In case you haven’t seen it, Ron Kelley has created an informative propaganda piece newsletter to help the citizens of DeFuniak Springs keep track of the city council’s heroic actions against the mistakes of other city employees.
A few things are noteworthy about Mr. Kelley’s communication.
The Seal of the City of DeFuniak Springs
Mr. Kelley plastered the Seal of the City of DeFuniak Springs on the front cover of his document so we’d all know immediately that the document was official and was sanctioned by the local government. (That must be the case since it would be questionable to include the seal on an unofficial document. See p. 51)
It was also incredibly gracious of Mayor Bob Campbell to sanction a document that referred to him as the “weakest link” and that discusses his serious errors in judgment.
We wondered, too, if Section 7.3 of The City of DeFuniak Springs Personnel Policy Handbook which states that “employees shall treat other employees with respect” would govern this kind of public chastisement of another city employee.
Given that his Dispatch refers to “smear tactics and innuendos,” “sludge,” and attempts to “embarrass and condemn the council,” we find it interesting that Mr. Kelley takes offense to harsh words against the council, but apparently not against the mayor.
Corrections to the Actual Text of a Document
On page 3 of “Dispatches From Defuniak,” Mr. Kelley quotes a letter written to the Interim City Manager and the HR Director from Tilman Mears.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Kelley is careful to correct the grammatical errors throughout Mears’ email in his reporting.
The decision is unsurprising because it fits with Mr. Kelley’s history of changing mistakes to city council minutes. Kelley stated on November 28, 2011, that he would “get with the city clerk after the meeting” to make a few minor corrections to the November 14 minutes.
It is, of course, a violation of the Sunshine Law for Mr. Kelley to make changes to minutes outside the confines of the meeting.
In the case of the Dispatch, Mr. Kelley didn’t violate any rules; we figure he was simply trying to help Mr. Mears out:
- “one of the lady’s in city hall” became “one of the ladies in city hall”
- “bigger then what it was” became “bigger than what it was”
If Mr. Kelley is uncomfortable with Mr. Mears’ grammatical errors, perhaps he should acknowledge that education might, in fact, be a worthwhile consideration in a city manager. If that’s true, perhaps he should reconsider his recent claim to WZEP that education isn’t the most important consideration for the next city manager.
Coddling of Tilman Mears
We found it noteworthy that Mr. Kelley suggested that, because former Finance Director Joe Brown was “long gone,” he would be “unlikely to incriminate himself.” It was apparently Mr. Kelley’s explanation for why no one contacted Mr. Brown about all of this.
In the next sentence (on page 3) he stated that the “city contacted Interim City Manager Tilman Mears,” and then he repeated Mr. Mears’ claims that he is the victim of incorrect accusations.
We’re certain that no one is surprised by Kelley’s decision to allow Mears to defend himself, and his decision to deny Mr. Brown the same opportunity. Deduce for yourself why Mr. Kelley might be so anxious to help Mr. Mears clear his name.
Claims of “Incorrect Information”
Mr. Kelley states on page 1 of his newsletter that “a lot of incorrect information has been posted on Internet blogs… and passed off as fact.”
We’re assuming that Mr. Kelley might be referring to our blog and if so, we’re flattered to know that he’s reading it. We do, however, take exception to his claim that we’ve presented incorrect information.
As we’ve done in the past, we’ll challenge Mr. Kelley to provide evidence that we’ve offered incorrect information. His predecessors who accused us of the same never did provide any evidence of their claims, so we’ll anxiously await Mr. Kelley’s response (though we won’t hold our breath.)
We’ll gently remind him, too, that allegations and evidence are different.
Once again, we’ll rely on Mr. Kelley’s own words at the bottom of the last page to summarize:
“The Council’s job is to fix (the financial mess). Your job is to remember why we had to fix it.”
We’ll do that, Mr. Kelley. We’ll remember the revolving door of city administrators; the council’s past mistakes in hiring administrators; and the council’s decision to turn down help when it was offered.
We know exactly who’s to blame here, Mr. Kelley. We feel pretty sure your characterization of “total incompetence” was right on the money.
defuniakfreepress 
Well this is an interesting turn of events. Ron Kelly read parts of this almost word for word in his radio interview on WZEP. It does look like a textbook propaganda campaign using the official seal of the City to discredit the Mayor and other city officials past and present. At best this is highly unprofessional behavior from a sitting member of the DFS City Council. At worst it is a deliberate attempt to smear the Mayor and other city officials to deflect attention from his own malfeasance as a city official. During the Nixon Watergate era this would have been called a campaign of dirty tricks. It raises some interesting questions.
1. Where is this publication distributed and who receives it?
2. Where can members of the general public obtain copies of previous issues?
3. Why aren’t these official City of Defuniak Springs publications available in the city’s public records archives (both online and at City Hall) in accordance with Florida’s Sunshine Laws?
4. Is it legal for a member of the City Council to write and distribute a publication bearing the official seal of the city without the knowledge and consent of the Mayor and the rest of the Council?
Ron Kelly is beginning to resemble a con man who spins misleading narratives for personal and political gain. The ghosts of Tammany Hall are undoubtedly smiling on this behavior.
“The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.”
-Thomas Paine
Thank you. Perhaps the citizens of our city will take note.