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Residents and commissioners criticize outside campaign mailers; mayor denies involvement
Summary
Several residents and one commissioner used public-comment time to criticize large, outside-funded campaign mailings supporting the mayor and to allege political favoritism; the mayor denied involvement and called for viewers to watch his sermon videos.
Several residents at the City of Lake Wales commission meeting urged voters to scrutinize outside-funded campaign materials and accused a political action committee of influencing the upcoming mayoral election.
The criticisms began during the public-comment period when Charlene Bennett said the sitting mayor had tried to limit public comments after taking office and "wanted to keep folks from Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ from speaking in this free public venue," a claim she said she had documented in videos and articles. She also alleged the mayor appointed many people from his church to city boards and called the mayor’s rhetoric and alliances evidence of a broader political agenda.
The complaints matter because several speakers said professionally produced mailers and other communications have flooded local mailboxes and phones in recent weeks. "I have received seven huge glossy postcard mailings and six…
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