ADKINS vs Fine Round 2

Most recently, Representative Fine made public the information that he and his entire family were diagnosed with COVID-19. He claimed that the diagnosis led to him being treated as well as the rest of the members of his family requiring medical attention. Following this disclosure, Rep. Fine then went on to allege, also on his Facebook page, that Marcie Adkins had made claims accusing Fine of fabricated the COVID-19 diagnosis.

Fine posted a screenshot from a Facebook page, with poster name and page redacted, that was claiming to be in possession of Fine’s personal medical records and proof that he made his COVID diagnosis up. Based on this post, Fine accused the Adkins camp of being behind the post and called for an investigation into how his medical records, protected by HIPAA, were obtained.

Interestingly, some Facebook commenters requested additional sources and evidence to support Fine’s allegations against Adkins’, as many believed the redacted screenshot to be insufficient proof of Adkins’ involvement.

After some back and forth in the comment section, Fine provided unredacted source information to the page noting that he believed the page to be run by Adkins’ Campaign Consultant Robert Burns.

PalmBayLive.com was able to speak to Marcie Adkins and Robert Burns who both emphatically stated that the Adkins’ campaign made no such statements about Mr. Fine or his family. In fact, Ms. Adkins pointed out that she made a post on her campaign Facebook page wishing Fine and his family members a quick recovery after the announcement and even asked her supporters to pray for them.

A quick review of her Facebook page did turn up this post made on August 3.

Adkins added, “I would never claim anything like that.”

Robert Burns echoed this sentiment, saying “Marcie did not make the comment/post. She was the only public candidate to offer sympathies. She also solicited prayers from supporters on his behalf. This of note, because in early July, we announced that we had 3 elder volunteers diagnosed with COVID and Fine accused them of going door-to-door while sick, calling them “super-cell spreaders”. When, in actuality, these volunteers just make phone calls with no person-to-person contact.”

PalmBayLive reached out to Rep. Fine for comment, but our message was not returned.

A second muddy allegation in this race involves signage.

The Adkins camp is claiming that Fine is illegally posting signage and not adhering to a city ordinance.

The ordinance in question was enacted last year by the Palm Bay City Council with support from now Deputy Mayor Kenny Johnson. The ordinance was pushed for by many Palm Bay residents who were frustrated with the amount of campaign signs in the area, citing complaints of traffic hazards and view obstruction. The ordinance states that signs can only be posted between 8 AM and 6 PM on weeks nights and 8 AM and 4 PM on weekends. This means that signs must be taken down each night and re-erected the following morning. Signs left up are taken down by city employees.

This issue here, according to the Adkins camp, is that the Fine campaign has not been taking down their signs, as mandated, and instead has been relying on city workers to remove the signs each evening.

PalmBayLive was told that when the city removes the signs they are placed in a lot by Public Works and after a period of accumulation, any signage not claimed is destroyed. So, Adkins alleges that Fine picks up the signs each morning from Public Works and puts them back up but is using city employees and taxpayer dollars for free signage removal labor in the evenings. Representative Fine did not provide a response to these allegations.

These are just the latest allegations amongst a slew of mudslinging between these two opponents and it does not show any sign of stopping, especially with the election fast approaching. Brevard recently published current voter turnout data, and as of today, the data shows a whopping 69,915 votes cast either by mail or through early voting. Despite (or because of) the contentious campaigns, it seems Palm Bay residents are eager to find out who their next representative will be.