Smear campaign source emerges on Ayscue's FB page

This is a power play by ultra conservative Republican operatives and elected officials to retain and grow absolute control over our local city government.”

Genece Minshew

Dark money GOP political operative Stafford Jones, the source of a disinformation mailer against city commission candidate Genece Minshew, posted related comments Saturday on Fernandina Beach Commissioner Darron Ayscue's Facebook page.

Jones and Ayscue are 'friends' on Facebook.

Fernandina Beach voters last week received a mailer from Jones' Political Action Committee (PAC) called Holding Developers Accountable about Minshew that stated, "Developers could always count on her vote."

That statement and other claims on the mailer were false.

Minshew has repeatedly stated she opposes changes to the Land Development Code that would allow more residential development and opposed the construction of townhouses on the Tringali property that were prohibited by the LDC.

Jones is listed on the state PAC records as treasurer of Holding Developers Accountable.

Minshew is running against incumbent Vice Mayor David Sturges for Seat 2. Sturges, who runs a residential construction company, has a pro-development record as city commissioner. Sturges would not comment on whether his campaign was involved with the Jones mailer or had knowledge that the mailer was being generated against Minshew.

Following a story about the disinformation mailer last week, Sturges abruptly dropped out of a candidate forum to be held Monday, citing bias from the Observer.

Meanwhile, Ayscue is running for mayor against Commissioner James Antun. Jones appeared on Ayscue's Facebook page Saturday after Ayscue took issue with the Observer's Monday candidates forum event.

"I will retreat to a previous held belief that this news organization cannot be trusted to be fair and balanced and will never attend an event held by this news outlet.

Optics is a word that has been used a lot recently. For some of those that use it as a political tool, they certainly have no issue with their own optics," he wrote.

That prompted a response from Jones, who has operated more than 60 dark money conservative, GOP-supporting PACs. Those PACs have been involved in local elections in Jacksonville, Juno Beach, Alachua County and elsewhere in the state.

Jones posted, "Just about everything they (the Observer) wrote about me, they plagiarized from bad sources, none of which had correct information to begin with. They aren't news, they are Googlers with an attitude. Apparently, you guys need a competing and legitimate news source up there."

Jones claimed he had not received emails from the Observer for comment.

The Observer has since asked Jones  the following questions on Facebook:

Jones did not respond.

The Observer also asked Ayscue about his contact with Jones and if he had any knowledge about the mailer attacking Minshew.

Ayscue did not respond.

Minshew issued a denouncement of the election interference from political operatives.

Jones, who has resided in Gainesville and Tallahassee, has no known affiliation to Fernandina Beach.

In addition to Ayscue, Jones is also a Facebook friend with Nassau County Commissioner John Martin, who is the state committeeman of the Republican Party of Nassau County.

Jones has been described by Wikipedia as:

"Jones is known for creating dozens of political action committees that have spent millions of dollars in Florida state elections. In 2021, the nonpartisan watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported that two of Jones' organizations falsely reported on their tax returns that they engaged in no political activities and failed to disclose more than $1 million in political contributions. Florida Democrats have complained that Jones' organizations have funded spoiler candidates and used deceptive tactics."

Jones is also connected to Data Targeting Inc., one of Florida's top influential Republican consulting groups.