2020 Election Off To A Bad Start!

---

I had a phone call from a reader asking if I received a telephone poll questioner from Christine Lambert campaign.  I did not, but was told some of the questions asked.

I personally find it totally irresponsible that her poll included his young children and former wife. The candidate must approve all mailers and information sent to voters. Is she not aware his children will eventually have access to this material? Parents will talk about it over the dinner table. Their kids will ask who their talking about and they may say Mr. Sylvester, don’t you go to school with his kids? There it is. Shame on you Mrs. Lambert.

Today I received a flyer from Stephen Sylvester’s campaign referring to the telephone poll. Below are excerpts from his flyer. The entire flyer can be read below. 

“Last night, City Commissioner Christina Lambert’s re-election campaign team launched a “Push Poll” and began calling registered voters in West Palm Beach.
It is an early indication of the type of negative campaign Mrs. Lambert plans to run.
The poll was full of outright lies and attempts to mislead voters with half-truths and misinformation.
Even worse, the poll asks questions about Stephen Sylvester’s ex-wife and his minor children.
With this email, I am publicly calling upon Christina Lambert to pull her offensive poll from the field and issue a public apology to my children and me for her reprehensible actions.
West Palm Beach deserves a city commissioner who holds themselves to the highest standards.  Mrs. Lambert’s race to the bottom is truly disappointing.”
https://mailchi.mp/d805074f2b8b/meet-city-commission-candidate-stephen-sylvester-6199921

Lambert’s  political consultant Cornerstone Solutions, run by Rick Asnani, apparently intends to run her campaign along the same lines he did 2 years ago when she challenged former Commissioner Shanon Materio with half truths and outright lies. Materio didn’t take it lying down, but fought back with a lawsuit, and so far she has won them all. Walk back with me 2 years ago, and below are the hi-lights from the PB Post. Entire story below:

WEST PALM BEACH -” An appeals court has denied political consultant Rick Asnani’s effort to shoot down a defamation suit by ex-city commissioner Shanon Materio for a mailer she said contributed to her loss to Christina Lambert in 2018.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled Oct. 30 that Asnani and affiliated organizations Cornerstone Solutions Florida and WPB Residents for Integrity in Government failed to show Materio’s suit caused irreparable harm, as required to declare it a SLAPP suit.

SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Florida law bans such suits, considering them baseless efforts to intimidate or silence critics and hinder free speech.

A circuit court judge in March denied Asnani’s motions for dismissal or summary judgment, though, and ordered the firms to pay Materio’s legal fees.
The appellate court now also has denied his anti-SLAPP motion.

Commissioner Lambert declined comment.”
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20191105/new-court-denies-political-consultantrsquos-move-to-kill-shanon-materio-suit-over-campaign-flyer

The campaign 2 years earlier was ‘dirty” to say the least. When Cornerstone was found to have violated campaign laws they were fined a whopping $950.00. With fines so low, and millions at stake for developers no wonder their repeating history. Below is an excerpt from the PB Post.  Entire story can be read below.

” A nonprofit run by political consultant Rick Asnani has been fined $950 for failing to register as a political committee that should have filed campaign treasurer reports with the state.

Last June, former West Palm Beach City Commissioner Shanon Materio filed complaints with the Florida Elections Commission against three nonprofits she said Asnani ran as shell corporations to collect campaign donations anonymously.
The FEC dismissed the allegations against two of the nonprofits, which channeled money against Materio’s run for re-election versus victor Christina Lambert. But in a Consent Final Order released Tuesday, Asnani’s Taxpayers for American Jobs, Inc. acknowledged the state could prove that the nonprofit operated as an unregistered political committee that deliberately failed to file required campaign treasurers’ reports.

Materio on Tuesday called for an end to loopholes that allow anonymous contributions.
“Asnani and his Cornerstone companies have been doing this for years,” she said. “These entities are not formed for greater transparency for voters and the public but just the opposite.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20190522/west-palm-consultant-asnanis-political-committee-fined-for-elections-violations