Peter Johnson is one of the candidates for Palm Coast mayor. He’s overly sure of himself and loves to hear himself talk, which he does to excess whatever the forum. He has the goods: lightning intelligence, sufficient eloquence and Double Jeopardy-round mastery of surface facts to make his fast-talking sound like a locomotive circling your wagons. It’s not often a pleasant experience.
It doesn’t help him that his know-it-all attitude can make others feel like idiots, sometimes by design. (I recognize so many of these traits because aside from sharing his name, I also share many of his traits.) That his listeners are often idiots, as we all are at some level, doesn’t justify what amounts to a perpetual drill in one-upmanship rather than an attempt at conversation, understanding, compassion. I’m not sure Palm Coast is ready for a mayor who would run the council as a local House Un-American Activities Committee.
Inevitably, Peter Johnson lends himself to impressions of arrogance, especially when this town’s prejudice against younger people speaking bluster to geezers kicks in. That he also makes more established candidates and politicians nervous as hell, for the right reasons, is also not helping him. He’s a tactical crackerjack and a strategic dunce, letting his most easily controllable attribute–his demeanor–define him. If his ideas are getting short-shrift, he’s to blame. He’s the one upstaging them, and that’s a shame: a little coaching, a little humility, a little time, a little trim, would make him a formidable candidate.
But say what you will about Johnson, he alone is this year’s target of the most vicious slander in Flagler County. Someone out there wants to make us believe that Johnson called someone else the N-word in an electronic message. The claim has been spread through an alleged screenshot of the alleged offense (the screenshot, too, is alleged, because it has all the makings of a fabrication). The claim has not been verified despite attempts by FlaglerLive, AskFlagler and the Observer.
That does not prove it to be a fabrication. But as the evidence stands right now, that’s all it is.
Numerous other indicators point to a fabrication, starting with the sources of the claim and the means, insistence and ethically dishonest ways they have used to disseminate it. Those sources have primarily included ex-sovereign citizen and serial liar Alan Lowe (a candidate for mayor against Johnson), GOP operative Jearlyn Dennie (local Svengali of slander whisperers), Tim Sharp (a thief who didn’t hesitate to steal FlaglerLive property to illustrate an echo of the slander) and an agitator who goes by the name “Ryan Christian” in his Facebook attempts to bait Johnson.
These are the dregs attacking Johnson, and baiting local media into reporting the claim.
Some months ago, on the promise of granting anonymity to the sender, I received the alleged screen shot at the center of all this, purportedly showing Johnson calling a mystery person the racial slur, prefixed with the word cat. (I’ve been at the receiving end of the slur: When people level it at me, the prefix is usually sand.) The sender claimed to have no involvement in the exchange, only of being a recipient of the screenshot by an anonymous something. I have my doubts. The sender is probably part of the cabal.
I confronted Johnson in person outside of a City Council meeting, springing the screen shot in front of him and asking what it was all about. I wanted to see his reaction. I wanted to see his eyes, his twitches, his body language. I can be a poor judge, but it seemed to me that unless he’s some kind of cyborg, he couldn’t have faked the outrage.
I then attempted to authenticate the image. There’s no two or three or five ways to go about this. Running an image like this through “authenticators,” as the alleged Christian claimed to have done, is bunk, and it misses the point. We do not libel or slander a person based on an anonymous document or source unless the person’s identity at the source of the document can be unassailably established, and the original document in the person’s possession, on the person’s original device, just as unassailably verified. No redactions, no copies, no exceptions. The person’s identity doesn’t have to be–and would not be–revealed. But I would have had to know who the person is, without cloaks or intermediaries.
Until I make those verifications and verify the verifications every possible way, the image is not just an allegation. It’s a fabrication more offensive than the language it uses, because it is compounding the offense with a fraud, and with the attempted demolition of a person’s character.
Despite various attempts to convince him/her/they otherwise, my anonymous source never revealed the source of the image. Nor has the cabal of people listed above, as they’ve gone about spreading it.
I then tried authentication through Jessica Myers, who heads Community Cats, the Palm Coast non-profit. What do cats keep cropping up?
If there is context to this claim–though how can there be context to a fabrication?–it is a stupid run-in Johnson had a year ago with a Community Cat volunteer, Vicki Shepherd, over a cat-feeding station Johnson seems to consider a violation of law as grave as a violation of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. At least that’s how he reacted to the feeding station, though it’d been there for an eternity.
