Public Records show otherwise: Incumbent county councilwoman given $1,000 in-kind bus bench advertising by 20/20 Media in failed 2006 School Board run
DAYTONA BEACH -- County Councilwoman Deb Denys, One of the key supporters on the dais in spending $150,000 to investigate candidates for office who accepted in-kind contributions from Waverly Media, has never publicly revealed that she, too, accepted in-kind contributions totaling $1,000, but from a different bus bench company -- 20/20 Media of St. Cloud.
Headline Surfer® brought to the council's attention earlier today in the Frank T. Bruno County Council chambers in DeLand the fact that Denys told the council's outside counsel, Jonathan Kaney, Jr., that she was sworn to tell the truth when she was interviewed on Feb. 12. She was asked specifically by Kaney if she had ever used bus bench ads and she responded, "No, never have."
But the internet newspaper did a public records search and discovered that Denys, in fact, secured in-kind advertising in her failed 2006 campaign for a seat on the Volusia County School Board. Denys accepted two $500 in-kind contributions from 20/20 Media of St. Could on Oct. 9, 2006, according to campaign reports filed with the office of the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections.
Additionally, the campaign filings show Denys made two payments to 20/20 Media on the same date for additional advertising -- $65 and $620.
At no time has she ever publicly revealed her financial ties with 20/20 Media for bus bench advertising; nor from the onset when fellow Councilman Doug Daniels back in November first pushed his colleagues for an investigation into Waverly Media bus bench advertising.
Denys did not respond to the Headline Surfer® findings presented to the council after Kaney made a summary speech of his findings posted Wednesday night on the county's website.
In fact, she later opposed a proposal by Daniels that Kaney submit his findings to the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Daniels withdrew his motion and the council voted 5-2 to create a "blue-ribbon committee to consider handling that task. Councilman Joshua Wagner opposed it as did County Chair Jason Davis.
Earlier in his presentation, Kaney agreed with the findings of State Attorney R.J. Larizza last month that no candidates knowingly broke any laws. However, he was critical in particular of 2012 election campaign candidates Wagner, Justin Kennedy and Ted Doran.