Ed Slavin January 10, 2023 cease and desist letter to St. Johns County Commission Chair WHITEHURST and Vice Chair ARNOLD

This January 2023 letter was sent to two County Commissioners now facing criminal charges for election fraud.   Let justice be done though the heavens fall. 

Conditions have markedly improved since the 2024 election, but we're still being denied the right to speak on some "presentations" as a result of corporate lawyer RICHARD CHRISTIAN KOMANDO's uncouth, unscholarly ukases.  Current Commissioners, please heed this letter. We have a right to speak on every single agenda item.  Then-Chair WHITEHURST, then- Vice Chair ARNOLD, County Administrator and County Attorney NEVER responded. That is an adoptive admission and admission by silence. Irrefragable.  

From this blog from January 23, 2023:

CHAIRMAN WHITEHURST and VICE CHAIRMAN ARNOLD MUST RESPECT AND HONOR OUR RIGHTS TO STATE OUR OPINIONS AT ST. JOHNS COUNTY COMMISSION MEETINGS 

Who are CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST and SARAH ARNOLD? Our County Commission Chairman and Vice Chairman.  Both lack decent respect for our civil and constitutional rights.  

Here is the cease and desist letter I sent them this afternoon (January 10, 2023):

Dear St. Johns County Commission Chairman Christian Whitehurst and Vice Chairman Sarah Arnold:

1. We, the people of St. Johns County, have a right to your honest services, uncontaminated by misuse or abuse of public position. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. 1346.  Our Florida Ethics Commission explains:

Misuse of Public Position

Public officers and employees, and local government attorneys are prohibited from corruptly using or attempting to use their official positions or the resources thereof to obtain a special privilege or benefit for themselves or others. [Sec. 112.313(6), Fla. Stat.]

Abuse of Public Position

Public officers and employees are prohibited from abusing their public positions in order to obtain a disproportionate benefit for themselves or certain others. [Article II, Section 8(h), Florida Constitution.]

2. The Rule of Law -- Our First Amendment, and our Florida Constitution, Article I, Sections 4&5  -- in their majesty, protect our rights to free speech and our right to "instruct' you as our representatives. You and others acting in concert with you must cease from all further content-based, discriminatory and special restrictions on First Amendment protected activity by the two of you, as the ill-advised, misguided Chairman and Vice Chairman of our St. Johns County Commission.  

3. Chairman Whitehurst and Vice Chair Arnold: you both show favoritism toward developers, including State Senator TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON, a wealthy developer and his family, who coordinate contributions to your campaigns.  These donee-beneficiaries appear to be recipient of a "special privilege or benefit" for them and their undisclosed partners and investors in SilverLeaf, a "disproportionate" benefit.  See F.S. 112.313(6) and Article II, Section 8(h), Florida Constitution.

4. Chairman Whitehurst and Vice Chair Arnold: you have no right or entitlement to interrupt, haze, obstruct, delay, impede, chill, coerce, harass or stigmatize public comment speakers.  You were wrong to make uneducated, uninformed, pronouncements that citizens can't criticize our leaders if they are "not present to defend themselves."  

5. You have no right to interrupt speakers with taunts, jibes, insults, commentary or ranting cant. You have no right to threaten, as last month I publicly told Mr. Whitehurst, "like a dockside bully," in the words of Saint Thomas More, portrayed in Robert Bolt's play and movie, A Man for All Seasons.  

6. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said St. Johns County was the "most lawless" in America. While citizens here have repeatedly won First Amendment victories here, it's like President John F. Kennedy said during the Cuban Missile Crisis -- "there's always some poor S.O.B. who doesn't get the word."

7. Your mean-spirited actions at recent SJC BoCC meetings are an affront to First Amendment values.  See., e.g., New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 (1964), which noted America's "profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open..." See Terminello v. Chicago, 337 U. S. 1, 337 (1949); De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U. S. 353 (1937).   From this day forward, you must stop threatening and insulting citizens, "like a dockside bully."  The law is on our side.   See Lozman v. The City of Riviera Beach, Florida, 585 U.S. ---, 138 1S.Ct. 945, 201 L.Ed. 2d 241 (2018), our United States Supreme Court 8-1 remanded a civil rights lawsuit for trial after Riviera Beach arrested Fane Lozman, a citizen activist speaking in public comment, in violation of his civil and constitutional rights. The case settled for $875,000.

