Last night, my phone all but exploded with angry phone calls from voters in House District 59 who received this mailer:
and
Looks like a relatively innocuous mailer, right?
Not if you know Betty Jo Tompkins.
Notice that part on the mailer about “Has Children in House District 59 Schools”? That’s what has supporters of Tompkins shaking their fists in anger
Betty Jo’s son, Chris Tompkins, died in 2005, a week shy of his 35th birthday, after being diagnosed 11 months earlier with leukemia.
Of course, even if he was alive, Tompkins would not be ‘in House District 59 Schools.’ But that is besides the point.
The candidates’ children should have been off limits in this race.
“”I will never get over losing him,” Tompkins said in a April 12 story about a memorial dedicated to her son.
Certainly, this mailer just reopened her wounds.
The Committee to Protect Florida produced this mailer, but I KNOW where the idea for this mailer originated: The Ross Spano Campaign. I urge the Spano Campaign to publicly apologize for this mailer, even if, officially, they are not responsible for it.
Until then, shame on you, Mr. Spano and all those working for you.
