Jewish Florida state representative accuses opponent of antisemitism

Fine is the only Jewish Republican representative currently in the Florida House of Representatives, according to JNS.

By RACHEL WOLF, SHAY BEN SHABTAY
Florida state representative Randy Fine gives a tour of his office in a video for the Florida House of Representatives' Youtube page (photo credit: FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES YOUTUBE/SCREENSHOT)
Florida state representative Randy Fine gives a tour of his office in a video for the Florida House of Representatives' Youtube page
(photo credit: FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES YOUTUBE/SCREENSHOT)
Florida state Representative Randy Fine has accused his opponent, Marcie Adkins, and her consultant, Robert Burns, of making antisemitic remarks and harassing his mother on Mother’s Day. Fine is the only Jewish Republican representative currently in the Florida House of Representatives, according to JNS.
Fine alleged in a press release he posted on Facebook that Adkins let her supporters write antisemitic comments on her Facebook page on a post that she shared and did not delete the comments. After the backlash, she deleted the comments, but days later released a statement in a Facebook post saying “I denounced all of this and the antisemitic and anti-gay comments were removed. I later said that I should not have removed the posts, just denounced them, due to free speech."
An antisemitic meme was posted on a Facebook page called “Randy Fine not so Fine” that depicted Fine and Brevard County Committee Chair Bryan Lober, who is the only other elected Jew on the county level, as insects engaging in indecent activities. According to JNS, Adkins' consultant Burns created the page.
Fine was also harassed on his phone via texts such as,  “You should be careful where you park your car,” “Fat ass piece of s***,” “Fake ass Jew,”  and “You ain’t a Jew you just Jew-ish” from a number he says he does not recognize, according to JNS.
An article entitled  “Graphic Detail of Tres Holton Providing Prostitution to Officials-Randy Fine Named Twice by FBI/FDLE," which falsely claimed that Fine was being investigated by the FBI  and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for being involved with prostitution appeared on a fake website, according to JNS.
"Fine is not now, nor has he ever been, under investigation by the FBI or FDLE for anything, and FDLE has made a statement to that effect," JNS reported.
JNS also reported that Burns later admitted that he was behind the website.
Florida leaders came to Fine's defense, condemning Adkins' antisemitic rhetoric.
"Marcie Adkins’ antisemitic dog whistling is unacceptable. Saying a Republican Jewish politician in Florida is a pest who must be 'exterminated' reflects either staggering ignorance of history or a willingness to traffic in the worst kind of hate. Either way, it is unacceptable," Chris Sprowls, another Florida state representative tweeted.

Fine responded to Sprowls' tweet, thanking him for the support. Florida State Senator Joe Gruters also thanked Sprowls on Twitter and wrote, "the comment that was made by Marcie Adkins is not acceptable and antisemitic comments are not going to be tolerated."

In addition to his response to Sprowls, Gruters tweeted an article from Florida Politics and captioned it, "antisemitism is not welcome in the party of @realDonaldTrump."
"State Rep @VoteRandyFine is a friend. Like me, he's Jewish & is 1 of @realDonaldTrump’s top surrogates to the Jewish community. His opponent -Marcie Adkins- is using Fine's faith to attack him. This is disgusting, shameful and makes her unfit to serve!," tweeted author and entrepreneur Andrew Pollack. Fine responded on Twitter, expressing his gratitude.

Fine told JNS that he spoke with Shane Strum, chief of staff to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, about the antisemitism and said that Strum "didn’t think [it] was okay."
“Governor DeSantis has clearly stated that antisemitism will not be tolerated in Florida, which is why he signed the bipartisan, anti-Semitism HB 741 into law that was sponsored by Representative Randy Fine. When the governor’s chief of staff spoke with Representative Fine regarding these offensive remarks, it was made clear that bigotry and racism has no place in our state—the most Israel-friendly state in the nation," Cody McCloud, a spokesperson for DeSantis, told JNS.
Adkins has denied that she made an antisemitic remark, writing on Twitter: "Today, Randy Fine falsely claimed in a release picked up by local media that I made an antisemitic comment. Someone else did make an antisemitic comment and it was promptly removed.  Rep. Fine is desperate and we will not be bullied nor deterred by his dirty politics."



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Anti-Semitism