District 4 County Commission
A right-wing outlet that ignores Escambia all year suddenly cares about D4 race, right as challenger Joe Vinson launches his campaign. Who’s paying?
A digital right-wing-leaning news outlet that focuses heavily on Florida state government and national political affairs is suddenly interested in the Escambia County District 4 race.
- Hmmm. The Floridian writes rarely anything about the northwest edge of the state, unless DeSantis is handing out checks (Aug. 12) or Patronis passing out challenge coins to the Blue Angels (July 22). In fact, those are the only two posts concerning Escambia for all of 2026. Scanning the Panhandle page, I found that The Floridian had only one Escambia-related article in 2025. It, too, involved Patronis.
What got The Floridian’s attention? Joe Vinson, an independent running against Republican incumbent Ashlee Hofberger. And the article is published the same day Vinson is having his first major fundraiser, which is hosted by a Who’s Who of District 4 that respect the challenger’s long-time commitment to Pensacola history and his late father, Federal Judge Roger Vinson, who was considered one of the most conservative judges in the country.
Few Facts, No Interview
The article, “Is Independent Escambia County Candidate Joe Vinson Really a Democratic Socialist,” is opinion-driven and doesn’t substantiate a Democratic Socialist connection beyond inference from an unidentified press release.
The author asks whether Vinson is a Democratic Socialist party member posing as an independent to “secretly get their agenda across in the November election.” He cites his membership in the Unitarian Universalist Church, listing him as “Development Director” when the actual role is leadership development and listing the church’s “ultra-liberal policies.”
- Then he infers Vinson is for defunding the police and other DSA policies.
- There is also a weird attempt to link him to the new GOP bogeyman, Angie Nixon, who won the Democratic nomination to face U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.
- And, of course, it ends with: “Republican Ashlee Hofberger is running against Vinson for District 4. The general election is Nov. 3.”
Why should The Floridian care about a county commission race? I shared the post with a veteran conservative powerbroker. His response: “Pay to Play.”
- Who would pay for this hit piece?
Commissioner Hofberger did fulfill her promise to get us an ambulance on the beach plus prioritize our Public Safety but, she has hitched her next platform to the wrong horse and it’s a minority of the people, investors, business, and one small PBA group. Stop catering to the small minority in the PBA. They do not speak for this whole beach with their meager 272 members on a beach that has over 4,500 leaseholders.
I agree that there are problems with Short Term Rentals enforcement of the already regulated by Codes, Laws, Ordinances, Fire Codes, and just common sense good neighbor policy. The Do It Yourselfers like VRBO and AIRBnB are the main offender. The professional Property Management Companies on the beach seem to do a much better job of enforcing Rules. Regulations, and good practices like having 24/7 phone owners to call to give the Sherrifs office permission to act and remove offenders.
In addition to Escambia County getting off their butts and budgeting for 2 Compliance Officers, WE ARE YOUR CASH COW FOR THE COUNTY!
These Compliance Officers, in conjunction with SRIA and our well equipped Sherrifs office the following Ordinance must be passed:
COMMON SENSE ORDINANCE:
1) Every rental property has to be licensed, permitted, and sign agreements to enforce current Regulations, Laws, Ordinances etc.
2) Enforcement actions are as follows: a) First time offense a Warning Citation b) 2nd offense= $500 Fine c) 3rd offense loss of license to rent and appearance at SRIA to plead your case or plan to initiate correct action.
3) Use Common Sense by the SRIA to use No Parking Signs and other Enforcement Notice Signs ex: All along the Left Side of Ariola Drive “No Parking Signs Violators Will Be Fined & Be Towed.
4) No more than 5 per bedroom as sleep furniture will allow.No more additional occupants than sleeping furniture and dedicated Sofa Beds will allow. No sleeping on floors, pool tables, or other creative sleeping accommodations.
Finally, we should not let this minority of beach resin and lease holders to impact our beach Investors, owners that look forward rental incomes by virtue of getting Rental and retirement Income on their wise investments in rental income properties.
Passing an Ordinance like the PBA tried to power through when Robert Bender was our Beach County Commissioner that restricted investors props to only 2 persons per Bedroom and only 2 persons for the entire rest of the property would be a disaster to this beach.