Johnson had no business disturbing the feeding station, which the city had approved, or harassing a volunteer. Nor had Shepherd any business swinging at Johnson. He’s right: that sort of behavior would have landed her in jail had she attempted it at a cop. (He filed a charge that went nowhere, just as did a criminal mischief charge against him.) Johnson was intimidating and full of his usual “self-righteousness,” as a sheriff’s report put it after an equally blustery visit to Palm Coast’s Code Enforcement division, and taking video of the woman was entirely unnecessary. But he never threatened Shepherd nor came close to putting her in danger. He was playing attack-dog lawyer against a 68-year-old woman who was just feeding cats, for god’s sake. If Johnson would make an excellent trial lawyer, that doesn’t mean he has the temperament for a judge. Or a mayor.
So I had a long conversation with Jessica Myers. She despises Johnson and would happily connect him to any scandal that would sink his candidacy, but, to her credit, not on the back of a dishonesty.
Myers is a former paralegal who said she got the image in question from Alan Lowe (have I mentioned that he’s one of Johnson’s opponents for mayor?). She claims to have had contact with the person at the receiving end of the slur. But the method by which Myers sought out the person is unreliable: she broadcast a call for information in a social media group (closed or not makes no difference), basically giving the fabricator a heads up.
The response was equally suspect: the alleged person contacted her several days later: fabrications take rehearsing. The person did not reveal “her” name. She called from a blocked number. She would not agree to an on-record conversation. She refused to allow an examination of the original exchange. “For the life of me I could not remember her name,” Myers said.
All further evidence pointing to a fabrication.
The mystery woman’s claim that she was fearful for her safety is invalid. If she had an exchange with Johnson, he knows her identity. If she had that exchange with Johnson and is aware of the whirl of guessing and rumors and attempts at verification it has triggered, it’s her responsibility to enable the verification on the most transparent terms. She did none of that with Myers. Myers claims that the “woman” volunteered some of the lines Myers herself had not provided, but that were in the alleged message. Therefore, Myers reasons, that lends credibility to the woman. It does not. It only lends further credibility that the mystery woman has the original fabrication in hand.
At any rate, Myers herself told me in no uncertain terms: “I’m probably more than 50-50 on his side that this latest is probably fabricated,” she said. Meaning on Johnson’s side. “I, too, doubt that that part of it is true.” She then called the claim “a reach.”
Meanwhile, a fake website was created on June 14 with the sole purpose of planting a fake “news” story about Johnson being in the middle of a controversy–a controversy the site was designed to fabricate so it can be amplified. The website, whose phone number linked to a sex line, didn’t last. Mercenary libels aren’t meant to. It had done its job. Days later Tim Sharp was using the fake story to legitimize one of his own on his QAnon-calibrated website. Myers–who doubtless knew not the host’s proclivities for scandalmongering–was appearing on Jearlyn Dennie’s radio infomercial on WNZF. That led the Observer to decide to do a story about it all.
And there it was. The slanderers could claim mission accomplished. The “controversy” had gone mainstream. An unfair headline framed the main issue as Johnson being on the defensive and the article referred to “at least two websites having posted articles about Johnson and the messages.” A more accurate headline would have focused on the deep-faked slander: how an unverified claim had morphed into a fabricated controversy built on fabricated stories in a fabricated website and got disseminated by people with a partisan interest in Johnson’s defeat and a credibility gap wider than the asteroid belt.
Disappointing, too, was Myers’s claim to the Observer on July 3 that since her appearance on the infomercial she had come to realize that “she since had begun to doubt the veracity of the messages.” Not so. She was full of doubts in our June 24 interview.
As with any such fabrications, the fabricators’ amateur mishandling of it all means that even if somehow the slur was shown to be closer to authentic than not, too much time has passed, too much information has been revealed, too many how-tos provided to give the fabrication a make-over. Even its potential authenticity at this point could not be trusted.
This is where we are at this point. This is why it is easy to conclude that Johnson is the target of a slander more disgusting than the slur coloring it. This is where it should end.
The hypocrisy should not be lost, either: the cabal attacking Johnson is formed of the same people who deify Donald Trump, a white supremacist mass of bigotries whose entire being is a slur–an adjudicated rapist, a convicted slanderer, a liar, a fabricator, a twice-impeached sac of felonies who’d eat Community Cats kittens for breakfast if it didn’t risk distracting him from pussy-grabbing. In short, a man who makes Peter Johnson look like St. Francis of Assisi.
So consider who’s disseminating this slander. Then let Johnson go back to his campaign in peace and judge him on his own known merits.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive.
The truth seeker says
I will make history by agreeing with you. In the past we definitely had different concussions. But knowing all the awful players involved with bashing Peter Johnson are the worse of them all. Sadly you forgot to name the dirtiest of the all Danko the rest are the garbage in Palm Coast 🌴
JC says
Before this article came out I did my own research on the claims. For me I concluded that the claims regarding that screenshot with the N word cats on it was most likely fake. Johnson doesn’t have the perfect character but he still gets my vote next month.
