Anneze Barthelemy has spent months laying the groundwork for a grassroots campaign for a seat on the Delray Beach City Commission.
A member of the city’s growing Haitian-American community, she’s one of three candidates for Seat 3 in the city-wide election on March 19. Also in the race are former Commissioner Juli Casale and first-time candidate Nick Coppola.
Barthelemy, 46, has received a rude welcome from the insider old guard that wants to maintain control of Delray Beach City Hall. She was a target of their effort to limit voters’ choices, effectively deciding the outcome for them. The effort involved political consultants, a prominent businessman and members of the City Commission.
Two Delray Beach political activists pressured Barthelemy to drop out of the race, she said. Such pressure is nothing new in politics, but what sets this apart is that Barthelemy was tempted with financial incentives, in writing — and those who did it are publicly supporting Commissioner Ryan Boylston, a candidate for mayor.
Tangible support offered
The pitch to Barthelemy included an offer of tangible support to “provide funding,” with city money and city land, at taxpayer expense, to deliver on a long-dormant promise of a Haitian-Caribbean community center, with operating costs estimated at $5,000 a month. Boylston is a long-standing proponent of a community center.
The offer was made by Jennifer Jones and Colson Zulmar, who were both on the host committee for Boylston’s mayoral campaign kickoff, in an email sent to Barthelemy on Nov. 30. A copy was obtained by the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board.
If Barthelemy would drop out as part of a “collaborative effort,” the email said, they would support building a center on city-owned property at the corner of Congress Avenue and Lake Ida Road and “provide funding to assist in maintaining a physical location for the center.”
The offer included $2,000 a monthly for a staff member, and to support Barthelemy as a candidate for another seat after incumbent Angela Burns is termed out in 2029.
The offer of city land and city money can be approved only by a majority vote of the City Commission. Boylston said “absolutely not” when we asked if he authorized the email to be sent by his supporters.
Texts between Boylston and Barthelemy show he has encouraged her candidacy and advised her on how to gather voters’ signatures to secure a ballot position without paying a fee.
Jones did not respond to multiple Sun Sentinel emails and phone messages. Zulmar declined to comment.
Barthelemy refused the offer and said she’s in this race to stay — to her credit.
Asked if Jones and Zulmar are working on his campaign, Boylston said: “Not yet.” He needs to firmly denounce the tactics of these two supporters and to refuse to let them work on his campaign in any capacity.
No one who wants to serve their community should be subjected to this kind of political pressure, condescension and hostility. In Delray, it shows how a white power structure tries to decide who speaks for minority communities.
Pressure intensifies
Barthelemy said the pressure to withdraw intensified in November. She said Brian Rosen, a Delray Beach restaurateur who rents office space to the Volunteer Association and Fund for Florida, a civic group to which Barthelemy belongs, offered six months free rent if she withdrew.
“They kept pushing and pushing,” Barthelemy said. “But I did not get in to get out.”
Rosen, in a written response, said his family has generously provided free space to VAFF. He did not address the question of whether he tried to get her to withdraw.
Barthelemy said Commissioner Rob Long warned, through her campaign adviser, Carline Paul, that if she ran, the Haitian community in Delray would be “marginalized.”
In response, Long said Barthelemy’s campaign team asked to meet with him “for the purpose of discussing Anneze’s candidacy and its viability.” Long claims Barthelemy asked what she would get if she dropped out, which Barthelemy denied. “He is a liar,” she said. “That’s why I am still in the race.”
Barthelemy said Nancy Chanin, a political consultant, suggested she switch races and run for Seat 1 instead. Chanin has been a subcontractor for Cornerstone Solutions, a political firm helping to manage the campaigns of Boylston and Coppola.
Chanin said it might be wiser for Barthelemy to have gotten more experience before running, but that she never suggested Barthelemy run for another seat, as she alleges.
“They have taken a general discussion that was driven by curiosity and turned it into a conspiracy in hopes they can make their stories stick,” Chanin said.
Different dynamics
By running for office, Barthelemy has upset the political status quo in Delray Beach. The old guard and its allies prefer to decide who runs — not the public — and that’s wrong.
Pedro Raphael, who served with Barthelemy on the Volunteer Association and Fund for Florida, calling the pressure campaign “outrageous and fraudulent” and resigned his VAFF position.
The dynamics of a three-person contest are dramatically different from a two-person, head-to-head contest, especially in this case, where race is a factor.
Barthelemy’s presence complicates another reality of Delray politics: the practice of candidates paying community leaders to influence minority voters on behalf of a favored white candidate. Her presence could also improve Casale’s chances.
Under Delray’s voting system, without a requirement that a winning candidate receive a majority of votes, a candidate could win a three-way race with as little as 35% of the vote. Barthelemy’s core constituencies are Black and Haitian-American voters — voters Coppola also needs to win.
But that’s for the voters of Delray Beach to decide, not a handful of political insiders.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.