I have been asked what rule Escambia County Library Services Director Christal Bell-Rivera broke when she moved Jon Fay’s political campaign signs to cover up his competitor Trei McMullen’s face.
Escambia County’s Human Resources Policies and Procedures manual has a policy that covers political activity.
Under Section 27.14: “A County Public Officer or employee is prohibited from using County resources to aid or boost the political campaign of any elected public officer.”
I drove out to the Bellview Library, which is one of the 10 early voting locations, to confirm McMullen’s sign was on county property. It clearly is on the median of the library’s parking lot.
Had the Bell-Rivera moved around political signs at the Asbury Place or UWF Center for Fine and Performing Arts, she might have been okay. It’s crazy that she and her husband did it boldly when other campaign workers could photograph them.
For County Commissioner Ashlee Hofberger, this incident is particularly embarrassing because she vouched for Bell-Rivera. In early March, Hofberger told her constituents in emails sent by her former aide: “I want to clearly express my full support for the decision to hire Christal Bell-Rivera as Library Services Director.”
At the March 5 commission meeting, Hofberger explained her endorsement of Bell-Rivera: “Sometimes you have to hire somebody for the heart that they have for the community, for the job that they are doing, and sometimes that’s not exactly what’s on the job description.”
- Hofberger’s support for Bell-Rivera has cost her aide, Melanie Luna, and inspired the campaign of her opponent, Joe Vinson, whose wife Hofberger and Luna disparaged.
Past Sign Shannagans
In the 2010 GOP primary for Florida House District 1, Greg Brown got caught on video pulling up the campaign signs of his opponent, Doug Broxson, on a lot north of Milton. Broxson’s campaign manager took the video to Santa Rosa County’s Sheriff’s Office and to the Pensacola News Journal. The Broxson campaign also put it on YouTube. Brown said he had permission to remove the signs from property owned by a campaign supporter.
Broxson won the four-person primary and served in the Florida House from 2010 to 2016 and the Florida Senate from 2016 to 2024.
Brown was elected Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser in 2020 and still holds the office.
