An ad is blasting Anna Brosche, Jacksonville city council member who’s considering a run for mayor as greedy, self-serving and heartless.
“The ad is intentionally misleading,” said Ryan Wiggins, a political advisor for Brosche. “It reeks of desperation on many fronts, but unfortunately is not surprising considering the source."
The ad is sponsored by Jacksonville on the Rise, a group supporting mayor Lenny Curry’s re-election campaign.
In the ad, a trio of animated characters answer Jeopardy-like questions.
“She voted to remove term limits for politicians,” an unseen host says.
“Who is Anna Brosche?” a character named Linda answers in the form of a question.
First Coast News can verify Brosche voted in favor of a raise for council members back in 2015, and again in 2017.
It's important to note, however, in the latter, it wasn't just her, the whole council approved the raise, and Curry could have vetoed it, but chose not to.
The ad then claims Brosche voted to remove term limits for politicians.
First Coast News can verify back in 2017, Brosche was in favor of getting rid of the two-term limit for positions for elected officials like city council, the sheriff and the supervisor of elections
“This politician tried to block hurricane relief funds for northwest Jacksonville,” the voiceover in the ad says.
This claim is technically true, but it doesn’t tell the whole truth.
In November, Brosche sponsored a resolution urging the city of Jacksonville to give $2.8 million back to the Persian Gulf nation United Arab Emirates, which included $650,000 for the Ken Knight Drive neighborhood, hit hard by Hurricane Irma, and $800,000 to fix parks and fund other projects in north Jacksonville.
Brosche initially supported the grant but later backtracked citing concerns from voters about the UAE’s track record on human rights and whether the nation would want something in return.
“There have been some question about the source of the money and the motivation behind why it is that we're accepting money from The United Arab Emirates,” Brosche told First Coast News in November.
But she and resolution co-sponsor Garrett Dennis didn’t mean struggling communities would be denied help. Instead, they claimed the city should give the money back to the UAE, and pay for the relief funds out of its own budget.
The ad started running in December, but as of January 1st, Brosche had not officially entered the mayoral race.
She has until noon on January 11th to do so.