Is the ever-weird Florida man becoming Florida politician?
The swamp fever of Florida weirdness appears to be spreading to the politicians who represent the state’s nearly 21 million residents.
Last week, a legislative candidate staged an elaborate scam to try to convince people she was a college graduate. Another candidate had to deny releasing a Facebook ad accusing an opponent of distributing tainted breast milk. And then there’s the thing about, well, sphincter bleaching (More on that later.)
Even for longtime followers of the Florida experience (guns, gators, greed), this is a bit confounding.
“Florida politics has always been as weird as Florida in general, but this year has seen a ‘Twilight Zone’ level of campaign screwups, oddball candidates, post-republican Trumpers in all their lunatic glory, edge cases, easily debunked fraudsters and a cavalcade of stupid,” said Rick Wilson, a GOP consultant whose hostility toward the president he recently channeled into a best-selling book. “The political subspecies of ‘Florida man’ is in full glory.”
Ah, yes, Florida man. The now revered meme and trope about bizarre incidents in the Sunshine State often spreads across the internet faster than a startled palmetto bug in the middle of the night.
It does not on most days refer to those men and women who have sought public office. (Although the record must reflect some notable incidents over the years including a fist fight in the Florida House, a parking lot brawl instigated by insults hurled on the radio and a county commissioner who fled the country amid a tangled tale involving drugs and a stolen car.)
But consider recent events: A city commission candidate on Florida’s East Coast told The Daytona Beach News-journal on Wednesday that his Facebook account was hacked and that the hacker put up an ad attacking his opponent for passing on genetically defective breast milk.
Melissa Howard, a candidate for the Florida Legislature, dropped out of her race last week after it was revealed that she had falsely claimed to have a college degree and posted a purported copy of her diploma online. Howard previously posted a photo of herself with what looked like a Miami University diploma. But the Ohio school later sent reporters a statement saying she attended the school but never graduated.
The Miami Herald reported that the mayor of Hallandale Beach in South Florida on Monday accused a city commissioner of making a living from “sphincter bleaching” after she questioned whether he made a living at all. Mayor Keith London was appointed to his job this year after the previous mayor was arrested and charged with accepting illegal Russian campaign donations.
The Miami Herald acknowledged it wasn’t clear what London meant. Commissioner Anabelle Limataub’s mother does own a spa that sells skin-bleaching cream, but she told The Herald she doesn’t work there.
One veteran political observer in Florida isn’t convinced that Floridians are witnessing a new trend. Instead Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist, contends the rise of social media has made it more likely that such incidents get attention.
“I don’t think it’s any more or less crazy,” Schale said. “I think it’s more out there . ... For democracy to be representative, the public space is going to have its share of people who are nuts.”