Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Of the three local races for elective offices, the one pitting incumbent Betsy Barfield against challenger Austin Hosford for the District 4 County Commission seat is drawing the most attention.
First came a formal grievance filed against Barfield by a county employee alleging unprofessional and vindictive behavior on the commissioner’s part. Then came a posted video in an online format pointedly questioning the nature of some of the contributions to the Hosford campaign.
On Monday, Sept. 19, Christie N. Lashley, an employee with the Jefferson County Solid Waste Department, who is certified as both a code enforcement and animal control officer, filed a formal complaint against Barfield.
The complaint, which Lashley had announced that she planned to file at an earlier board meeting, alleges unprofessional and vindictive behavior on Barfield’s part.
In the complaint, Lashley states that from October 2019 to the present, Barfield has harassed and essentially targeted her for dismissal.
“I feel that Commissioner Barfield is abusing her title as commissioner, by manipulation, false accusations, lies and threats pertaining to my employment,” the complaint states.
Lashley claims that she first drew Barfield’s ire in October 2019, when she posted a Facebook message thanking the three commissioners who had voted against the establishment of a bike trail along the abandoned railroad track that runs north and south just west of Monticello.
The rail-to-trail idea, which Barfield enthusiastically supported, drew strong opposition from property owners whose lands abutted the right-of-way, especially from the large plantation owners.
Lashley says that in retaliation for her Facebook posting, Barfield sought to have her fired, except that the county’s labor attorneys had advised that the First Amendment protected employees from retaliation for expressing their views. Even so, Lashley says that she was transferred from the Road Department to the Solid Waste Department as a punitive measure.
Why file the complaint now, during an election period, if the alleged behavior had been going on for three years?
Lashley avows that the timing of her complaint has nothing to do with the election. She had, in fact, thought about filing the complaint several times before, only she had been dissuaded from doing so, she says.
“I was advised by a couple of people to just let it roll off my back, let it roll, let it roll,” Lashley says, adding that the concern was that she could be disciplined, transferred or fired for her action. “But I’ve just had enough. Enough is enough. And that’s why I went ahead and filed now. Because I’m tired of being messed with. I have asked numerous times, just leave me alone and let me do my job.”
Lashley says she has documentation to support her allegations, and that Barfield’s behavior had persisted as recently as a couple of months ago, which is why she finally decided to act
“There’s a pattern,” Lashley says. “It’s like I have a target on my back. She keeps messing with my life and career. I wasn’t trying to mess with her life and career. I just wanted her to leave me alone and let me do my job. It has nothing to do with the election.”
Lashley says that she initially sought only an apology from Barfield. But now she is unsure what will happen, as the matter has been referred to the labor attorneys in Tallahassee.
“I’m just waiting to learn what happens next,” she said.
Meanwhile, a video posted on the Voice of Jefferson, an online format that describes its intention as being to empower Jefferson County citizens to become involved in the local issues, has raised a few eyebrows with its questioning of some of the donations to the Hosford campaign.
The video shows that as of Sept. 9, Barfield had received $15,636 from 86 supporters, with seven of the contributions ranging between $500 and $1,000, and four exceeding $1,000 each.
By comparison, according to the video, Hosford had received $18,580 from 54 supporters, with eight of the contributions ranging between $500 and $1,000, and 10 exceeding $1,000 each.
The video, which bases its analysis on the Sept. 9 Campaign Treasurer’s Report Summary, focuses on the Hosford campaign’s receipt of a total of $4,000 in contributions from Tom Weller through his various businesses, all of which are shown to be located elsewhere than Jefferson County. A Palm Beach resident, Weller is owner of the Pinehaven Plantation in Jefferson County.
The video further notes a contribution of $813.44 from the Jefferson Progress and Preservation Committee (JPPC), itself part of Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG), which money, the video suggests, originally came from the Pinehaven Plantation
The video underscores that Weller, through his businesses and the JPPC, had indirectly contributed 26 percent of Hosford’s total campaign funds as of Sept. 9.
Supporters, of course, have the right to back their political candidates of choice, and monetary contributions are a way of expressing support.
The video, however, suggests that if nothing else, vestiges of the rancor stirred by the bike trail controversy linger, and in that politics, as in most other arenas, money talks.