Mr. Magoo Piloting Observer

Despite its name, Fernandina Beach’s online Observer has become the Mr. Magoo of local journalism.

Former City Commissioner Susan Stiegar, who founded the outlet, refuses to criticize her creation’s current owner Mike Philipps’ incompetence or its only writer, Mike Lednovich’s bungling mental insolvency. Phillips has turned Ms. Steger’s once promising creation into a train wreck after plopping Lednovich in the driver’s seat.

In his latest Observer word jumble California transplant, Lednovich, a disgruntled defeated City Commissioner, attacked current Commissioner and city fireman, and all-around nice guy, Darron Ayscue.

Why? Because he is running for reelection unopposed.

Wait! What?

Apparently, the sour grapes-drooling Lednovich thinks politicians without opponents are supposed to go out and recruit some. He probably thinks that if there aren’t any fires to fight that local fireman Ayscue should also go out and start a few.

If Lednovich had run unopposed, “unopposed” would have won by a landslide.

Lednovich is a disgruntled one-term losing candidate and myopic hack, who thinks that parading through downtown Fernandina wearing a “Black Lives Matter” sandwich board and a clown nose endeared him to local voters. He still hasn’t figured out why he was laughed out of office and why people point and snicker when they see him in public.

He was Fernandina mayor when wearing a Fernandina Police Department cap while parading through town, making a fool of himself and staining the city and local law enforcement officials’ reputations. This guy is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He’s the fork without any tongs.

While writing his current Observer piece headlined “The political culture of fear”,  Lednovich apparently felt his meds wearing off and the blood rushing  to his head. While frothing at the mouth, he banged away madly at his keyboard producing one of the most incoherent, inane pieces of drivel this pathetic outlet has ever flaunted,

Following are the first few sentences of the pap that Lednovich wrote and Phillips allowed to appear:

FERNANDINA BEACH – City Commission candidate qualifying closed Friday.

 And without a single challenger stepping forward, Vice Mayor Darron Ayscue has been re-elected to the Fernandina Beach City Commission — unopposed.

 No campaign. No public debate. No competing vision for the city’s future.

 For the first time in decades, a Fernandina Beach City Commission seat passed without voters having a meaningful choice.

That should alarm everyone in this city.

Good for Commissioner Ayscue. His popularity and effectiveness are recognized and go unchallenged.

What should alarm anybody reading Lednovich’s drivel and what followed is that this sad outlet still has any readers. If you are sitting next to someone reading it in a bar who isn’t laughing, you might want to think about moving a couple of stools away.

Darron Ayscue is a breath of fresh air on the Fernandina City Commission that is too often mistaken for a nightclub act with four comic buffoons (James Antun, Denece Minshew, Tim Poynter & Joyce Tuten) falling all over themselves with Ayscue acting as the straight man attempting to bring a sense of sanity to their inane chamber antics.

The only difference between the City Commission and a nightclub act is that there is no cover or minimum to Commission chambers unless you are a taxpayer, and then you will pay through the nose plus some for their pricey absurdities.

***

Did Someone Say, “Paid Parking”?  Despite overwhelming public discontent and citizen petitions and movements against the misguided paid parking fiasco, Ayscue was, and remains, the lone Commission voice opposing it. He has expressed that opposition many times. Local business organizations and residents don’t want it either.

But the fear that the crazed Lednovich wrote about is eating local businesses and groups like the Chamber of Commerce up. They are afraid of retaliation by vindictive city officials. Ayscue is not afraid to speak out, a lone voice. That’s not fear. That takes guts, something Lednovich knows nothing about.

Remember when James Antun ran for office and promised to do away with impact fees? .He dropped that issue faster than Minshew switched from being a Democrat to a Republican then back to Democrat. Oh, and Minshew, who vowed to make Fernandina Beach a  “gay vacation destination”, is now running for mayor. Brace yourselves people! Is she the face of Fernandina that you want to present?

Lednovich’s screed against Ayscue flew off the rails, into the weeds, burned and and finally sank when he wrote: “Ayscue is not simply a commissioner. He also chairs the Nassau County Republican Party, giving him access to political relationships, fundraising networks and campaign infrastructure that ordinary residents considering a city race simply do not possess. Even in a technically nonpartisan election, the political reality matters.”

Really? Ordinary residents can’t work in local organizations and succeed in attaining positions in them?  Lednovich must be reflecting on his own past.

Or is he unaware of Minshew’s  and Tuten’s political ties and the fact that his beloved corrupt militant BLM thugs were supported by the Democrat party? Is he aware of Poynter’s access to cash and influence or Tuten’s close ties to his pal, former Commissioner Chip Ross and the tree hugging crowd?

I assume Lednovich thinks there is a political organization called unaffiliated, sort of like his mental process.

Folks, I’m not making any of this up.

What alarms Ayscue and the city’s taxpayers is that four Commission clowns are running the show. Ayscue is trying to derail the out-of-control train as fast as Lednovich can spew his nonsensical and transparent propaganda.

Ayscue wasn’t opposed because his potential opponents knew that he was effective and unbeatable. They were right.

It must be miserable being Mike Lednovich, ineffective and unreadable.

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Speaking Of Commission Races: Running for the seat currently held by the city’s current mayor and the chamber’s potted plant, James Antun, who is tossing in the towel after one uneventful forgettable term, is Scott Inglis, the only name you need to remember.

Two others, former Chamber potted plant Len Kreger and health care worker Staci McMonagale, are in that race but Ingles, a U.S. Navy veteran who successfully led the Shrimp Festival the past three years, has shown proven leadership skills and is vehemently opposed to paid parking. McMonagale says she is opposed as well and Kreger, a retired U.S. Marine, appears to be wishy-washy on the topic. His previous term was spectacularly forgettable.