A surrogate for a Fort Lauderdale mayoral candidate is pushing election related conspiracies. Barbra Anne Stern is running for Mayor of Fort Lauderdale, but one of her most ardent supporters is pushing what is known as “the big lie” on the popular Nextdoor neighborhood app.
Rick Maglione, who was previously Chief of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department until his firing in 2020 for mishandling the Black Lives Matter protests, went to Nextdoor to push the big lie conspiracy. In a comment on the app, Maglione said it's "much easier to submit fraudulent ballots". He continued to peddle false lies, saying "You dump a bunch of ballots in a drop off box and they're gonna get counted no matter who filled them out."
There is absolutely no evidence of widespread election fraud or illegal ballot dumping in the 2020 or 2024 elections, and claims of such magnitude have been thoroughly debunked and litigated. Every lawsuit relating to the false claims of election fraud by Trump and his associates have been dismissed.
Maglione, a Trump supporter and Tamarac resident is supporting Stern against Trantalis, who he says is "destroying the city". He also falsely claimed that Mayor Dean Trantalis and an aide was engaged in election interference. This is hardly the first controversy for the excommunicated police chief who in 2020 went under fire after an officer shot a protestor in the eye. Magglione has previously posted in support of the January 6th insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol.
Barbra Stern self describes as a "pro-choice woman", and she previously ran for a state house seat in Broward as a Democrat. However, public records indicate that she is a registered Republican, and she has been endorsed by controversial Republican fixer Roger Stone. Stern has disavowed the Stone endorsement, but her campaign is receiving support from far-right groups.
If elected, it is widely expected that Stern will reinstall Maglione as Chief of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Voters will need to answer the question on whether they want a police chief who pushes the debunked conspiracy theories that led to hundreds of law-enforcement officers being beaten, brutalized and killed.
We did not hear back from Stern's campaign, which is impossible to reach.
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