Sheriff Staly Rejects as ‘Misleading’ Ed Danko Campaign Claim of Endorsement in Latest Ollie North Video

A 60-second campaign ad paid for by Ed Danko’s campaign for County Commission features Oliver North saying Danko “has endorsed my friend Sheriff Staly and his efforts in reducing crime.” The ad includes two sequences showing Danko with Staly at a public event, and Danko wearing a Gioconda smile in a patrol car with a rather horrified looking Staly at the wheel.

“At best, the way this was created is misleading,” Staly said today. 




“Ed Danko did not endorse me. Publicly he supports this office but there was no formal endorsement done nor did I ever ask for an endorsement,” Staly said. “Every endorsement I received running for reelection, my campaign put out a press release and you will never find a press release indicating that Ed Danko endorsed me, because that just didn’t happen. I have a lot of people that want me to endorse them, because I am a very popular elected official and well know, and that is exactly why I’m staying out of local politics with the exception of state level and national level elections.” 

Danko’s campaign website shows one of the images in the campaign ad, of Danko at a mic and Staly in the background, above the line, in capital letters, “STAND WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT,” followed by words attributed to Danko: “I fully support Sheriff Rick Staly, his outstanding Deputies,” and so on. In a text today, Danko said he has “repeatedly endorsed Sheriff Staly and have expressed my full support for his department on my website.”

“I said I fully endorsed him. To me, that’s an endorsement,” Danko said. The Trump Club, of which Danko is a member, also endorsed Staly even though Staly had already won his third term. Staly, Danko said, had visited the Trump Club on that occasion.




Staly is frequently invoked, by name or image, by elected officials or political candidates looking for a boost by way of association with arguably the most popular and, judges aside, most powerful single local elected official by far: it’s easy to glom on to him, his image or his name to buck up the candidate’s law enforcement credentials at no cost, whether the candidate has earned it or not. Two years ago Staly had to issue a statement asserting that he was not endorsing anyone for Palm Coast City Council. The statement was in response o a campaign ad produced by Alan Lowe, a candidate for the city council then as he is again now (he’s running for mayor), also featuring a North endorsement of Lowe.

The Lowe video used the same techniques as the Danko campaign video, showing a picture of Lowe with Stakly (and in this case, Staly’s wife Debbie) and the verbiage of Lowe supporting Staly. The implication was that Staly supports Lowe–as is the implication of the Danko ad, with Staly supporting Danko.

Staly reiterated his position on endorsements today. “The only one I have endorsed is Tom Leek for a state position. I have not endorsed any local candidate and I have no intentions of endorsing any local candidate because I have to work with them as sheriff,” Staly said, “and I am having this video reviewed by my general counsel. Once that review is done we will address any violations or implied endorsements appropriately.” 

Danko, Staly said, did not ask to use pictures involving him in Danko’s campaign ads. Staly could not say whether Danko specifically asked him at the time he had pictures taken of himself with the sheriff whether he could use them for his campaign. But he could say what he tells everyone when they ask to be in pictures with him: “I say you’re welcome to use the photo but you cannot imply an endorsement. That’s my general answer, because my photo is everywhere.” 




Staly was sent a link to the Danko video this morning, he said. The video appeared either last night or early this morning on YouTube. Staly was also sent images of a campaign flier used by Regan Hanse for her campaign for a state committee position with the Republican Party. That picture was snaped at the sheriff’s annual gala-fundraiser for the agency’s Employee Assistance Trust, where a certain level of ticket provided for a picture with Staly, Rep. Paul Renner and Attorney general Ashley Moody. Hansen is featuring that picture in a flier.

North, a National Security Council staff member during the Reagan administration, played a leading role in illegally trading arms to Iran for hostages held by terrorists in Lebanon in 1986, and illegally siphoning profits to paramilitary forces and hit squads known as contras in Nicaragua after Congress ended that aid. He was convicted of three felonies but the charges were vacated on appeal since he had been granted immunity to testify about the scheme in what was known at the time as the Iran-Contra hearings before Congress. For all that dubious past–the facts of North’s illegal acts were never in dispute: he was merely shielded from prosecution–North became a conservative icon sought after by candidates across the country for his endorsement. He’s endorsed Staly in the past (visiting him in person), and endorsed Danko in his 2020 run for Palm Coast City Council.

Danko said he did not write the copy of the latest video.