O.B. citizens should know who was behind dispicable postcard slandering mayor

O.B. citizens should know who was behind dispicable postcard slandering mayor
By Fran Thompson
Anybody getting nostalgic about the good old days in Orange Beach when elections were conducted without personal attacks and accusations of politicians using their positions to benefit their own businesses, please note that then Orange Beach Mayor Steve Russo, former City Councilman Joe McCarron, and City Attorney Larry Sutley were found guilty of charges ranging from campaign finance violations to bribery following the 2004 Orange Beach municipal election.
Orange Beach is not immune to dirty politics. But there is no smoke and no fire behind an oversized postcard recently mailed to select Orange Beach addresses that made outrageous and unfounded accusations against Mayor Tony Kennon.
The mayor fought back that same day (Aug. 20) with an emotional facebook response and a vow to make public the names of those responsible for the slanderous postcard.
The group responsible for the flyer labeled itself the Committee for Better Government in Orange Beach, and Kennon said in his Facebook response that the flyer has been turned over to the Alabama Secretary of State and “we’ll find out who is behind this.”
Issues raised by the flyer included the mayor’s public altercations, departure from the University of Alabama in 1991 and his “shaking down” local realtors to steer them towards his wife’s title company. The flyer also stated Kennon was a bully who ran roughshod over council members Joni Blalock, Annette Mitchell, Jeff Boyd and Jerry Johnson.
The only councilman not mentioned in the flyer, Jeff Silvers, said he also wants to see the names of those behind the flyer made public.
“Whoever is behind it or what group is behind it, shame on them,” Silvers said. “It’s low and cowardly and dirty politics. I hope the Secretary of State investigates this matter.”
Kennon did take public issue with place 5 candidate and former police chief Joe Fierro over his departure from the dept. following the Aug. 18 city council meeting.
Although advertised as an opportunity for candidates to address the public, the forum was moderated by Kennon and retired OBPD Sgt. David McLain was allowed to speak at length about the many issues he had while working with Fierro. (Coach McLain was an assistant on my kid’s middle school hoop team. She loves him). The way the forum was conducted was not deemed fair by Fierro and many others. But the former police chief nevertheless condemned those responsible for the flyer.
“Whoever did this is not helping anyone. I have run an issue based clean campaign and I do not condone this type of activity,” Fierro posted the same day the flyer showed up in mailboxes.
Kennon, facing opposition for the mayor’s office for the first time since 2008, was opposed in the Aug. 25 election by Dan Hayes, who also said he didn’t support the tactics used in the flyer.
“My campaign has been honorable without name calling and we do not condone that behavior in any way. The mayor and I have a difference in opinion, but that is why I’m running against him,” he said.
In this deeply red state, maybe the most damaging accusations in a flyer that accused the mayor of being everything from a steroid user to a sexual predator, was its labeling Council incumbent Blalock a “flaming liberal,’’ complete with a picture of Blalock standing with former President Barack Obama during the president’s visit in the aftermath of the 2010 BP oil spill.
“What you do not see in this picture posted on the mailer is that our Republican Governor, Bob Riley, was standing just to my right,” Blalock said.
“It was shortly after this that I lobbied for the Restore Act from which our city benefitted and I am proud of that work.’’
Blalock was part of a group that traveled to Washington to make sure Restore money was not diverted from the five states the spill affected.
“I have always known that desperate people do desperate things, but the attacks perpetuated by this mailer are inexcusable,” she said.