JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — With early voting already underway in Duval County, politics heads inside a courtroom. Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown sued Florida State Representative Angie Nixon regarding claims of fake voter guides in which Brown's choices and endorsements were changed.
A temporary injunction was granted in this case against whoever printed fake quick pick cards with Corrine Brown's name and picture. However, while the court agreed to the injunction, the judge made a point to not say that neither Angie Nixon nor her campaign actually did anything of which they're accused.
Brown's quick pick has her name, picture and a list of candidates running in the August primary that she endorses. The fake quick pick has a nearly identical cover, but the back highlights different candidate names, which Brown said is a problem.
"You want Corrine's quick pick, you want to make sure it's Corrine's Quick Pick, and I've been doing this for over 30 years," said Brown, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993-2017.
The judge in this hearing offered to recuse himself because of an endorsement from Brown back in 2016.
"I was personally listed on what was then Ms. Brown's quick pick list," judge Bruce Anderson Jr said.
Ultimately both parties were fine with Anderson remaining on the bench for the hearing, but Nixon's lawyer still had an issue with the premise of the lawsuit and made a motion for it to be dismissed.
"There isn't evidence that someone has been distributing these items," Nixon's attorney Alexis Sykes said. "Then the court can not impose an injunction against someone for doing something they have not done."
Anderson suggested to both parties that an injunction be granted provided that no mention of wrongdoing by Nixon nor her campaign is mentioned. Both parties agreed.
"The defendants, Angie Nixon and Step to Success and all 3rd parties would be prohibited from producing, disseminating or distributing false quick pick guides," Anderson said.
Nixon said that she had no comment after court.
State Representative Kim Daniels is endorsed by Brown on the original quick pick and does not have her name highlighted on the fake quick pick.
"I still believe it was done by Angie Nixon's campaign, we're glad it was settled like this," Daniels said. "I'm going to be honest with you, I don't even know the name of the woman I'm running against."
Angie Nixon maintains that she was not involved in the fake quick picks.
"I want to make sure that if you're interested in my quick picks that they're not not my quick picks and they're using my image and my liking," Brown said.
"I lost votes, this is not a smear campaign," Daniels said. "We're glad it ended the way it did, this is what we wanted, all we wanted was a cease and desist, that's what we got and I'm happy about that."
The injunction is in place through the general election on November 5th. Brown is not running in either the primary, nor the general election, but says she plans to print out new quick picks to reflect her candidate choices in the general election.