NEWS

Pons TV commercial sparks fierce backlash

Jeff Burlew
Democrat senior writer

Superintendent Jackie Pons launched a TV attack ad against campaign rival Rocky Hanna that sparked immediate backlash on Facebook and Twitter and prompted some of the incumbent's closest allies to walk away from his re-election campaign.

The ad focuses on a 2013 paternity lawsuit brought but later dropped by the mother of Hanna's teenage daughter. Both Hanna and the girl’s mother — not to mention numerous observers — blasted the commercial as unfit for a political campaign.

Superintendent Jackie Pons is running ads highlighting a paternity lawsuit involving his campaign rival Rocky Hanna.

Gary Yordon, a Pons media consultant since his first run in 2006, left his campaign over the ad. Ron Sachs, CEO of Sachs Media Group and longtime Pons backer, announced he was withdrawing his support and would vote for Hanna instead.

"This spot reflects such horrific judgment on his part," Sachs said. "It smacks of desperation. I'm embarrassed for him and embarrassed for the community that we've been exposed to such a terrible piece of political propaganda. He most certainly and deservedly will lose the election over this one thing."

The commercial drew scorn from U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, D-Tallahassee and a former lawyer for the school district. Graham, a friend of Hanna's since high school, gave $1,000 to Hanna's campaign last year but was otherwise staying out of the race. She said Sunday, however, she could no longer maintain silence.

"Attacking candidates' families has absolutely no part in any political campaign," she said. "Jackie owes Rocky, his family and the people of Leon County an unqualified apology."

Hanna, in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat, blasted the commercial as “deplorable.”

“I have a beautiful daughter and a wonderful relationship with both her and her mother,” Hanna said. “It’s shameful that Jackie Pons would attack my family and my 14-year-old daughter for his own personal political gain. Shame on him.”

The girl's mother, Patricia Crump, condemned the ad in a post on Facebook.

"Rocky is one of my best friends and we have a beautiful daughter who loves her parents very much," she said. "He is a good man and a caring father. It saddens me that someone would attempt to hurt our family to advance a political agenda. Rocky and I work well together as co-parents and we love our daughter dearly. Our daughter is only 14 years old and to use her name for political purposes is disgraceful and criminal."

Jackie Pons' disclaimer in his attack ad against Rocky Hanna.

Pons defended the commercial, which went into heavy rotation over the weekend. He said Hanna was behind an anonymous notebook that surfaced in late 2013 accusing him of a variety of wrongdoing.

“This ad is 100 percent true," Pons said. "And I find it amazing that Rocky is talking about me attacking his family when for three years he’s done nothing but attack my family with the notebook he brought forward with false allegations.”

The 30-second TV spot says Hanna “brags he will care for our children like they’re his very own. We’re in trouble if Hanna treats our children like he did his.”

It says that in 2001, when Hanna learned of the pregnancy, “he offered to pay for an abortion. In a 2013 paternity suit, the mother wrote Hanna did not provide food, clothing or financial support for the child. We can’t trust Hanna to be Leon County Schools superintendent.”

At one point in the commercial, the name of Hanna's daughter can be seen clearly on court documents.

"He didn't even have the decency to leave her name out of it," said Hanna, former principal of Leon High who took allegations of school construction bid-rigging to the FBI.

Leon Circuit Court records involving the paternity matter were mailed anonymously around Aug. 1 last year, about a week before Hanna announced his candidacy. The records indicate Crump filed a paternity matter March 2013 but dropped it a month later.

Last week, Pons spent more than $24,000 on TV advertising to run 241 times on NBC 40 and FOX 49, according to records from the Federal Communications Commission. The ads were purchased by John Mader, owner of Hunter Owens Advertising. Pons' ad buys with other broadcasters weren’t immediately available.

Local campaign-finance reports show Pons paid a Thomasville, Georgia, political consulting $5,000 for media work on Sept. 14. It wasn’t clear, however, whether the firm worked on the ad.

Political consultants who didn't work on the ad were going out of their way to say so on Twitter and elsewhere.

"For Tally friends, at one point I was going to help @ElectJackiePons w/ TV, but that changed," said Kevin Cate in a tweet. "I have nothing to do w/ the Rocky attack ad."

Yordon, a former Leon County commissioner turned political ad guru, said he advised Pons against running the commercial. When the decision was made to do so, he said he and Pons parted ways professionally.

"I made it real clear that I just didn't think this was a good idea," Yordon said. "One of the responsibilities when you're a political consultant is to understand the market you're in. An ad that might play very well in Tampa doesn't play very well in Tallahassee. My concern was that the public would not react well to this type of ad in this market, and I shared that concern. And I shared it strongly."

Not everyone agreed. Bill Helmich, a GOP consultant who's supporting former School Board member Forrest Van Camp in the race, said the commercial wasn't out of bounds.

"This ad has a compelling and it seems accurate message," he said. "Failure to take care of a child he is the father of is something voters should know about a superintendent candidate."

More than a few observers panned the commercial in Facebook posts, including Peggy Munroe, who serves as timekeeper during debates hosted by the Network of Entrepreneurs & Business Advocates.

"How low can Jackie go?" she asked.

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