The contentious St. Pete City Council District 7 race that comes to a head tomorrow is being called the bloodiest in recent memory.
The latest volley comes in the form of a nasty third-party attack mailer that dredges up some not-so-savory aspects of candidate Lisa Wheeler-Brown's past and features a photo of Wheeler-Brown that some purport has been doctored. The mailer was such a low blow that Mayor Rick Kriseman decided to step in with an endorsement of Wheeler-Brown over her opponent Will Newton, both of whom he said he has worked with in the past and respects.
“I had…a lot of concerns with what I was seeing as far as the spirit and the whole tone of the campaign,” Kriseman said. “I thought the campaign has really been ugly and it's been very negative.”
He added that while neither Newton himself nor his campaign are responsible for the mailer, they could easily condemn the nasty attack.
“I've been in politics long enough to know how that works," Kriseman said. "I haven't read anything or heard anything or seen any postings or anything from the Newton campaign commenting about the ad and criticizing it and saying we didn't approve it and we've asked that…that group not do anything like that again.”
The mailer points to incidents from years ago as well as a recent issue involving use of campaign funds for dental work. But that's not what really bothers Kriseman.
“The picture,” he said. “I mean, if you look at the photo, it clearly appears to have been doctored to play to a particular stereotype and generate some hate. It's really an old tactic, but it doesn't have any place in the city today.”
Indeed, it is not a flattering photo.
That in and of itself isn't a big issue; anyone who's seen a negative political ad knows opposition researchers look for the worst available photos of their targets and then manipulate them to make the candidates appear as sinister as possible.
The mailer in question not only uses a photo in which Lisa Brown looks somewhat dazed, but her skin also appears much darker, which, if that was done intentionally, would raise more questions about the firm that designed the mailers than it would Wheeler-Brown (find the original here).
“It really kind of solidified [it] for me,” Kriseman said.
Wheeler-Brown's campaign has yet to confirm whether the photo was altered to make her skin look darker. Newton has yet to return a request for comment on the mailer. Should we hear from either camp, we will update you here.
Kriseman said he isn't worried about the consequences of endorsing Wheeler-Brown in a race Newton has a decent shot at winning. He feels the city's business ought to trump any bad blood that could result from the endorsement.
“That's politics," he said. "There have been elections over the years where people take a position one way or the other, and the person that they supported wasn't successful. You still have to work together…If you make it personal, and take it personally, you probably shouldn't be in politics.”
Polls open across the city tomorrow, and every St. Petersburg voter can weigh in on each of the three council races up for a vote. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
*A reader pointed out that the image we obtained looks darker than that which the Tampa Bay Times ran with its story on the issue. Indeed the images do appear different in tone; ours is darker, but the difference is such that they are likely attributable to the manner in which they're rendered, i.e., scan vs. flash photography. Here's a side-by-side comparison, featuring the original, a screen grab of the image the Times used and the image we obtained.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2015.