A mailer landing in Clay County mailboxes urges voters to "Cap Politicians Pay" by voting yes on the commissioner salary charter amendment. It claims a yes vote "ensures any changes to our county politicians' salaries must be approved by a majority of voters."

The ballot language says the opposite, Clay News & Views first reported Sunday.

The amendment asks voters whether to "remove the requirement that any salary changes must be approved by a majority of electors in a general election." Since 2008, Clay voters have had to approve any change to commissioner pay. A yes vote would end that requirement.

The amendment would also eliminate the charter's fixed $37,000 salary. Commissioner pay would instead follow a state formula for non-charter counties. The Florida Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research estimated that formula at $96,993 for Clay commissioners in a September 2026 report, according to First Coast News.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Who paid for it

Accountability In Government Inc., a Tallahassee-based political committee, paid for the mailer, according to state campaign finance records cited by Clay News & Views. The committee raised $582,655 in 2026. Of that, $565,000 came from a single source: the Greater Florida Foundation, another committee at the same Tallahassee address.

Both committees are part of a network run by William "Stafford" Jones, a Republican operative and former Alachua County Republican Party chairman. Jones has been listed on the paperwork of more than 85 Florida political committees, according to Clay News & Views.

Clay News & Views reported finding no Clay County residents or businesses among contributors identified in the funding chain. The investigation found that money passed through at least three committees before reaching the mailer, with funds pooled at each step.

Local ties

Some money feeding Jones's committee network traces to Clay County political figures, though those contributions cannot be linked to the charter mailer itself because of the pooling.

First Coast Conservatives, the political committee of former state Rep. Travis Cummings of Fleming Island, gave Accountability In Government $9,400 in 2020 and $2,000 in 2022, according to Clay News & Views. Cummings is a former Clay County Commission chairman and state House Appropriations chairman. The committee has given about $430,000 to other Jones committees since 2018, but nothing in the records reviewed by Clay News & Views ties those contributions to this year's charter mailer.

The Committee for Professional Law Enforcement, which supports Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook, gave $5,100 to Accountability In Government in June 2024, according to the report. Its chairman is Charles "Scotty" Taylor Jr. of Middleburg, listed by the Republican Party of Florida as the Clay County Republican Party's committeeman.

Clay News & Views reported that Cook, Taylor and Cummings had not publicly stated whether they knew their committees' contributions would reach groups campaigning on Clay County ballot questions.

Commissioners say they didn't ask for it

Commissioner Betsy Condon told First Coast News that commissioners did not initiate the amendment. "Not any of these commissioners asked to have anything put on the ballot, nor do we set the fee or set the amount," Condon said at a county commission meeting.

The Clay County Charter Review Commission proposed and approved the amendment for submission to voters. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all 15 members and five alternates of the review commission. Under the county charter, commissioners are required to place amendments approved by the review commission on the ballot. The board voted 5-0 on June 23 to place the measure before voters, according to county meeting minutes.

Polls open Tuesday, Nov. 3.