8. Our First Amendment deserves "breathing space."  NAACP v. Button,371 U.S. 415, 433 (1963) New York Times. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1974); Gasparinetti v. Kerr, 568 F.2d 311, 314-17 (3d Cir. 1977)(illegal restrictions on policemen’s First Amendment rights); Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, 479 767, 772, 777 (1986)(O’Connor, J.)(newspaper entitled to breathing space in defamation case); Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 52, 56 (1988) (Reqhnqist, J.)(magazine parody of TV preacher entitled to breathing space); Keefe v. Ganeakos, 418 F.2d 359, 362 (1st Cir. 1969)(Aldrich, C.J.)(chilling effect on First Amendment by illegal suspension of teacher over sharing Atlantic Monthly article on Vietnam War); Parducci v. Rutland, 316 F.Supp. 352, 355, 357 (M.D. Ala 1970)(Johnson, C.J.)(chilling effect in illegal firing of English teacher over Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House). 

9. Our Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 586 U.S. 215 (2015) that content-based laws targeting free speech rights require "strict scrutiny."   North Carolina's Supreme Court explained in Moore v. City of Creedmoor, 345 N.C. 356 (1997):

“[Citizens]  have a right to assert a public complaint concerning the negligence of public officials and to petition the government for redress of grievances.  Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214, 86 S.Ct. 1434, 16 L.Ed.2d 484 (1966).   The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment guarantees the right to criticize police officers.   See Norwell v. City of Cincinnati, 414 U.S. 14, 94 S.Ct. 187, 38 L.Ed.2d 170 (1973) (protecting the right to non-provocative voicing of objections to police action);  New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964) (protecting the right to criticize police chief in context of libel lawsuit).   It should also be noted that once the government has opened a forum-such as a public meeting-to allow direct citizen involvement, it may not discriminate between speakers based upon the content of their speech.  Madison Joint Sch. Dist. v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm'n, 429 U.S. 167, 176, 97 S.Ct. 421, 426, 50 L.Ed.2d 376, 385 (1976). 

10. In the "Pentagon Papers" case, a new Nixon-appointed trial judge, U.S. District Court Judge Murray Gurfein (later an appellate judge) famously wrote, ""The security of the Nation is not at the ramparts alone. Security also lies in the value of our free institutions. A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, an ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know." United States v. New York Times Co., 328 F. Supp. 324, 331 (S.D.N.Y. 1971).  Stop violating our "prized" American constitutional rights.  Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252 (1941).  Café Erotica v. St. Johns County, 360 F.3d 1274 (11th Cir. 2004) struck down our County's overbroad zoning regulation of a business owner's large billboard criticizing the County's code enforcement officer, Mr. James Acosta, as a "fat ass Barney Fife," one who allegedly cost our County thousands of dollars in "lost lawsuits" due to selective enforcement.  Your public pronouncements about not criticizing persons not present is a content-based restriction that does not withstand strict scrutiny. Your unwritten and unconstitutional orders violate the First Amendment's right to protected activity and are insulting, misguided, misanthropic. and dictatorial.  They are contrary to the genius of a free people and are blatant viewpoint discrimination, in violation of the First Amendment and Civil Rights laws.  See, e.g., United Teachers of Dade v. Stierheim, 213 F. Supp. 2d 1368, 1371 (S.D. Fla. 2002); Sherrill v. Knight, 569 F.2d 124, 129 (D.C.Cir.1977) ("arbitrary or content-based criteria for press pass issuance are prohibited under the [F]irst [A]mendment"); Quad-City Cmty. News Serv. v. Jebens, 334 F. Supp. 8, 17 (S.D.Iowa 1971) (stating "any classification which serves to penalize or restrain the exercise of a First Amendment right, unless shown to be necessary to promote a compelling governmental interest, is unconstitutional").  

11. In Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 828-829, 115 S. Ct. 2510, 132 L. Ed. 2d 700 (1995) our Supreme Court held that "[d]iscrimination  against speech because of its message is presumed to be unconstitutional ... When the government targets not subject matter, but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. ... Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination.").  

