MILTON —As the municipal election draws closer, the race is heating up, not just between the candidates' campaigns.
For instance, posts expressing support for certain Milton City Council candidates are gone from the ‘Mayor Wesley Meiss of Milton, Florida’ Facebook page. The disappearance followed criticisms during this week’s executive committee meeting.
Monday, Men with Vision representatives questioned the posts, one of which featured a picture of a sample ballot with the candidates’ names and “PSSS…Powell, Smith, Schepper, Snow” written on it.
“These posts are appropriate for your personal Facebook page, Wesley Meiss, but we feel it inappropriate for your official mayor Facebook page,” Murray Hamilton said.
The nonprofit organization’s secretary also questioned the lack of diversity in the candidates Meiss supports.
“Are you suggesting to me that I should publicly support people based on the color of their skin, not on the content of their character?” Meiss said in response. “Isn’t that adverse to what the great Dr. King said.”
In an email, Meiss said he removed the posts after hearing from several constituents, including “trusted mentor” Larry Brewton.
“I have always given serious consideration to those kinds of concerns so I decided to remove them,” Meiss said. “We are close enough to the election that my personal opinion is known: that Milton deserves to have the best and brightest of its citizens representing them on the city council.
“… As I have said, it would be a dereliction of my oath as mayor not to support candidates who offer Milton its best chance of fulfilling its potential, based on the content of their character. Incumbents who have acted in narrow self-interest or lack understanding of important issues prohibit Milton from progressing. The slate of candidates I endorse are intelligent, energetic and have a deep love of Milton.”
Resident Cindea Booth said the issue would not have been raised if the posts were on Meiss’ personal Facebook page. She also said the Supervisor of Elections office should look into the matter.
During the meeting and in a follow-up interview, Hamilton said he didn’t believe there was racial intent behind the mayor’s social media posts, but he believes the move was a simple mistake.
“I think this was a learning curve for him,” he said.
During the discussion, attendees mentioned an anonymously mailed postcard, the front of which reads, “The choice is yours! November 8th For a better Milton” The opposite side shows a portrait of each Milton City Council candidate running against each other. The full names of Smith, Schepper, Snow and Powell appear by their photos. The names do not appear beside the portraits of their opponents, Jimmy Messick, Johnson, Henry G. Martin and R.L. Lewis. Above the candidates’ photos reads, “Who do you want for your city council? The choice is yours.”
Meiss condemned the tactic.
“It was sent cowardly and anonymously,” he said. “I deplore this kind of black hearted politics.”
“(T)here is a small group of people who seek political gain by generating controversy. I certainly don't mean the folks who addressed me Monday night,” Meiss said. “I believe their concerns were genuine, but there is a small group of malicious malcontents who refuse to accept the will of the people of Milton expressed two years ago by electing me in a landslide.
“I don't know what this group has up its sleeve but I have faith in the intelligence of Milton voters to recognize political dirty work when they see it.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Mayor decries ‘black hearted politics’