the true, quite disturbing, “trickle down” effect of such character flaws in the current federal administration. Is this the kind of immoral society/culture/political structure we desire for the future of our country and for the world?
Thetruth says
Still trying to figure out how Mullin got elected and who voted for him? He is unprofessional and a rooky politicians that needs to go. Sure not pleased he is representing Flagler County.
palmcoaster says
Those that voted(I did not) for Mullins did it in order to rid us of Mclaughlin! Not a worthwhile person running for office and when one shows up they get witch hunted as they are not in the click. Example Dennis McDonald always pulling the covers and uncovering wrong doing, Bill Karback (run for sheriff back then, the most honest man I known around here was former under sheriff of Fleming where he quit for serious reasons). Former SOE Kim Weeks witch hunted and still shamefully sued over also manipulation of our electoral process by some current and former FCBOCC members, meanwhile they are still wasting our tax dollars defending wrong doing against her a real shame. Now Mullins and the others in BOCC along with the new manager pushing for a 35 millions sheriff Palm Coast office after wasting millions in the purchase of the contaminated hospital renovation and other as well useless real estate seating vacant rotening away and on our hard earned taxes. BOCC and administrators waste the double taxes we over pay to the county in our yearly ad valorem benefiting their well connected local realtors, lawyers and bankers shoving them deals to benefit themselves. Sadly every time a landowner or developer presents s request for “rezoning” the preservation of the current residents quality of life and wildlife and/or prevention of our hard earned taxes wasted does not count! The landowner or developer get their ways like just happened in the Hammock with those 56 units crammed in few acres and the John Anderson proposal…Now we have in Palm Coast the Harborside Marina and the PH Golf Course request for rezoning…No because tough ITT created Palm Coast for 250,000 residents and we still are only 85,000 Itt didn’t mean all to be piled up in a file mile radious between Palm Coast Parkway Palm Harbor Parkway and over due not yet widened Old Kings Road. So No rezoning we do not have the roads and sewer infrastructure and much less the proper and “insufficient current traffic law enforcement” to control maniacs in residential roads with 5 to 8,000 cars a day. In other cities residential roads residents have the right to request reducing the use of residential roads for thru traffic:https://www.orangecountyfl.net/Portals/0/Library/Traffic-Transportation/docs/Speed%20Hump%20Program.pdf Why not in this county and cities? Why this despicable dog 14 hours tethering shame lest tide them to a tree outdoors and see how it feels. Yes we all need to unite and address this issues and if our elected do like Mr. Mullins and his buddies in BOCC, hopefully voters wont forget in 2020. Those in power please start preserving our quality of life.
Laws says
I LOVE this article. Every word is spot on! Thank you, Pierre.
Enough is enough says
Joe Mullins got elected because he bought the election. The other much more qualified candidate Jane Gentile-Youd spent $10,000 vs. Mullins spending over $160,000. Despite this and running as an Independent with zero support from either the Republican or Democratic Party Jane secured almost 20,000 votes verses Mullins 30,000. We can all remember his obnoxious signs on every street corner.
His appearance at the Veterans Day ceremony with his Trump 2020 hat and political message was sickening, repugnant and disrespectful to every Veteran out there. Why did he not wear a George Bush, John Kerry or John McCain hat, all distinguished veterans? Mullins claims to represent all citizens of Flagler County, what a joke. Only if they go along with his politics and personal beliefs. To say Mullins has an ego problem is an understatement.
The sooner he goes the better. Mullins does not represent the interests of the people. I sure hope Jane Gentile- Youd decides to run again. She has put her heart and soul into making Flagler County a better place to live. Often at her personal and financial expense. She spoke against the dog tethering ordinance. Spoke against allowing the developer of Plantation Bay to keep building more houses despite a defective sewer system and not enough exits from the community. Mullins voted in favor of both. Jane’s motto has always been ‘Government of the people, by the people and for the people’.
When Jane gets elected to replace Mullins it will not be a moment too soon.
justbob says
Besides being the guy with the most campaign signs and the most money to finance his District 4 Commissioner campaign, Joe Mullins is well known as having a questionable past. The Palm Coast Observer has previously referred to him as a “problematic candidate”. The Observer and FlaglerLive have detailed a rather sordid history of deception, cover-ups, questionable business activities, apparent campaign finance violations and even a credible revenge porn claim. His business has also been sued in Georgia… accused of engineering a large dollar ticket scalping scheme involving a Masters Golf Tournament event.
He also has acknowledged previously possessing driver’s licenses from different states apparently to establish residency where it suited his needs. It now appears that Mr. Mullins is playing the residency game again.
Keep in mind that Mullins has declared a net worth of over $31 million, an annual income of $3.5 million and lives in a $1.2 million luxury penthouse condo in Flagler Beach (which is not in District 4). About two months before he filed his financial disclosure forms as a candidate for District 4 Commissioner, he purchased a small (1236 sq ft) older house in Bunnell (which is in District 4) for $130k. This is the house he will have to claim as his residence as Commissioner.
Do we really believe Joe Mullins with his huge net worth, huge income and being accustomed to penthouse living intends this small modest Bunnell house to be his new residence? Or is this another item on the list of this guys honesty and integrity problems. Given what we know about him, it’s perplexing that the Observer would endorse Mullins. But, it is clear that character was not a consideration in that decision.
Rebecca says
Joe Mullins continually violates ethics rules as he frequently blocks those of us that do not agree with his politics from his fb page. I call Joe on his b.s., and I’m not nearly as bad as some of his other detractors, yet I am still blocked. He follows rules when it suits him, and more often than not, when he makes vile comments against the citizens he’s been elected to represent when their beliefs differ from his, he raises holy hell and plays the victim, name calls, and low-key encourages his “followers” to threaten those of us that have the gumption to call him on his crap! If Joe blocks you from his page, file an ethics complaint. Give him an inch and he will take a mile!