12. Our St. Johns County and City of St. Augustine governments have repeatedly violated free speech rights and repeatedly lost First Amendment cases to its citizens, see Cafe Erotica v. St. Johns County, supra, including several cases brought by visual artists, Bates I & Bates II, as well as  Celli v. City of St. Augustine, 214 F.Supp. 2d 1256 (M.D. Fla. 2000)(upholding $23,500 jury verdict for four hours of First Amendment violation re: St. Aug Dog newspaper rights to free distribution on St. George Street); Rev. Ruth Jensen v. City of St. Augustine, 3:05-CV-504-J-25HTS TRO (M.D. Fla. 2005)(ordering Rainbow flags flown on Bridge of Lions June 8-13, 2005 in honor of Gay Pride).  The City was found guilty of viewpoint discrimination in both the Celli and Jensen decisions, which were swift justice and never appealed.  

13. Despite constitutional law establishing that the First Amendment deserves "breathing space," the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners and its unqualified Administrator, HUNTER SINCLAIR CONRAD, et al. continue to show disrespect for dissent, chilling free speech rights.  

14.  Supreme Court Justice Robert  Houghwot Jackson, later our Nuremberg War Crimes prosecutor, wrote for the Supreme Court in the landmark flag salute case, "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." West Virginia Board of Education v. Barmette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943).  

15.  Supreme Court Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis wrote that our "government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928)(Brandeis, J., dissenting), dissent heeded and case overruled, Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967). 

16. Please cease and desist from illegal orders, ukases, interrupting and interfering with my right to speak as a citizen, a journalist and as a Democratic candidate for County Commission. Respect our rights.  Listen, don't interrupt. Honor your oaths, from this day forward.  

17.  Otherwise, you could each be held civilly and criminally liable for meretricious meritless efforts to violate our rights to engage in First Amendment protected activity under color of law, violating the First, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments, enforceable pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, 1985 & 1988.

18.  You both voted with undeserved enthusiasm to support a vast expanansion of SilverLeaf, controlled by State Senator TRAVIS HUTSON and his family, which have abused the power of St. Johns County's only State Senator, the new Chair of our Florida State Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, former Chair of the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries.

19. You both, along with SilverLeaf, developer-Senator HUTSON and their commercial allies, plumped for passage of a 15% sales tax increase. 

20. We, the People defeated this indecent, unconscionable 15% sales tax increase proposal, in a landslide.  

21. We, the People, also helped defeat your good friend, Jeremiah Ray Blocker, whose animus and animadversions against persons engaged in First Amendment protected activity reached pathological levels, as evidenced by his hateful 2020 late-night text messages to me. 

22. Your retaliation against outspoken citizens is unspeakable and unAmerican.  

 

23. Your retaliation and content-based discrimination are both corrupt and indefensible, and must be ended at once.   

24. In derogation of citizen rights to speak, you have both presumed to inflict your own anti-speech "ordinance," which is unwritten.  It is both misuse and abuse of public position. See F.S. 112.313(6); Florida Constitution, Article II, Section 8(h). 

25. As my grandmother would say, "Drop the oyster and leave the wharf!"  

26. Cease and desist from all further lawbreaking.

27. St. Johns County has pronounced itself a "Second Amendment Sanctuary."  Other jurisdictions pronounced themselves "First Amendment Sanctuaries."  St. Johns County has not done so yet.

28. When will St. Johns County learn to appreciate and respect the First Amendment?  When will our elected officials heed the wisdom of the November 19, 2006 St. Augustine Record editorial, "Always Important to Stick to Your Guns," inter alia praising my work and telling local officials to get "thicker skins" (after I was unfairly attacked by St. Augustine's misguided then-Mayor).  

29. It takes a village.  The spirit of our Founders is watching you, and is guiding us.  

30. Thomas Jefferson said, "I have sworn, upon the Altar of Almighty God, eternal hostility against every from of tyranny over the mind" of humankind. In the New Year, I promise you that I will help encourage our residents to teach you, Commissioners Whitehurst and Arnold, that our First Amendment rights must be respected and not neglected.  Please consult competent counsel today. Do either of you have your own private attorney?  If so, who? Do either of your personal insurance policies cover 42 U.S.C. 1983 civil rights actions?   Please call me to discuss.

Thank you.   

