At-large Councilwoman Joyce Cusack's reaction on the embarrassing predicament of her term-limited nemesis on the dais: 'It couldn't happen to a better person'
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The fallout from Saturday morning's suspension of Volusia County Council at-large candidate Pat Northey's has continued well into this weekend with incumbent Joyce Cusack not mincing her words in decribing the plight of her term-limited district 5 County Council rival: "It couldn't happen to a nicer person."
Cusack's sarcasm for her rival on the dais comes on the heels of two nasty mailers Joyce has taken offense to as mis leading and even libelous.
Northey has not responded to the internet newspaprer for an exlanation regarding the mailings, but Northey may now find herself in legal trouble with her own explanation later in the day for the website being suspended on her Facebook page being quickly removed.
Headline Surfer® reported exclusively on the disabling of PatNorthey.com being disabled after receiving a tip shortly before the internet newspaper published a story at 11:31 a.m. headlined, "Career politician Pat Northey's campaign website 'suspended' for non-payment despite $77,240 war chest."
The internet newspaper posted a snapshot on Northey's Facebook page with the story headline and image of her disabled website, and sought an explanation. But the media inquiry was deleted less than an hour later. And it wasn't until later in the day when Northey finally posted her own comment, at first dismissing it as "More silly campaign stuff!"
Then she explained, "Mr. Jenner is apparently mad at me and shut down my website. There is no payment due; he offered to host the web pageas an in kind contribution to the campaign. Guess he changed his mind. Silly games."
Headline Surfer® learned from a campaign staffer close to the Northey camp who spoke on condition of anonimity that Jenner Northey refers to is Jean Jenner, a Democratic Party operative who was told he would be paid for the service rendered.
Jenner could not be reached for comment Saturday, but
The mystery of the Pat Northey website shutdown has finally been solved. The answer however lies in something much more sinister than a simple payment oversight. Apparently, Mr. Jean Jenner offered to host her website as an in-kind contribution, but made it clear to Mrs. Northey that he would give an equal contribution to Joyce Cusack. Mrs. Northey didn't like that so she decided to simply violate Florida Campaign Laws and NOT report the contribution. Mr. Jenner wanted no part of her election fraud scheme and had no choice but to take down Mrs. Northey's campaign website!
the source said Northey's website clearly had the pre-requisite legal verbiage, "Paid for and Approved by Pat Northey, candidate for County Council At-Large."
Northey's posting with her comments was subsequently removed from her Facebook page without any explanation from the candidate to her supporters, critics or anyone else viewing her page.
However, before Northey's explanation was deleted from her Facebook page, something only she or a designated page administrator can do, Headline Surfer® made a snapshot of Northey's posting that contains her alleged self-incriminating and contradictory statement statement that doesn't gell with Florida election law.
A Headline Surfer® review of Northey's campaign reports logged online with the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections makes no reference of any kind to "in-kind" services being povided for website development.
Bil Tavernier, a citizen watchdog from Deltona, who has previously filed 40 complaints against Northey with the Florida Dision of Elections that are pending, said she "clearly violated even more election laws" with her own statements and then likely deleted them when it was pointed out to her that her explanation was not a good exercise in judgment.
The situation couldn't have come at a more inopportune time for Northey: Saturday was the last day for early voting in advance of Tuesday's general election. This despite the website address included on countless countless campaign signs dotting the Volusia County landscape, her Facebook pages and Twitter account as well as the two recent mailings, palm cards and flyers circulated to the masses.
Anyone who accessed PatNorthey.com saw the dominant message in capital letters: "DUE TO NON-PAYMENT PATNORTHEY.COM HAS BEEN SHUTDOWN."
Below it was a red-colored octagon-shaped image that read: "ACCOUNT SUSPENDED." And at the bottom of the page, read, "PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SITE ADMINISTRATOR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION."
Northey acted like nothing was wrong, ignoring a reqest for an explanation with the Headline Surfer® snapshot on her Facebook page, which was deleted about an hour later.
The story created a buzz on social media, with supporters and critics of Northey weighing in. Northey finally acknowledged on her Facebook page shortly before the early voting percents closed at 7 p.m. that the website had been altered, though she tried to downplay it, writing, "