A county commissioner who opposes unbridled development was just censured by developer-tied commissioners in the fastest-growing county in Florida*.  Commissioner Henry Dean spearheaded the effort to censure Commissioner Krista Joseph -  the ONLY St. Johns County commissioner who is not beholden to developers. It's a PR stunt meant to limit her free speech.  

With thousands of acres of tree canopy destroyed, roads over-capacity, schools overcrowded and children being bussed away from their neighborhood schools, Krista Joseph told residents "there is hope,” and she announced the next election is "less than nine months away" (August 20). As she began naming all of the candidates who have filed to run for county commissioner, she was shouted down by her fellow commissioners.

At the next meeting, Commissioner Henry Dean made the motion to not only censure Krista Joseph, but also to spend our tax dollars on an outside attorney to determine IF she had violated the law. Dean could have sought the free legal opinion of our Attorney General (Section 3 of this article), but he’d rather spend our tax dollars and try to control the legal opinion.

The retaliatory censure has no legal basis; the county attorney did NOT state that Joseph had violated state law, and Dean admitted he did not know if she did. Yet Henry Dean convinced his fellow commissioners, Whitehurst, Alaimo and Arnold (all tied to big developers) to censure Joseph.  Then Dean took to the media for a reckless and baseless smear campaign against Joseph.

Commissioner Krista Joseph has stood alone in many 4-1 votes since she was elected. She’s the voice of residents whose quality of life is impacted by the massive developments that commissioners approve (thus ensuring more dollars go into their campaign coffers). 

In a Board of County Commissioners meeting last year, Henry Dean urged residents to vote for a 15% sales tax increase, stating "I hope the answer will be yes."   His endorsement of a YES vote on a referendum election reveals the hypocrisy and abuse of power of his recent censure of Joseph, and his chilling intimidation tactics meant to selectively limit free speech while he endorses whatever election he chooses. 

Press coverage shows Commissioner Krista Joseph is not backing down after being censured. No violation of the law has been cited by any attorney. Please sign this petition to oppose the St. Johns County Commissioners' censure of Commissioner Krista Joseph, and then oppose it again on August 20th, in the voting booth. Whitehurst, Alaimo and Dean are expected to run.  (They can run, but they can't hide from their voting records.) Slow-the-growth, fiscally conservative candidates opposing them are Ann-Marie Evans and Ann Taylor. 

After signing, you will be asked to donate - but that donation does not go to the cause. It goes to change.org. So there is no need to donate. Just sign this petition and share it far and wide. Thank you.

*From 2012 to 2022.  Source: U.S. Census