I’ve never voted for Betty Erhard. If you’ve paid attention to city politics, you’re well aware she and I hotly disagreed on many, many policies as well as council protocol when we both served on City Council and when I was Brooksville Main Street Executive Director. She endorsed my opponent, Jeff Holcomb, when I ran for Hernando County Commission. I share all this to explain that I have logical reasons to not support her reelection campaign.

Enter Citizens Alliance for Florida’s Economy PAC and their appalling mailer.

I don’t know who the humans are behind the PAC.

I don’t know why they are so poorly educated they don’t know how to add a possessive apostrophe to “Citizens.”

I don’t know why the PAC was formed the same year Betty, Blaise Ingoglia, Jeff Holcomb, and I first took office.

I don’t know why they want to buy a Brooksville City Council election. The two guys listed as PAC Officers don’t live in Brooksville (or even Hernando County).

I don’t know why they sent both this dishonest piece on Betty and a positive one on her opponent, Dan Watson.

I don’t know any of this, but I do know one thing.

Fellow Brooksvillians, we can say no to outsiders controlling our government. We have our own city government for a reason – we want to be able to talk to our elected officials and city staff and be part of deciding what is best for Brooksville. It’s why local government is my favorite – we really do have a voice…unless we give it up.

For decades I’ve worked alongside many of you to highlight the positive aspects of our city. We’ve worked to maintain our culture of Southern Hospitality, perseverance in hardship, and willingness to break barriers. Our past has included some horrific behavior (for details check out our Haunted History tour this week) so we’ve worked to cultivate honesty and integrity in place of those past mistakes.

Citizens Alliance for Florida’s Economy represents the antithesis of our positive efforts and we need to say “no” firmly and loudly enough for them to hear from their headquarters in Jensen Beach (wherever the heck that is). But how? We can’t make them not send dumb mailers, but there are individual and collective ways we can tell them they aren’t wanted here:

• Stop voting based on pieces of paper sent in the mail (they’ll stop sending them when they stop working)!
• Ask the Hernando County Republican Party (both Betty and her opponent, Dan, are Republicans) to publicly denounce the PAC mailer against Betty as dishonest and embarrassingly insulting to voters’ intelligence.
• Ask Dan Watson to publicly denounce the mailer against Betty.
• Ask other elected officials to take an official stand on hit piece mailers.

I know Dan and his family. My husband and Dan are friends and I’ve attended parties at their house. They are good people and an asset to our community. Dan isn’t responsible for this mailer, but the way he responds to it will tell us a lot about who he is as a person and how he will govern if elected. We don’t know if the PAC wants Dan or if they just don’t want Betty, but the question either way is the same. What do they hope to get out of Dan?

John Allocco had the same choice before him in 2024 when a PAC sent out a dishonest hit piece on his opponent, Marvin Baynham. John chose to remain silent unfortunately and won reelection. But at what cost? Is integrity really worth so little that we won’t call out corruption, lies or bad behavior? Is corruption ok as long as it benefits my candidate’s campaign? When we elect people who turn a blind eye to bad behavior, why are we surprised when they govern poorly?

Since 2014, I’ve been saving campaign mailers (yes, it’s a weird thing to collect) and I just went through all 257 of them. None were paid for by the Citizens Alliance for Florida’s Economy prior to now. Some were paid for by other PACS, and some by the Republican Party.

Of the 23 Brooksville City Council mailers I have, all were paid for by the candidate themselves except the 2022 Kingsley vs. Thieryung race (the Hernando County Republican Party sent mailers both supporting Thieryung and opposing Kingsley).

Outsiders are trying to buy a Brooksville City Council Seat and we have the opportunity to show them we aren’t for sale. My vote in this race will depend on how our community and the candidates handle this question. And the irony of it is, if the dumb PAC hadn’t sent these two mailers, I’d have voted for Dan without giving it one second of thought! Take that apostrophe-less PAC!!

Why would I consider voting for Betty when I am often at odds with her policy and decorum? Because at least I know she’s not for sale. Dan can show he isn’t either by the way he responds to this dishonest PAC attack. To be clear, I don’t think Dan is for sale – but this PAC seems to think he is. They wouldn’t spend $10K on mailers if they didn’t. And when you’re in politics sometimes you trust the wrong people. I’ve done it myself WAY too many times.

The City of Brooksville is at a critical juncture with really big decisions on how to stay solvent in front of them. We need people in the seats who have the strength and wisdom to do the right thing instead of the easy thing.

When I ran for Council, my slogan was “Believe in Brooksville.” I still do. I believe we are a community that cares about one another, our buildings, our trees and hills, our history, and our reputation. I created a collage of some community-building programs we’ve done over the years to help remind us that Brooksville is worth fighting for.

THOSE PHOTOS SHOW WHO BROOKSVILLE IS. AND THAT’S WHO I BELIEVE WE WANT TO CONTINUE TO BE. Let’s prove it by showing our beloved city is not for sale.

P.S. Betty isn’t “coming to Brooksville.” She’s been here her whole life.

P.P.S. Also, can someone who knows who these PAC people are please teach them how to use an apostrophe?