Politicians are sticking their face in your face — at your expense

There’s a reason politicians don’t put their photos on yard signs, bumper stickers and bus benches during election season. Inevitably, someone comes along and adds an indelible mustache, horns and tail. So after spending all that money, they wind up looking foolish.

The desire to add a photo is understandable. Pictures draw your eye. And absent a well-known name or catchy slogan, it’s tough to build the name recognition needed to win elections in a state as big and growing as Florida.

Still, it grates to see politicians use the public dime to plaster their faces in our fields of vision.

You see it at election time when supervisors of election put their photos on sample ballots and polling-place posters, giving themselves an unfair advantage in their re-election races.

You see it now on the Broward County Clerk of Courts website, where Brenda Forman’s smiling photo takes up almost half the screen. How does that help citizens who need to do business at the courthouse?

But you’ve got to hand it to Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, who found a devilishly clever way to put her face and name before voters every day.

Fried’s agency inspects gas pumps for credit card skimmers, safety and accuracy. And since taking office in January, her staff has placed a brightly colored sticker — featuring her name and smiling face — on every gas pump inspected, about 84,000 so far. The sticker is dramatically different from the black-and-white seal used by her predecessor, which looked more official, though it included Adam Putnam’s name and the department’s website.

At gas stations we’ve visited, Fried’s sticker is next to the gauge that shows how many gallons you’ve pumped and how much you owe. A captive audience can’t miss it. It’s like passing time in an elevator by reading the inspection certificate.

Fried says the stickers are a fresh way to let consumers know someone is protecting them from gas-pump fraud. The sticker also includes the website address, FloridaConsumerHelp.com, and the consumer fraud hotline: 1-800-HELP-FLA.

But Floridians didn’t fall off the tanker truck yesterday. Given the prominence of her name and photo, these stickers are clearly self-promotion at taxpayer expense.

The buzz they’re generating spawned a Broward copycat this week. On Monday, deputies working for appointed Sheriff Gregory Tony — who is running for election in November 2020 and needs to increase his name recognition — also began applying gas-pump stickers with a crimeprevention theme.

You won’t be surprised to learn the stickers feature the sheriff ’s name in big bold letters, and include a nice portrait photo. “Gas stations in all of our districts will receive them,” a spokeswoman said. At taxpayer expense, of course.

But, uh-oh. Tony’s stickers appear to target the same spot as Fried’s official stickers. Are we looking at Sticker Wars? Whose sticker will come out on top? We’d note the nozzle also is available for advertising, but we can only shake our heads at the tax dollars being spent on such thinly veiled self-promotion.

As the only Democrat elected statewide, Fried, who lived in Fort Lauderdale before her election, unquestionably holds an important leadership role in state politics. She likely holds aspirations for higher office, too. A natural politician, Florida’s first female agriculture commissioner has a bright future.

So you can understand why Florida Republicans hate the stickers. They hate them so much that in the final days of this year’s legislative session, they amended the bill that implements the state’s $91 billion budget to say that effective July 1, gas pump stickers may only use a “combination of lettering, numbering, words, or the department logo.”

Fried has not yet said what she will do if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the bill, which he will, since it implements the state’s budget. Last we heard, her attorneys were reviewing the language. They appear to question whether the photo stickers must be removed or if more stickers simply can’t be bought in the next fiscal year.

Fried shouldn’t underestimate Florida voters. The language is clear. The stickers should go — before she finds herself sprouting unwanted facial hair.

SUN SENTINEL Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried isn’t the only politician using public money for self-promotion, in this case at gas pumps. Look at Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, or Broward Clerk of Courts Brenda Forman, or any incumbent elections supervisor. It happens all the time. But that doesn’t make it any less offensive.