Maria says
I’d like to thank whomever is pushing this story. Originally I didn’t plan to support Mr. Johnson but knowing that he has sparked the ire of some of Palm Coast’s most disgusting characters has helped me decide that I will vote for Peter Johnson for Mayor. If they dislike him enough to go to such lengths, he must be good for Palm Coast.
Deborah Coffey says
All reasons why I will never vote for another Republican. I am judging every one of them by the company they keep and the “leaders” they support.
Lee says
Only no good humans spread hypocrisy because are hiding something, liars and think the average person is beneath them!
Peter Johnson has my Vote!!
CANDACE says
The fact you are attempting to get rid of all the mayoral candidates besides one, is laughable. Many of us on Alan Lowe’s team have knew about this cat thing for months. In fact, we warned him of it THEN! TO openly accuse ANYONE of perpetuating these allegations is rich coming from this rag paper. Show me hard evidence.
JC says
Did you even read this article or you want to scream about it?
KANDI Stevens says
Yes. I read it. His slated comment in parentheses says it all. Alan did send Jessica the picture. He sent it asking her WHO would dredge this up on Peter. End of his involvement. Asking questions would help here
The dude says
Are Sovereign Citizens allowed to run in this race?
KMedley says
Thank you Flagler Live for the deep dive into this slanderous, smear campaign!
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
Alan says
Yes, I privately sent a screen shot (that I received anonymously) to Jessica Myers as she is involved with the community cats and asked if it was real. I didnt ask it publicly. Isn’t that the prudent thing to do when trying to confirm or disprove something?
The dude says
Why are you all up in other people’s private messages?
Seems like every single time some story like this comes out, it’s the same list of names involved.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Jocelyn says
You mean these names?
Jearlyn Dennie
Alan Lowe
Danko
Edward says
Yup, politics in Palm Coast is a dirty business, slander being the norm, has all the ear marks of a particular political group who will remain nameless. Just as in national politics, Palm coast seems to attract the dregs of the community again remaining nameless.
Frankly, I like Peter Johnson’s authoritative manner, his soft and calm voice. He calls a spade, just raw honesty, with good intentions for this city.
This is the first time I can say I stand whole heartedly in agreement with Pierre, surely a first for me. I had decided on Peter Johnson long before any controversy arose, as I feel that he represents a departure from the usual suspects that have held, currently hold, or are seeking to hold office in this downward trending city. Pete Johnson has my vote, as for the rest, the can climb back under the slimy rock the crawled out from under.
Pete represents a refreshing new prospective on our city government, a long overdue shift in direction!!!
PeachesMcGee says
PC’s old guard is scared, very scared.
Just like Johnson, I was once young, bold, brash, outspoken, and hated by anyone 10 years older than me. However, I always maintained my integrity and honesty.
PC is broken, just like America. We need new blood to fix our city.
Jim Dana says
New blood for sure.
Willie Boy says
I’m quite sure that Danko is also involved in this crap.
feisty says
Peter has my vote. #1: He’s not a relator. ..He says what needs to be said, and has laid out common sense plans for Palm Coast. DONE.
Preach it says
Alan Lowe is the new Joe Mullins. Prove me wrong?
Brian A says
There is one element in this town that does this stuff. It’s the exact same people over and over:
Mullins
Denny
Danko
Lowe
Demers
…and then, there’s the little gang of followers with all their fake Facebook accounts.
The call themselves “Conservatives”. They’re just con-artists and wannabe, so called Christians and absolute crazies.
Jethro Tull says
Exactly, your are correct!
Don’t vote for these people they suck!
Because You Told Me To Drill Sargeant! says
Why do we spend so much bandwidth on this bullshit? Y’all go read up on Mike Norris’ bio. That’s the logical choice for mayor. All business git’r done (or drop and give’m 20).
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
“It’s a fabrication more offensive than the language it uses, because it is compounding the offense with a fraud, and with the attempted demolition of a person’s character.”
The current crop of local GOP clowns know no better when the Party is nothing more than smears and lies starting with their chief orange clown. Mainstream Republicans (yes they are out there) should Vote for Johnson with the Democrats and NPAs Voting for Cornelia, then we might have a dignified contest in November.
Using Common Sense says
This is not a partisan position, altho Pierre always make it into one, any excuse to bash the Orange Man. There are good Republicans that are For the People and bad Republicans that are for their own personal gain, developers, and their cronies, just as there are good Democrats who are fiscally responsible and bad Democrats that want to give away the farm. Integrity matters. Voting record matters. It has never been more important to get involved and use your voice and VOTE. Hopefully do some research and decide for yourself who will represent YOU, and not developers, business partners, cell tower contractors, secret data center projects, long time cronies, fellow realtors, and large campaign contributors.
jeanine letcher says
Good response! The writer did use this platform to bash the side he obviously is not for. However, many of our elected officials are criminals who get away with so much and depending on your title get away with all they do. Unfortunately when you run for an office you open yourself up to alot of scrutiny , false and true scrutiny.
