Be aware, if you are a civic organization and dare to challenge Commissioners Jeremy Matlow or Jack Porter, they will unleash their propaganda machine on you.
You will quickly find yourself labeled as an “Insider”, “Dark Money”, “Special Interest”, and paid trolls will spread it across social media. 2 weeks ago, we asked a simple policy question: “Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, with zero opposition, voted YES to $10 Million in funding for stadium repairs, and a better fan experience at FAMU's Bragg Stadium (which Grow Tallahassee supported as well). Why is he just against FSU?” This clearly made Commissioner Matlow and his aide angry. So, what happened next?
Our organization got attacked by Max Herrle, a well-known local lobbyist who now operates a radical progressive blog called Our Tallahassee.
Herrle managed Matlow’s 2018 and Porter’s 2020 campaigns. He then jumped on board with the Brian Welch Campaign at the last minute. What is in common on all of those political campaigns? Their opponents were labeled “dark money”, “special interests”, or “insiders”.
Herrle has a history of questionable lobbying practices, and known for working against developers and corporations who refuse to hire him. He was accused of bullying MetroNet into retaining his services prior to their entry into the Tallahassee market. (More info on this coming soon)
And lastly, he is currently involved in a romantic relationship with Commissioner Porter, which may have overlapped with his lobbying career.
Much of the content created by Our Tallahassee has been, and going forward will be about Commissioner Porter and Commissioner Matlow’s political critics or opponents. Smear campaigns against the critics of Kristin Dozier have already started since she just threw her hat in the ring to unseat Mayor Dailey.
So, this is not about Grow Tallahassee. This is definitely not about making Tallahassee a better place for everyone. It’s about money, power and control for a privileged few.
This is about Max, Matlow, Porter and their merry crew of trolls getting a third, majority vote on the City Commission so that:
Max Herrle can take revenge on the businesses who refused to hire him, and fill up his pockets with lobbying contracts,
Porter can give no-bid city contracts to all her friends,
Matlow can turn this city into the next hyper-progressive, bureaucratic bastion while following the same, tired playbook that has already destroyed cities like Portland and San Francisco.
Bad actors create dysfunctional local government, which then impacts investments and local economic vitality. Grow Tallahassee and its Political Committee will continue to advocate for an honest and transparent politics in our city.