SHARE THIS ACTION ALERT
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Update: Matt Caldwell conceded the race for Florida agricultural commissioner to Nikki Fried on November 19, 2018 after a manual recount found her to be the winner. Fried was the only Democrat to win a statewide race in Florida in the 2018 election.
In June 2018, the Tampa Bay Times reported on a Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Office of Inspector General investigation that discovered the department stopped querying the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to vet the background of concealed carry permit applicants from February 2016 to March 2017. This allowed violent applicants with disqualifying criminal records to get permits and walk the streets armed, legally.
The department’s failures were covered up by agricultural commissoner Adam Putnam, who bragged about being a “proud NRA sellout” while campaigning (unsuccessfully) to be Florida’s governor. [NRA-drafted legislation gave a non-law enforcement agency the responsiblity to screen concealed carry applicants to make enforcement of the permitting law less effective.] Thankfully, Putnam is now on his way out and a terrific candidate is running for agricultural commissoner in the November 2018 election: Democrat/attorney Nikki Fried.
After declaring her candidacy, Nikki sent a letter to infamous NRA Florida lobbyist Marion Hammer telling her, “I won’t be beholden to you.” “Employees of the Department [of Agriculture] will work for the people of Florida,” Fried added. “Neither the Department, nor its employees will carry out the interests of the NRA, or any outside group that seeks to unduly influence the rules that apply to them.”
Nikki’s opponent in the race, state Rep. Matt Caldwell, was endorsed and given an “A+” rating by the NRA.
Please take one or more of the following actions to support Florida agricultural commissoner candidate Nikki Fried:
1) Share the following article about Nikki on Facebook/Twitter with family and friends in Florida:
Sample Facebook Post:
You might have heard about how failed Florida gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam stopped running criminal background checks on concealed carry permit applicants at the behest of the NRA during his years running the Department of Agriculture. Thankfully, there is now an exciting new candidate for his job who told NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer point blank: “I won’t be beholden to you” as agricultural commissioner. Her name is Nikki Fried. Please support her and vote for her if you can—lives will be saved if she wins!
Sample Tweet:
Floridians, if you hope to prevent violent criminals from obtaining concealed carry permits, then electing @NikkiFried is a must. http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2018/10/nikki-fried-distances-herself-from-nra-in-new-video-letter.html #FlaPol
2) If you have the means to do so, donate to Nikki’s campaign at:
https://nikkifried.com/donate/
Once you have taken one or more of the above actions, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!