Gun control rises in Orange race
Guns have become an issue in the tight race for the District 1 Orange County Commission seat, though the next commissioner is unlikely to cast any vote that will expand or restrict gun laws.
The National Rifle Association has endorsed commission hopeful Betsy Vander-Ley. An attack mailer from a usually pro-Republican political action committee derides her as having “extreme, pro-NRA values .... ”
County commissioners in Florida are barred from enacting or enforcing local gun-control regulations by a state law that mandates sanctions for violators that range from fines to removal from elected office. The law, pushed by the NRA, took effect in 2011.
Both VanderLey and opponent Robert “Bobby O” Olszewski are Republicans, seeking to represent west Orange and replace term-limited commissioner Scott Boyd on the sevenmember elected panel.
They are running against each other in a nonpartisan race, where their party affiliations will not appear beside their names on the election ballot.
Each candidate denies a hand in the dueling campaign literature.
“It’s not a local issue,” Olszewski said.
One mailer for VanderLey declares: “This is your chance to elect a committed Second Amendment supporter” and another says “We can count on her to protect our firearms rights and to fight for the self-defense rights of law-abiding gun owners.”
The latter notice also reminds Florida Second Amendment supporters to vote for Donald Trump for president and Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate.
VanderLey is one of only three county commission candidates in Florida to have received an endorsement from the NRA. The others are running for election in Franklin and Wakulla counties in the Panhandle.
Wendy Kurtz, VanderLey’s campaign manager, said in an email that VanderLey did not “purse the NRA” but the gunrights group “reached out to Betsy after seeing mailers that Bobby’s campaign sent . ... ”
Those mailers, which do not mention Olszewski, warn voters: “VanderLey’s extreme gun positions can’t be trusted on the Orange County Commission.”
The campaign notice also points out that VanderLey held a campaign fundraiser in January at the Oak Ridge Gun Range with attendees urged to donate $50.
Olszewski’s criticism of that event led Oak Ridge’s owner, John Harvey, to participate in a robo-call to voters before the primary Aug. 30. The call urged voters to tell Olszewski to “stop opposing Second Amendment rights . ... ”
The mailers critical of VanderLey were paid for by the Citizens Alliance for Florida’s Economy, a political action committee based in South Florida. The committee’s chairman, Anthony Pedicini, did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.
The committee’s contributors include the Republican Party of Florida, which gave $16,000 this month, and the Friends of Jason Brodeur, a Republican member of the Legislature from Seminole County, according to campaign finance records. Brodeur’s PAC gave $50,000.