Local leaders and candidates take to social media to bash the “Black Votes Matter” card produced by a shady political committee tied to Broward Mayor Dale Holness’ longtime campaign marketing guru, Omar Smith. Last week, REDBROWARD revealed Smith was tied to “People of Principle PAC,” a federal political committee. When we contacted the PAC at the number on their website, Omar Smith answered the telephone.
When a voter confronted Dale Holness at his fundraiser at a packed Lauderhill restaurant, stacks of the “Black Votes Matter” card were displayed next to Holness’ campaign materials and donation envelopes.
Ever since the controversial card hit mailboxes last week, voters and elected officials have criticized it.
Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief blasted the card in a Facebook post. Sharief wrote:
Mailers like these deceive the voters and contribute to loosing[sic] elections. While I like many of the candidates on these cards at first glance it would appear they came from a legitimate organization but they are not. Also lots of races left off…People do your homework know who you are voting for and why?
In a reply to a comment, Sharief wrote the card “may be a county-wide coordinated deception.”
Broward Supervisor of Elections candidate Mitch Ceasar thanked Sharief for bringing this “deception” to light. “This is why people don’t trust government,” Ceasar wrote.
Broward School Board Member Rosalind Osgood wrote the card drew the ire of local religious leaders. She wrote, “Pastor Derrick Hughes call these cards out earlier this week. This card is NOT from the Black Community.” Osgood appears on the card.
West Park Vice-Mayor Brian C. Johnson, a FL House 101 candidate, joined in the attack. Johnson wrote:
Both of those cards were produced by well known political pimps who get paid to produce pamphlets like these in their efforts to give bad candidates false credibility by presenting them with popular candidates and lovable figures. Both of these cards ultimately seek to get a very specific group of people who paid to be there elected—everyone else are just props. There are some quality candidates on both cards who played no role in the schemes. But the lack of integrity by the makers and the sinister deception they are trying to benefit from make both of those cards immediate trash in my house. I pray that not a single voter is fooled by them.
In a separate Facebook post, Jennifer Perelman, bashed the appearance of her opponent, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Out Of Touch), on the card.
Perelman wrote:
That’s laughable. So they’re endorsing a candidate who takes the second highest amount of money from police PACs as the best person to represent the black community. Talk about encouraging people to vote against their own interests. When you have a community ravaged by injustice and poverty, maybe you shouldn’t keep electing the same corporate tools that profit from that disenfranchisement. What a joke.”
When will someone ask Broward Dale Holness about his views on the card?
Wonder if the Sun-Sentinel mentioned it when they endorsed Dale Holness last week?