With kindest regards, I am,  

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

www.edslavin.com

http://www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

(904) 377-4998 

Slavin family values -- putting people first

On June 6, 1944, my late paratrooper Father parachuted into France and helped liberate the first French town from the Nazis, before the sun even rose that day.  

My Dad taught me, as JFK's dad taught me him, that "you have to stand up to people with power, or else they walk all over you."

In his spirit, my Mother helped organize the employees of Camden County College in Blackwood, N.J. into what became International Union of Electrical Workers Local 440.  Mom got some 40 union cards signed in an hour in 1970.  The clerical and custodial employees prevailed.  

One of my law professors in Memphis told a mutual friend that I was a "natural born attorney."  My Mother said, "I always knew you were an S.O.B."

My late mentor, the Honorable Nahum Litt, was the Chief Administrative Law Judge of the United Staes Department of Labor, 1979-1995.  

Chief Judge Litt stood like Horatius at the bridge, protecting the independence of hearings in whistleblower and in workers compensation cases for Black Lung disease sufferers from the coalfields.

Judge Litt helped me to understand. We worked to understand administrative law's perversion of justice by rich and powerful corporations.  

I later wrote about ACUS for Common Cause Magazine.  In response, Congress defunded a federal agency from 1995-2010: the prestigious Administrative Conference of the United States lost funding because it wasted federal tax dollars on worthless studies by pro-agency law professors.  ACUS sought to inflict Alternative Dispute Resolution on workers and corporations. ACUS sought to defang and declaw the Freedom of Information Act.  ACUS sought to stifle lawyer representation of workers in cases against powerful employers, while encouraging non-lawyer representatives. 

My Mother, my Father, and Chief Judge Litt taught me valuable lessons. 

Here in St. Johns County, we're learning what happens when soulless corporations control and contaminate our governments.  

Deforestation. 

Flooding.  

Unplanned overdevelopment. 

Overcrowded schools with hundreds of unsafe portable classrooms. 

Since 1981, I've investigated and helped expose corruption in our country.

 I've lived in St. Augustine since November 5, 1999. 

We've seen the murder of a Sheriff deputy's girlfriend reported in The New York Times and PBS Frontline, 

My Mother had decades of experience in purchasing for Camden County College and corporations like F.W. Woolworth.

 

When I learned that our Mosquito Control Commission bought a $1.8 million no-bid helicopter, I asked my Mother if she would buy a helicopter withoutn competitive bidding: "absolutely not."  

Working with the late Robin Nadeau, John Sundeman,Jeanne Moeller, Don Girvan,  and other community leaders, 

We, the People helped persuade our Mosquito Control District to cancel the no-bid contract.  Taxpayers won a full refund of our MCD's 10% deposit. 

Chief Judge Litt was tight as a tick with government money. Judge Litt taught me that any government budget can be cut by 10%. Here in St. Johns County, we have a $4.5 million mosquito museum, with 41% cost overruns. There's too much waste in government. 

Mosquito-borne diseases kill one million people annually.  My Father was bitten by a mosquito in Sicily in 1943 as an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper.  

I believe in miracles. They called me a "miracle baby."

Likely due to my Father's suffering from malaria, it took my patents a dozen years, praying to Saint Jude, (patron Saint of hopeless causes), before they were able to have their only child (me).   Mom said the chances of my being born were less than one in 100,000.

We've achieved dozens of public interest victories. 

We can control pestiferous mosquitoes.

We can control corruption. 

Help me help you save money and save lives. 

I would be honored to have your vote to serve on the board of the Anastasia Mosquito Control Commission. Vote on or before November 3, 2026.

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Ed Slavin

Box 3084

St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084

www.edslavin.com

http://www.cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com

http://www.staugustgreen.com

(904) 377-4998   

TIME FOR A NATIONAL SEARCH! -- DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM RETIRING -- St. Augustine City Manager has had only one employer since circa 1997

It's time for a national search for St. Augustine City Manager, as I wrote in the St. Augustine Record in my April 26, 2010 Guest Column, here:

City of St. Augustine press release: 

On Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at 10:07:33 AM EDT, CityStAug Communications <info@citystaug.com> wrote:

September 29, 2026

 

City Manager David Birchim announces retirement

 

Commission will select interim city manager

 

On Monday, September 28, City of St. Augustine City Manager David Birchim submitted his letter of retirement to City Commissioners, effective Wednesday, December 16, 2026. Birchim was selected from three candidates in May 2023 to serve as City Manager, following former City Manager John Regan upon his retirement in June of that year.

