The Florida Elections Commission has rejected a 2022 complaint that Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey brought against Kristin Dozier, then a Leon County commissioner who challenged his bid for re-election.
At the time the accusation was made – in the heat of a bitter campaign – Dozier predicted it would be disproved.
Here’s Dailey announcing the move:
"We’ve seen the shady tactics in City Hall before, and I have worked too hard to stop them," he said. "It’s not too much to ask people to follow the law, especially those who want to run for office.”
But the FEC has concluded “…the mailer at issue appears to be protected speech that is beyond regulation by the Election Code.”
Dozier says the use of such tactics hasn’t gone away.
“We’re seeing it happen in this cycle," she said. "And these folks know that ethics complaints, election complaints will not be resolved before the election happens. That is a problem. It diminishes the system that we all need. We need a process to file complaints. But this is really harmful to all of us.”
Dozier says it’s hard to know how the accusation affected her campaign.
“I’d like to believe – and I heard from lots of people – that they dismissed this as political tactics," she said. "That they saw through this attempt to tarnish my reputation with false accusations. On the other hand, I think it probably did have an impact.”
Dailey didn’t respond to requests for comment.
