The answer is obvious: she’s a Barnett/Publix in-law and a GOPer; so she assumes she’s owed this public paycheck — even with a record of demanding overturn of voter decisions.
By Billy Townsend
Melony Bell, mother-in-law of a prominent Publix heir, provided me the single funniest and most personally enjoyable moment of my entire tenure as a School Board member in early 2020. I caught her saying in an official legislative public meeting that my election should be overturned and I should be removed from office — just for existing.
She did not “hint.” Exact quote below. Note the part in bold:
We have a school board member in Polk County — and I’ll go on the record — that most likely needs to be removed and the governor has not removed him and it’s taken time after time after time and he just disrupts the whole school board, the teachers, the association.
I’m eternally grateful this happened. Seriously, if I’m feeling a little down, this NewsChannel 8 report can always perk me up. It’s still hilarious, four years later. And I’m just tickled it exists.
“I think I just articulated it wrong. I was trying to explain that I firmly believe in term limits, gives a fresh pool of people every time,” she said.
LOL, Melony. You said: “I want to go on record” in an official legislative meeting.
Republicans for Lori Edwards
Fast forward four years; and Melony is running for Supervisor of Elections. Why? I heard somebody ask that when I was out and about Friday night.
The answer: entitlement’s a helluva drug.
After all, Polk County already has a competent and very popular Supervisor of Elections named Lori Edwards. How popular? Here are her vote percentages in her last three elections:
- 2012: 73%
- 2016: Unopposed
- 2020: 77%
But Lori is a former Democrat-turned-NPA. And this year, Supervisor of Elections gets the partisan letter by the name on the ballot.
That 73 percent in 2012 was against Colleen Burton, who is now Polk’s do-nothing GOP state senator. And the 77 percent came against a prominent Republican activist.
But the little “R” wasn’t actually on the ballot either time. This time it is. So we’re in for quite the experiment in how much type-setting drives popularity and flips votes.
This Republican, at least, has already voted for Lori Edwards and against the clerical R. It takes more than a printer (and billionaire family adjacency) to win my vote.
Don’t blame the Barnett elephant in the room
The other part of the question: why is Melony Bell, specifically, rather than other thirsty, opportunistic Republicans, running against Lori Edwards?
That answer, as anyone remotely paying attention knows, comes down to one word: Barnett. I did a whole thing about that some months ago. See the article below:
I said it then; and I’ll repeat it now. I see zero evidence the Barnetts actually encouraged Melony in her adventure — and only the barest hints of go-through-the-motions support.
I think they’re giving ya’ll permission to reject the overly-entitled use of their power and influence. But you might have to ask them.
Supervisor of Elections is not a Kelli-Stargel-style Florida Poly fake job
So, to sum up, in my informed observation, Melony is running because she wants what former GOP state senator Kelli Stargel has — a highly paid fake job at a government institution for the next 20 years. It’s her personal annuity.
See my article about what you’re paying Kelli Stargel not to do at Florida Poly here:
Kelli Stargel’s hilarious hire shows nobody cares about Florida Polytechnic University Read full story
The difference is nobody cares about Florida Poly; and she can’t really hurt anybody by collecting a check there. The consequences accrue only to Florida Poly’s dignity and quality of function. (And, of course, we taxpayers have to pay for Kelli’s welfare job.)
Supervisor of Elections does matter. It’s not a fake gig. And Melony Bell is already very much “on record” saying how little she respects elections — which is literally the job. It was funny in 2020 how unseriously Melony takes elections. Would it be as funny if she was running them?