Negroni says
The bodycam video from his interactions with Law Enforcement are more than enough to make my household steer away from this candidate and his emotionally charged behavior.
Joycelyn says
Have you ever attended a Flagler Republican Executive Committee meeting? Go back a couple of years before Mike Norris became a mayoral candidate. A 1-hour monthly meeting always turned into a 3-hour meeting due to Norris continually yelling and screaming.
Marilyn Mack says
Unbelievable!
What about all the SLANDEROUS LIES written in this ARTICLE about several local RESIDENTS & other MAYORAL CANDIDATES.
Oh AND on DJT too!
RAG LYING NEWS. . .
Wow says
Why do you read it then? Ignore as I ignore all DJT blather.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it says
This smells of Danko’s dirty little hands as usual. He gets the goods and passes them along to his minion. The minion just never learns and those that trust the minion get burned in the process. Danko will do anything to keep Alfin as mayor.
Lorraine says
Mike Norris has my vote for Mayor! He has an outstanding, impeccable resume making him (for me) the best choice for Mayor! Leaving all these dim wits behind and looking for a brighter future for Flagler County!
dave says
Peter has my vote, and thank you Pierre.
Doug says
Wouldn’t it be refreshing if a candidate could run a clean campaign without the slander of another? I thought lawyers were terrible, but politicians have made it a common practice to lie and to hold them accountable for their self-serving behavior would be priceless.
Mark Woods says
I won’t be voting for Mr. Johnson, for my own reasons, but “Pastor” Dennie should be ashamed of herself. She won’t be, but she should be. All these small-time politicos will be gone soon enough. Danko will be getting a Mullins-style heave-ho this fall. As for Alan Lowe, nice guy but anytime someone runs that often it becomes suspect.
Jessica Myers says
As far as this situation in general, I have absolutely no involvement with any candidate nor do I know anything about any of them. I have only lived in Palm Coast for 5 years and do not involve myself with politics in general unless it is a “cat related” issue. My only direct involvement was notifying the “cat community” on cat related social media platforms of the situation that took place in July 2023. That being the destruction of the feeding station by Peter Michael Johnson. It was an informative post of the facts as they happened and I urged MY followers to decide for themselves. In my opinion anyone that destroys someone’s personal property before getting all of the facts is not someone I wish to lead the municipality in which I reside. At this point it has little to do with cats and more to do with the character of anyone that would do what was done to the personal property of a resident that was located on private city property (and yes that is correct, private city property, I didn’t know it existed either). As far as the “fabricated message”, I have said on record that I was not able to confirm the legitimacy of the message beyond an anonymous person on the other end of a phone conversation saying yes it’s real. I also stated that while I did recognize the voice, I could not be certain of who it was. Take it for what it is. This also occurred prior to anything being posted about the message or any of the fact finding that has now been done on both sides. This occurred before this alleged message was made public. What I have stated here is my only knowledge of this situation.
I will also say that whoever ends up leading this city needs to be prepared to deal with the gross overpopulation of stray/homeless cats in the community. This is one issue that I and Community Cats of Palm Coast do take seriously. The way things are going now, isn’t working, at all! Those of us that love cats should have resources available to control this situation while those that do not should not be forced to have to. The homeless cat population in this city is way too high, yet there are ways to solve this issue that works for everyone in this community. We need to stop the argument and work together towards a solution.
Jessica Myers says
I would also like to add to my previous reply that Mr.Johnson has reached out to me. He was very respectful and showed an interest in discussing the problem we have here in PC with regards to the cat related issues we have. I have not spoken to him and can not state that my opinion of him has changed, however these are the facts.
weldon ryan says
Sovereign Citizens don’t run for office unlike MAGA Republicans!
weldon ryan says
My wife and I have met Peter Johnson, Candidate for mayor. His energy, intellect and exuberance tells me all I need to know. We have many issues in Palm Coast but the biggest one is civility relating to the politicians and relations with it’s citizenry. We need youth, enterprise, art and culture. Talking with him he seems on board unlike most of Palm Coast politicians that are so rigid we’re a desert in despair. Build the right things and create culture (20 yrs since I’ve been here) which has failed to happen despite valent efforts has failed to happen. All work and no play makes Palm Coast a dull boy/girl/other. Get us some youth, tech, good paying jobs and culture (not just statues of turtles with a paint job). Miss you Tom!