I wanted to write in order to clear up some misunderstandings about what will be known from the 2012 election in Escambia County as “the ad.”

For those who don’t know, “the ad” was a misleading and incorrect allegation as to all Democratic candidates in this county, which appeared in The Brewton Standard and The Atmore Advance on the weekend before last Tuesday’s election.

The ad insinuated that the amount attributed to each candidate was a contribution to the National Democratic Party and was listed beside a picture of each candidate.

This was obviously supplied to the local Escambia County Republican Executive Committee from another source. The same ad was run in Monroe County, but the identifying persons responsible for the ad were, I am told, the Alabama Republican Executive Committee whose initials appeared at the bottom of the ad.

This allegation is false. The sums attributed to each candidate are the qualifying fees paid to the Democratic Executive Committee of Escambia County for the primary, held in March. The policy of the committee, which has been in place for some time and will continue in the foreseeable future, is that once a candidate has acquired opposition for the general election, the qualifying fees are returned to each candidate as a contribution from the Escambia County Democratic Comittee after the approval of a majority of the committee. Checks in those amounts were written by the treasurer and were delivered to each candidate at my office in Brewton.

Second, no local candidate has ever signed or taken an oath to support anyone other than Alabama Democrats in my presence; nor have I ever been instructed to require such by anyone connected with the state party.

Third, the issues outlined at the bottom of the page, have nothing to do with the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the offices these various people ran for and never have.

A confidential source has advised me that they had received three answers as to who made the decision to publish the ad, and I am not sure it matters. What matters is that these are local races for local positions and we remain a small enough community that these candidates were well known before this election started. Publishing the ad for the last paper before the election might have been a good strategy from a timing point, but in this day of instant media communication, it served to light a fire under the supporters of the candidates and cause to consider as to whom to vote for on Tuesday.

Finally, the rumor that the Democratic Party in Escambia County, Alabama, was dead, was premature thanks to you the voters. All of the county-wide elected officials in the courthouse in Brewton are Democrats and have served you well. Thank you for your continued support of our local Democratic officials and our friends. As for the state wide offices, stay tuned, more news in 2014.

Everette Price

Chairman, Escambia County Democratic Party