Cast your vote wisely
To the editor:
When you take a deep dive into where the campaign contributions are coming from that go to our local elected officials and particular candidates, it tells a story of deception. Masses of people may not really understand who and who they are not voting for. You see, there is a “Club.” If you are not a member of the club and you decide to run for public office, the club master and its members will work against your campaign.
The truth revolves around one particular campaign manager that has placed about 30 elected officials into office in the county, including state senators and representatives, county commissioners, Board of Education members, the tax collector, the supervisor of elections, the property appraiser, and mayors. What you cannot see is that there are grassroots candidates who seek to run for public office because they believe that the county lacks transparency and accountability. These are the candidates whose campaigns are being sabotaged by this campaign manager, local elected officials, political action committee money, and developers.
It’s time consuming, but easy to track the campaign contributions and expenditures of elected officials through the Supervisor of Elections website or through the Florida State Department of Elections website.
You will see that these 30 elected officials donate to this one campaign manager’s candidates. About half of these elected officials have PACs of their own, so they donate personally, but they also donate large amounts of money through their PACS because there are no limits on what can be contributed to a PAC or what a PAC can spend on mailers, robo-texts, radio ads, and social media ads.
PACs sends out hit piece mailers, and the information is likely false.
This campaign manager is affiliated with five PACS and, for years, there have been hit pieces on the grassroots candidates.
Grassroots candidates have a difficult time refuting the hit pieces because they simply do not have the money. That’s because grassroots candidates are getting their money from everyday people.
Unfortunately, nothing that is occurring with this campaign manager and the Club is illegal. Nefarious? I say yes.
The establishment-elected officials publicly endorse this campaign manager’s candidates. Mailers will proudly promote that fact leading you to think that a candidate that has been endorsed by elected officials must be a stellar candidate.
Lee County is a Republican stronghold, so it is reasonable for you to know that many of the Republican Clubs work in conjunction with this campaign manager to help his candidates get elected. If you attend any of these clubs, it is likely that you have heard elected officials tell everybody who they are endorsing.
By looking at campaign expenditures, it is clear to see who uses this campaign manager, Terry Miller of TM Strategic Consulting, LLC.
If I had not been a grassroots candidate in 2022, I would not know what is going on, and I would be thinking that I was casting my vote for the best candidate.
We all know how important it is that honest, ethical, and skilled people get elected to office. I think we can all agree that we want people in office who are there to work for us. I think we can also agree that we can have an impact at the local level if we have all the facts.
When you go to the Supervisor of Elections website and you click on the candidates, you will find the candidates’ contact information. Contact them, so you understand what they think the issues are and how they are going to work for us everyday people.
Cast your vote wisely. It is the most valuable thing we have during elections.
Denise Nystrom
Bonita Springs