To say Republican John R. Johnson is upset that he was disqualified from running against incumbent District 3 County Commissioner Lumon May would be an understatement. He didn’t hold back in a phone interview. Johnson wanted voters to know: “I’m antisemitic, and I’m proud of it.”
The candidate told our reporter, “The system is rigged, just like Donald Trump said. Only in this case, it’s rigged for the incumbent.”
Johnson said he was forced to use a cashier’s check because Pen Air Credit Union has discontinued providing counter checks. “This ain’t my first time running. I’ve run about 30 times. In the past, with your campaign repository, you could write a counter. They stopped issuing counter checks, so the only thing I could do was get a cashier’s check.”
The candidate said he took out a mortgage on his house to raise the money ($5,564.28) to pay the qualifying fee.
“First thing they say to disqualify me is that I had to fill out Forms 1 and 6,” Johnson said. “It’s a new system. They really just brought it up last Tuesday. I don’t know why they brought that up on Tuesday when the qualifying date was Friday. I had to go online to fill out the form. If you go online, you most likely have to use high-end computers that rich people have access to. When we were online with people, they said I didn’t have to file Form 6 because Form 6 was for incumbents.”
He added, “I think it’s rigged, and I think it’s rigged against poor people. They want to make the office for bougie people.”
Johnson accused Lumon May of helping people steal property.
“You know what they’re doing is they’re using people like Lumon May to steal people’s property. Quint Studer said the problem with District 3 is too many dilapidated buildings,” Johnson said. “You know who owns these buildings? Poor folks who can’t get a loan. It’s a big cabal full of corruptness.”
Before ending the call, Johnson fired off: “I’ve been running all this time to save the public, and now I’m convinced it’s rigged. Lumon May and his dirty Jew friends can go to hell. I’m antisemitic, and I’m proud of it.”
He insisted that the last sentence be in the story.
How will the Escambia County Florida Republican Executive Committee respond?
#notreadbypamchilders
Mr. Roberts, does the Republican Executive Committee have any plans to stop sidestepping the local situation you helped occasion with substitute statements of support for Israel any time soon?
Or apologize for your committee’s involvement with backing Mr. Johnson, who isn’t even a member, to begin with? (As was apparent in the REC’s initial statement to local press that the REC was considering fighting the disqualification.)
If the officers of the REC who have turned what was once a respectable cornerstone of Escambia politics into a three-ring circus think that your appalling negligence in addressing the issue at hand is lost on people, I make this comment here to assure you that you’re not fooling anybody.
I am appalled if that is what Johnson said, but I have never heard him talk that way. I got the impression he knows something about Lumon that we may not be aware of. Personally I am not in favor of Lumon, and I hope the people in District 3 will research the accomplishments of Lumon, in my research those seem to be exaggerated. The people in his district would know more about it though. It’s a shame that there are no others running against Lumon, especially no republicans.
The Republican Party strongly condemns all anti-semitism. We also strongly support Israel and pray that Israel will have a complete victory over the evil, terrorist Hamas.
John Roberts,
Chairman, Escambia County Republican Party
Typo correction “Has not been a part of my race, not party of my race”
I was showing solidarity with the Jewish community
In a previous comment a few days ago, there was a typo in discussing development in Miami, which should be obvious in context of the paragraph, I’ll point that out for clarity later, remember what was said of Richard J. Daley, write what he means, not what he says, I type at 70 WPM, some times, there are typos, its just a reality of life where a site like this leads to typos and not strict proofreading.
I am saddened to read a news story referring to “dirty Jews”, I generally have stayed out of this as it has not been a party of my race, but my grandfather had a Gregna cousin who married a Ginsberg woman in New York in the 1940s, so I presume I have some Jewish cousins in law at least. The reality is I think Senator Fetterman of Pennsylvania has shown courage in recent remarks. My grandpa, before coming down South to be the son in law of Connie Bea Hope of Channel 5, always grew up in diverse neighborhoods in Brooklyn of Italians, Jews, Irish and Puerto Ricans.
While I have some serious concerns, I would point out that I gave the Chamber of Commerce answers to some questions they asked, I hope those answers are published soon, but again, I want to assure the Jewish community, I stand against anti-Semitism and I know what it is like to be an ethnic.
I want to hear from the happy poor people that were able to sell their house. Everyone (except for Johnson) knows banks do not want to loan on a house that needs repairs, so those homes are really hard to sell. The saddest thing is, if he is making racist comments like this, likely he has been tossing those remarks amongst friends of his, and found he got a great positive response. This is not the only rotten apple in the barrel.
You know, it is LONG past time for responsible republicans to take back control of the local Republican Executive Committee BY THROWING OUT THE CURRENT LEADERSHIP.
In addition, REC officials including Steve Strobeger and Mike Kohler’s SRIA appointee Charles Thorton–who is the Secretary/Treasurer of that committee, as well–need to offer a sincere, heartfelt, and emphatic apology to this community for supporting Mr. Johnson in his candidacy. Enough is enough.
There is no room for antisemitism in the Republican Party. Mr. Johnson didn’t belong in office with that amount of hate in his heart. I’m relieved he won’t be representing my party on any ballot this election, I’d have been mortified and disgusted.
And here I had been thinking he was an odd fit for the Republican Executive Committee.
Gross