Duval County voters will decide whether the newest member of the county’s Soil and Water Conservation District will be a college student or a man whose campaign Facebook page has multiple instances of plagiarism.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t have 30-plus years of experience,” candidate Hunter Anderson said.
In fact, he’s only been alive for 22 years.
But what the University of North Florida political science major lacks in age, he said he makes up for in enthusiasm.
“Maybe some other board members have full time jobs. They aren’t able to put the time necessary into it. Whereas I believe I’ve got a lot of passion and energy for this stuff, so I can make sure I’m attending the meetings," Anderson said.
His opponent is James Morton.
Morton’s campaign Facebook page includes a warning that said he does not give permission to use any photos or information from the page, saying they’re confidential.
Action News Jax is choosing to show them to you anyway because it’s a public page and he’s running for public office.
The “About Me” section of his campaign page says in part, “I am a man of divine purpose & sold out to the most high God.”
Several posts on Morton’s page are copied and pasted word-for-word from the St. Johns Riverkeeper website without attribution.
“I’m kind of disheartened by the way he’s plagiarized on his Facebook page and not really been transparent with his campaign,” Anderson said.
St. Johns Riverkeeper Executive Director Jimmy Orth said he was not aware that Morton was plagiarizing from the organization’s website, and that Morton is not affiliated with them.
Morton has not responded to Action News Jax’s multiple messages asking for an interview.