Mayor Sally Mackay upset with wording in opponent Adam Barringer's political ads: 'He's not the mayor -- he's running for mayor'

Mayor Sally Mackay is upset that challenger Adam Barringer does not have the word 'for' on his political campaign ads since he is not an incumbent as required by Florida statutes. He said it was an oversight and fellow challenger Marilee Walters said there are bigger issues in the campaign to focus on than semantics.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Mayor Sally Mackay is upset with challenger Adam Barringer's campaign signs.

"He's not the mayor -- he's running for mayor," Mayor Sally Mackay said this afternoon. "I've gotten complaints and alerted (City Clerk) Johnny (Bledsoe). Mr. Barringer is not following the Florida statutes. His ads are illegal. He needs to use the word 'for' before mayor."

The first-term incumbent insisted, "It's highly misleading to the voter," of the signs in the public and in Barringer's advertisement on the home page of NSBNEWS.net, where all nine candidates in three races have rotating ads.

Barringer said it was an honest mistake and he's written a letter to Bledsoe at the clerk's request explaining that.

"I got a call from Johnny and I went back and looked and I told him 'you're absolutely right.' It was an oversight."

 Barringer said he and his volunteers are are in the process this afternoon of placing stickers with the word "for" on all of his ads.

Marilee Walters, who also is running for mayor, doesn't see what the big deal is. "He never ran before," the Flagler Avenue merchant said. "I did the same thing with one of my business cards early on. I don't think it was intentional. There 's a lot more important things to worry about in this campaign than signs, like the upcoming budget (meeting) on Tuesday and holding down taxes."

 Editor's Note: The Barringer ad on NSBNEWS.net will be repaired after the Labor Day weekend.