Farmer and grocer Alfie Oakes. (Photo: WINK News)
Oct. 1, 2021 by David Silverberg
The effort by farmer and grocer Francis Alfred “Alfie” Oakes III to press Gov. Ron DeSantis to audit and overturn the results of the 2020 election in Florida is drawing fire from another extreme conservative activist, Christy McLaughlin.
In a Sept. 16 letter to DeSantis Oakes requested two hours in person with the governor to present his evidence of 2020 election fraud in Florida. He believes the election was invalid even though the governor held it up as a model election and Republicans swept the full slate of candidates. In an appearance on the Alex Jones online “InfoWars” show, Oakes offered the governor a $100,000 campaign contribution if he would hold the meeting.
That specific a quid pro quo in return for that specific a sum as an individual contribution has raised questions about its legality and whether it could constitute a bribe.
That was the argument made by Christy McLaughlin, a former Republican congressional primary candidate and far right political activist based in Ave Maria.
In a 2-minute, 46-second TikTok video posted on Sept. 22, McLaughlin denounced the Oakes offer.
Christy McLaughlin in her TikTok video. (Image: Facebook)
“Florida had the best run election in the country in 2020, and the best run election our state as ever had in history all thanks to Governor Ron DeSantis,” said McLaughlin.
“Anyone that tries to undermine our Governor is against the Republican Party, against our state, and against people’s freedom. Offering a $100,000 donation to DeSantis so long as he ‘entertains’ the idea of auditing Florida’s 2020 election undermines Governor DeSantis and puts his reelection at risk. Alfie Oakes has created a distraction that only promotes his interests and hurts Governor DeSantis,” she said.
McLaughlin argued that if DeSantis doesn’t audit the election then Oakes is rallying his supporters against the governor; if he does audit the election he can be accused of accepting a bribe and damaging his re-election chances.
“Republicans in Collier County have become numb to Oakes’ hyperboles such as saying he would rather inject his children with heroine than give them the vaccine, obviously he would never do that to his children, however, when he is essentially attacking the Governor by putting him in this impossible decision, he is hurting the Republican Party and the State of Florida. Though this may be political theater for Oakes, his actions have some serious consequences.”
The only reasons to audit an election are to initiate reforms for the future or overturn an election, argued McLaughlin.
“Florida delivered a win for President Trump, and we had a majority of conservatives win local, state and Federal elections in our state. Why would anyone be seeking to overturn that?” she asked. Given the job DeSantis has done, “we need to support him, not challenge him and question his leadership. Most importantly people shouldn’t try to buy a Governor’s compliance with a $100,000 donation. I have Florida’s interests in mind, and I back true patriots like Governor Ron DeSantis.”
Oakes responded with a 1,272-word reply to the post delivered by lawyer Jim Boatman.
“I am very saddened by the juvenile and extremely uneducated remarks made by Christy McLaughlin,” stated the reply.
Oakes immediately questioned McLaughlin’s motivations and launched personal attacks against her.
“1. Could Christy have been paid by establishment Republicans or Democrats in an effort to conceal the massive voter fraud effort in our State and Country?” he asked.
“2. Could she be planning on running for some political office just trying to draw attention to herself? I did hear through the grapevine that she just failed the Florida bar for the second time, if this is so, is it possible she’s just in a really bad mood and is lashing out in frustration of the fact that she can’t get a job as an attorney and is now focusing on a political career?
“3. Or is it just an immature attempt for attention with little or NO thought at all?”
Oakes related that he’d been sitting through Republican executive committee meetings “where she acted in a very emotional immature and combative manner toward her fellow executive board members.” Oakes said he had never encountered such “irrational non-productive behavior” in an employee and would never hire her.
Regarding her allegation that the donation might constitute a bribe, he stated: “Yes Christy you caught me ....with your stellar instincts that every 25 year old possesses...I'm going to offer a bribe on public radio and TV to the governor to thereby get him and myself thrown in jail ..no words to describe this level of ignorance....The reality is I offered to donate $100,000 to any PAC gov. Ron DeSantis chooses as a token of my appreciation for attending a meeting with me to explain my election fraud findings and thank him for everything he has done for our state.”
He took umbrage at her statement that he would never inject his children with heroin. On the contrary, “I swear with my life, my fortune and my sacred honor that I would [emphasis ours] shoot heroin into my children's arms without hesitation if given a choice between heroin and this experimental RNA altering vaccine (at least I know what heroin is).”
He also argued that DeSantis must audit the 2020 election in Florida: “in fact if he does NOT dig into this election fraud he will most certainly lose to Charlie Christ or even worse Nikki Fried.” Oakes stated that he had spent “hundreds of hours” on Florida election fraud and found possibly 900,000 stolen votes, penetration of all 67 Florida counties and Chinese hacking of Florida computer systems.
“Christy alleges with certainty that she is aware that Gov. Ron DeSantis is aware of the voter fraud in Florida” he wrote. “Well I guess Christie you must be much closer to gov. Ron DeSantis than his own chief of staff. In speaking with Adrian Lucas (chief of staff to the governor) yesterday he thanked me for the admirable work that I have been doing to prove election fraud in Florida and could not wait for the governor to see the findings we have uncovered,” [sic, as posted].
He denied being motivated by any financial gain and disputed that Collier County Republicans had become numb to his hyperboles “when in fact I have hundreds of people every day thanking me for articulating exactly what they are thinking and taking the bold position to stand strong for them.”
Oakes concluded: “I am praying for your wisdom Christy…”
Liberty lives in light
© 2021 by David Silverberg