1) When you cut an investors income by 45%, it will severely affect property values with a large sell off of houses on the market
2) When families and family reunions, who obviously won’t want to book 3- 10 hotel rooms or be separated from their family, friends, and guests, THEY WILL BOOK ACCOMMODATIONS IN ANOTHER AREA!
All of the aggregations on the beach are already covered by laws, but not being enforced. LET’S NOT THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE WASH WATER OR KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE CALLED TOURISM!
With all due respect, Ms. Dorfman, it is clear that Hofberger was the first to sling mud along with her former aide, Melanie Luna, when they decided to start a smear campaign against Bradley Vinson, one of her own constituents.
I can assure you that Ashlee Hofberger’s reputation is simply speaking for itself.
Commissioner Hofberger is a responsive, conservative representative for her constituents. She returns her constituent calls, researches the issue, and responds accordingly. Elected officials cannot always solve problems immediately, but as voters we deserve their attention and their attempts to fix the problems. From what I can see she has made good on her campaign promises and I can’t think of another Escambia official who has worked as hard or who has been as responsive. Sen Gaetz is also a remarkable elected official that I admire and who works for the people. I worked as a Legislative coordinator for 3 New Orleans city councilmembers: 2 Democrats and 1 Republican. I know what an elected official’s office is supposed to look like and how it is supposed to work. I’ve managed US Senate campaigns, Mayoral races, and smaller ones for state rep. As I have said before, everyone has the right to run, but any attempt to smear Commissioner Hofberger’s reputation will fall short…because that is not who she is. Politics is ugly but she is truly working for her district. Politicians can endorse whoever they want, but if they don’t live in the district to vote for them it’s just political shenanigans…and I’ve seen it all working for Louisiana elected officials.
Worth adding on the OLF-8 point: public filings show two of the named principals behind that development are indeed Hofberger donors. Chad Henderson via “Chad C. Henderson Enterprises of Pensacola II” is one of the two joint developers on the county’s OLF-8 contract, and he and entities tied to him (Parks & Henderson II, Chad Henderson ENT of PNS LLC, Catalyst, and Chad Henderson Enterprizes LLC) have contributed $5,000 to Hofberger’s campaign. Ashton Hayward, a named principal in Tri-W Development (the other joint developer) also donated $250 to Hofberger, along with his spouse ($1000).
Hofberger’s donors are heavily tied to commercial real estate/development and construction (approximately 35% of her current total monetary contributions). All of this information is sourced from public SOE and Sunbiz records.
Of note, Republican voters in District 4 are less than 50%! “And” even Republicans love the Library so many must be ticked off at Hofberger’s dismissal of the city/county Library Board. Has anyone carefully reviewed Hofberger’s campaign finance reports for 2025 and 2026? A lot of very rich and powerful people and businesses are funding Hofberger. I bet District 4 voters would like to know who they are and what they expect in return. A big ethical mystery is why Hofberger has taken so much money from people and businesses directedly tied to the OLF-8 project to include Chad Henderson and Ashton Hayward. Someone in the media should review all of her campaign finance reports to independently identify all related to Hofberger’s vote on OLF-8. And, if Kohler recused himself because he had an OLF-8 conflict of interest, why didn’t Hofberger do the same? She knows who is funding her campaign and what they want? (I bet they meet in secret too.) Kohler should ask the County Attorney to give an opinion on Hofberger’s voting on OLF-8. Kohler also recently mentioned “Barbie furniture” that Hofberger bought for her office using taxpayer dollars. What was “that” about? One campaign donation to Hofberger even appears to have come from what state records describe as a not-for-profit corporation. Is that legal? Another campaign contributor is described as “Ashlee ACE Unlocks.” Does Hofberger read her own campaign finance reports before submitting them? When Hofberger came to my door during her first campaign, I was shocked by her wholesale ignorance of county government. She didn’t even know there were state laws about county government. I’m tired of Hofberger endlessly saying she didn’t know this or that, etc. I’m also tired of Hofberger letting County Administrator Moreno openly bypass her as chair to include with respect to the Library and Bay Center Interlocal Agreement. On the upside, many good people have donated to Vinson’s campaign. I will too.