 

Upon retirement, Birchim will have 29 years of dedicated service to the City of St. Augustine, decades of experience in professional urban planning and public administration, including more than 23 years in supervisory and leadership positions.  His extensive knowledge of City operations, commitment to public service, and leadership have helped guide the organization and advance important initiatives.

 

During his tenure as City Manager, Birchim worked closely with the City Commission, staff, residents, and community partners to manage City resources while addressing the challenges of a growing and evolving community.  His leadership reflected a commitment to balancing St. Augustine’s future with the preservation of the history and character that make the city unique.

 

Birchim’s career closes with many successes to his credit, including the creation of the Community Services Department and development of the Dignity Pavilion, advancing the West King Street Parking Garage and new Anastasia Island fire station initiatives, and most recently, a complete revision to the City’s management and operations of Nights of Lights, the globally recognized, community holiday event.

 

“It has been an honor to serve the City of St. Augustine and to work alongside such a dedicated team,” said Birchim. “Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of being part of many projects and initiatives that will have a lasting impact on the city.  I’m grateful to the City Commission, staff, community partners, and especially our residents for their trust and support.  St. Augustine is an extraordinary and special place.  I’m proud of what we have accomplished together and confident in the City’s continued success.”

 

Birchim holds a Master of Science Degree in Planning from the University of Tennessee.  He is accredited by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and Florida Public Pension Trustee Association (FPPTA).  He was promoted from Planning and Building Director to Assistant City Manager to specifically be responsible for overseeing special projects such as land development, affordable housing, legislative funding initiatives, and the resilient shoreline initiative.

 

The City Commission accepted Birchim’s letter, releasing him from his contract which is set to expire on June 2, 2028.  At the next meeting when all commissioners are present, they will select an interim City Manager to allow the final decision to made by the newly seated board in 2027.

 

Media inquiries may be directed to Melissa Wissel, Communications Director, at 904.293.3307.

 

#  #  #  #

 

Attachment: Retirement letter submitted by City Manager David Birchim, September 28, 2026

 

 

Melissa Wissel

Communications Director

City of St. Augustine  |  Communications Department

P.O. Box 210  |  St. Augustine, FL 32085

Office: 904-825-1053

Mobile: 904-293-3307

Email: mwissel@citystaug.com

Fax: 904-825-1096

www.CityStAug.com 

 

 

    

____________________________________________________________________________

Please Note: Florida has a very broad Public Records Law.  Unless specifically exempt by state law,

written communications to city officials or staff regarding official city business are public records

available to the public and media upon request. If your email communication is related to official 

government business, it may therefore be subject to public disclosure.

 

FIGHTING CORRUPTION in St. Johns County -- Let's make this magical place safe for democracy. (1470 words)(DRAFT)

Tom Wicker's journalism professor at the University of North Carolina said, "If you're telling a story about a bear, bring on the bear."  The bear here in what we call "God's country" is CORRUPTION, my friends. 

Reforming St. Johns County starts with you.  

And it starts with Mosquito Control. 

We love this beautiful place.  Rose Kennedy's favorite Bible verse was "to whom much is given, much is expected."

President Woodrow Wilson said we "must make the world safe for democracy."

"The love of money is the root of all evil." 1 Timothy 6:10.

Corruption is the root of all evil in our governments. Everywhere. Americans agree.

I am running for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County (seat 2) and I would be honored to have your vote on or before November 3, 2026.  Help me help you.  Let's fight corruption together.

I've been investigating, reporting on and exposing corruption since 1978.  

From Appalachia to Washington, D.C.  to California to Florida, I've investigated corruption and empowered Americans to resist waste, fraud, abuse, discrimination and petty boodling.

Here in St. Johns County, a corrupt former Sheriff was fired by the Florida Senate under Article IV section 7 of our Florida Constitution for corruption.  But Sheriff David Shoar's website lied to us for years  that corrupt Sheriff Lawrence O. Davis was "exonerated" by our Florida Senate, which removed him from office by 44-2 vote in 1971. 

