One has to wonder what Michael Blake, a candidate for Seminole County Commission, was thinking when he issued a flyer that seemed to indicate that he had received the endorsement of the Christian Coalition of Florida, causing the Coalition to hurriedly explain that it had issued no such endorsement
"Our organization never endorses candidates, yet a mailer was recently sent by Blake that is misleading many voters into thinking that he has been endorsed by the Christian Coalition," the recorded message from executive director Bill Stephens said in part.
Considering that the Christian Coalition has had some unpleasant run-ins with the Federal Election Commission in the past, it is not hard to understand why the Florida chapter reacted so swiftly.
The story of what happened is actually pretty entertaining
Blake said he was surprised and disappointed at the response to the flier, which includes an endorsement from Christian Coalition board member Christine Moore, who also is a paid consultant running Blake's campaign.
"The mailer says what it says and is not misleading in any way," Blake said. "Christian Coalition board members [individually] are routinely involved in politics and make endorsements."
Moore, a founding member of the Christian Coalition of Florida in 1990, has run several successful campaigns through her company, Discovery Group, including two County Commission campaigns in 2004.
Getting the endorsement of one’s own campaign consultant is usually not the sort of thing a candidate would trumpet, which is probably why Blake played down the consultant’s role in his campaign and played up her ties to the Christian Coalition.
Considering that “at least 40 people … called the [Christian Coalition] last week” out of concern about the supposed endorsement, Blake’s claim that the flyer was “not misleading in any way” defies reason – it obviously misled at least 40 people.
