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Clearwater Metropolis Council member and mayoral candidate Kathleen Beckman is pushing again on current information regarding her marketing campaign, arguing it’s the results of “disturbing marketing campaign techniques” by her opponent, fellow Metropolis Council member Bruce Rector.
At challenge is information that Beckman now faces an ethics criticism, which former Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard has stated he’ll file, accusing her of utilizing metropolis sources for political acquire. Hibbard brazenly helps Rector within the marketing campaign for Mayor.
Beckman additionally takes challenge with the letter Hibbard despatched to Clearwater residents explaining his choice to help Rector. In that letter, Hibbard claims that Beckman “as soon as advised our former Metropolis Supervisor Invoice Horne that I used to be evil as a result of I used to be a Republican.”
Horne has since handed away and can’t reply as to if the declare is true.
Beckman stated the letter, and the reference to a dialog with Horne that she disputes, is disrespectful to Horne, who she described as her “mentor throughout my early council days.”
The ethics complaint in query entails correspondence Beckman despatched to sure Clearwater constituents on metropolis letterhead, informing them of actions taken and deliberate to mitigate flooding in coastal areas of town.
Particularly, Hibbard is placing Beckman on discover over an e-mail despatched Jan. 3 to Metropolis Supervisor Jennifer Poirrier by which Beckman informs that she had “canvassed North Seashore yesterday for about 4 hours,” throughout which period she stated constituents advised her that Rector “shared info with North Seashore residents about $60 million in funds from ‘planning’ … being allotted to deal with infrastructure wants on North Seashore.”
The e-mail additionally asks for info pertaining to flooding precautions and a metropolis pump. The e-mail makes clear that she is searching for info for functions of canvassing, making ready for candidate boards, and acquiring the “freshest and correct info to speak to our residents.”
Beckman adopted up once more with a duplicate of a draft letter she penned with enter from Assistant Metropolis Supervisor Daniel Slaughter.
The ultimate model of the letter was despatched to 139 recipients within the north seaside space affected by flooding. However all however a type of recipients had been ladies, a reality Hibbard claimed throughout public testimony at a Metropolis Council assembly final week that “statistically that’s an impossibility.” The names, he identified, had been from VoteBuilder, expertise used for political marketing campaign communication.
Beckman denies any wrongdoing and is countering her opponent’s supporters with claims of her personal soiled marketing campaign techniques.
“Mr. Rector’s disgraceful marketing campaign techniques reveal an entire lack of ethics and suitability for the mayoral function,” she wrote in an announcement Tuesday. “The poor judgment displayed by each Mr. Hibbard and Mr. Rector is unacceptable, and is extraordinarily regarding to me and lots of Clearwater residents.”
Beckman’s assertion references Hibbard’s letter, noting that it was then she “knew I needed to name Mr. Rector to deal with his false assertion and ask him why he would marketing campaign on blatant lies.”
“He didn’t settle for accountability for the statements and thought it was a part of politics,” she wrote.
“My competitor’s failure to even talk about these issues with me earlier than exploiting them for political acquire just isn’t solely inexcusable, but additionally disrespectful to the reminiscence of Mr. Horne,” she continued. “It’s evident that my opponent will stoop to any stage to safe an election victory.”
Beckman and Rector are working to switch interim Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst Sr., who has endorsed Rector. Aungst changed Hibbard after he abruptly resigned following dialogue over a $90 million Metropolis Corridor, which he referenced in his letter asserting help for Rector.
Beckman, as of the top of December, has outraised Rector, although not by a lot. Marketing campaign finance information present she has raised more than $70,000 whereas Rector had introduced in just over $64,000.
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