Sadly Sheriff Robert Hardwick, the current Sheriff, abuses our Sheriff's website to pay homage to Sheriff Shoar, who with State's Attorney Ralph Joseph Larizza was  culpable in the coverup of the September 2, 2010 murder of a Sheriff's deputy's girlfriend, Ms. Michelle O'Connell.  That deputy is still on the payroll in 2026.  

County Court Judge Charles Tinlin and U.S. District Court Judge Brian J. Davis both found probable cause that Jeremy Banks committed homicide, killing Ms. Michelle O'Connell on September 2, 2010.  Sheriff Shoar declared it was as "suicide" before the sun even rose.  

Robert Hardwick was the investigator for the State's Attorney Ralph Joseph Larizza. Investigator Hardwick and his Assistant both thought Banks committed homicide and wanted an exhumation and autopsy.  

Larizza conveniently recused himself from the Michelle O'Connell case while Hardwick was at the FBI National Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia.  

When Michelle O'Connell's family finally arranged for an exhumation and independent autopsy, it found Michelle's jaw was broken. She was a victim of domestic violence.  Her killer remains employed by the County Sheriff and can retire in 2027.  It's our money.

We in the reality-based community disdain deception and condemn dangers to democracy, like promiscuous proliferation of FLOCK cameras and wasteful, out-of-control spending on edifice complexes for the Sheriff and Mosquito Control Commission.

We in the reality-based community don't approve of wasteful spending or harmful rhetoric.d

We don't need more overpriced Taj Mahals, no-bid contracts needless flubdubs or dishonesty.

Massive cost overruns and self-dealing must stop.

County Commissioners make more than $100,000 per year.

Mosquito Control Commissioners make $400 a month, but voted to give themselves illlgal "Christmas bonuses of $1000, violating Florida law pay cap of  $4800/year.  Thanks to WJCT/Jacksonville Today and reporter Noah Hertz for publicizing it.  It's our money.  

In the spirit of the 27th Amendment, it's wrong for public officials to raise their own pay during their current term of office. 

It was good enough for James Madison and it's good enough for St. Johns County.  

Let snollygosters go elsewhere. 

I am against wasting your money on self-aggrandizement, sweetheart contacts, domestic and foreign travel and conventions without trip reports or valid government purpose.

Our County elected officials sold out our citizens to the likes of private equity taking over Bayview, the beloved Skilled Nursing Facility Commissioners unanimously voted July 20, 2021 to sell its lease with the County to dodgy private equity interests that control dozens of nursing homes.'

Our elected officials in 2016 actually voted to allow PARC GROUP, controlled by the greedy WINN-DIXIE DAVIS FAMILY, to erase its legal commitment to dedicate 40 acres of Nocatee development to affordable housing, for the lucre of $800,000.  

This vicious vote violated our citizens' civil rights.  

So did the WINN-DIXIE DAVIS FAMILY's 2021 demand to alter state law to allow development of "agricultural enclaves" on demand. That dopey, dubious devilish  proposition was rejected 3-2 by our newly empowered St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners, which voted against the rebarbative, ridiculous ROGERS TOWERS' corporate law firm's rote demand to muck up some 4420 acres of mostly old growth forest.

Our elected officials voted 3-2 in 2025 without a conflicts check to hire a corporate lawyer, RICHARD CHRISTIAN KOMANDO,  as County Attorney, while allowing him to represent private clients, including the SLAUGHTER BROTHERS, roofers convicted in federal court for defrauding IRS and workers. It's time for KOMANDO to go.  

The odious otiose oleaginous corporate lawyer lied, in writing, to reform County Commissioner Ann Taylor, extravagantly claimed that his client list was secret and somehow protected by attorney-client privilege.  This louche liar needs to clean out his desk and get out of the County Commission building. Now.

Both our Anastasia Mosquito Control District Director and our County Administrator are Chinese Americans. Each of them have taken vacations in Communist China each year. Both are imperious, vastly overpaid potential security risks and treat our local government employees as servants, serfs and vassels. 

In the annals of St. Johns County's legendary corruption, in the history of its sins, crimes and torts many at the behest of bootleggers, organized crime devious developers, the case of Trey Alexander Asner is instructive.  

