Pons apologizes, pulls Hanna ad: 'It's just not me'

Superintendent Jackie Pons went into damage-control mode Monday, pulling a controversial attack ad against his opponent Rocky Hanna and offering a public apology for running it in the first place.

The commercial, which began running over the weekend, focused on a paternity lawsuit filed in 2013 that was dropped by the mother of Hanna’s 14-year-old daughter. It led to harsh criticism on social media and prompted some people to pull their support of the incumbent.

“I’ve got to accept responsibility,” Pons said. “Obviously, it’s truthful. It’s factual. But it’s just not me. It’s not what I’m about and it was a mistake and I’m sorry.”

Pons, in a Monday morning interview with the Tallahassee Democrat, said he planned to apologize to Hanna and the other two candidates in the race. And he said he was apologizing “to anybody that was offended by it.”

Pons TV commercial sparks fierce backlash

He sent a text message to Hanna asking to meet with him. But Hanna showed little interest in doing so. The former Leon High principal said he and his daughter’s mom sat down with her Monday morning to watch the ad for the first time and walk her through it out of concern she’d see it elsewhere without them.

“I do believe in forgiveness,” Hanna said. “But this is so raw for me. Right now, I’m trying to protect my family and my daughter from any further damage.”

The commercial included images of court documents in which Hanna’s daughter’s name could be seen. Pons said he wasn’t aware of that until after the ad began running.

“It should have been redacted,” he said. “That just adds more clarity that that’s a mistake.”

Pons noted Hanna was involved in the production of a notebook that was given to the FBI and others alleging a variety of misdeeds.

"We've been hit pretty hard over the last three years with all kinds of ... false allegations," he said. "We've been hit, so you think, you know, this is a good thing to do. But once I did it, it didn't feel like me."

In the days before the ad aired, Pons spent more than $156,000 on media buys at Comcast and the local CBS, ABC, NBC and FOX affiliates, according to Federal Communications Commission records. The Hanna ad was the first Pons spot to run this election cycle.

WCTV and Comcast confirmed they were contacted by the Pons campaign Monday morning asking them to stop running the commercial. Comcast officials said they were told a new ad would be ready to run starting Wednesday.

“We’ll probably be back up very quickly with other ads,” Pons said. “But I think they’ll be more like what you’ve seen in the past from me ... more talking about the system, what our system’s like, what we’ve accomplished, those types of ads.”

The apology wasn’t enough for some. Ron Sachs, owner of Sachs Media Group and a longtime Pons supporter, said he and his business gave two $1,000 checks, the legal max, to Hanna on Monday. He’s also planning to drape a banner across his building downtown urging people to vote for Hanna.

“I think it’s a good thing that he pulled it and a good thing that he apologized,” Sachs said. “But it really is too little, too late."

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

WATCH LIVE

The Tallahassee Democrat will interview all four candidates for superintendent at 1 p.m. Thursday. Watch the session live on Facebook at Facebook.com/TallahasseeDemocrat. If you "like" the page, it will notify you when the event starts.