Mr. Asner was the County's historic preservationist, but he did his job "too well" for corrupt County officials, who fired him for preserving African-American history (Canright House and the 1953 St. Johns County Jail Annex, where the Rev. Dr. Maartin Luther King, Jr. and some 1000 civil rights protesters were incarcerated 1963-1964).  The building is now preserved, but Andrews wanted to demolish it. It's time for her to go.

Paid $360,000/year, maladroit County Administrator Junyao "Joy" Andrews still won't meet with Mr. Asner, and neither will criminally-charged Commissioner Sarah Salley Arnold.  

Pray for them. 

Vote for qualified candidates who will stand up to corruption in our town and our time.

I would be honored to be your voice standing up to corruption and self-dealing, starting with Mosquito Control.

My Father helped liberate the first French town from the Nazis on D-Day, June 6, 1944, before the sun even rose that day.

The late David Brian Wallace and I first visited St. Augustine in 1992 and fell in love with the place and its history. We were then living in Washington, D.C., where Brian worked for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and I graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and was honored to represent American whistleblowers.

Brian and I moved to St. Augustine on November 5, 1999.  A few weeks later, the truth emerged; Brian said, "it's crooked around here!"  He was right.  

We were ashamed when we realized the level of corruption here.  Ever since, I've worked to solve the problem. 

When the City of St. Augustine dumped a landfill in the Old City Reservoir a coquina pit lake, friends informed me and I helped them resolve the problem of environmental racism in West Augustine.  I reported the City to the National Response Center, which assigned the Environmental Protection Agency and Florida Department of Environmental Protection to investigate. The coquina pit lake was cleaned up and the 80 acre site off Holmes Blvd. Extended will soon feature affordable housing.

.In 2006-2007, my mentor, League of Women Voters leader Robin Nadeau, recruited me to help oppose Mosquito Control's $1.800,000 no-bid TEXTRON Bell Jet Helicopter incapable of killing a single skeeter. It was freighted with waste, fraud and abuse.  I asked my Mother, a longtime former Purchasing Secretary for corporations and a county college. She would not buy a helicopter without competitive bidding.  

But our Mosquito Control Commission voted 3-2 to buy the fancy-bears helicopter.  Mosquito Control Commission Director Dr. Xue likes to spend money and too often gets his way.  We, the People defeated his wasteful spending. After ten months, Mosquito Control Commissioners voted unanimously cancel the illegal no-bid helicopter and got a full refund of our 10% deposit.  We, the People won!

When Mosquito Control illegally used pesticides near Bald Eagle nests, I reported AMCD to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  

When a negligently piloted Mosquito Control helicopter allegedly nearly killed six golfers with a helicopter at a county golf course, one of the near-victims told me. No helicopter will ever again endanger our wildlife or people.

I am appalled at the alleged fake Voter Guides scandal afflicting both parties, apparently.

I have been your watchdog on Mosquito Control for twenty years.  Help me help you.

The next global pandemic could be a mosquito-borne disease,  We will be prepared with good science, sound planning and resistance to wasteful spending.  It is up to us to reject 41% cost overruns and other irregularities. 

SAVIN' WITH SLAVIN. MOSQUITO CONTROL BOARD, SEAT 2. CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE.

SAVIN' WITH SLAVIN.

My late mentor, Chief Judge Nahum Litt, taught me that any government budget can be cut by 10%. 

Our Florida governments need to work harder. 

Smarter.  

Ethically. 

I am running for independent Mosquito Control Board to help save your tax dollars.  

I am for wiser spending.

I am against wasteful spending.

IT'S OUR MONEY.

Against what Abraham Lincoln would call "flubdubs."

In 2006-2007, I was honored to work with two AMCD board members and diverse citizens to halt an illegal no-bid Bell Jet Helicopter contract, for a luxury jet helicopter without a plan, without a pilot, without hanar, without a clue.

IT'S OUR MONEY. Let's spend it wisely, my friends.

ED SLAVIN FOR ANASTASIA MOSQUITO CONTROL DISTRICT OF ST. JOHNS COUNTY, SEAT 2.  

VOTE ON OR BEFORE NOVEMBER 3, 2026.  

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE.

LET'S MAKE A DIFFERENCE.