Misappropriating the Great Seal of Florida?

clipped from a.abcnews.com

Pardon my levity.

Occasionally I get a reminder of Democrat unhingedness over the 2000 election, such as when I check search pages for folks who ended up at my sporadically-updated companion blog, Bad Blogs Blood. One visitor dropped by my page regarding the issue of who stopped the Florida vote recount in 2000. The person had used the Google search for "gop operatives" + "florida" + "recount" and I decided to see what the first result (from www.democrats.com) had to say.

There were a few complaints that I didn't recognize, and one of them in particular was interesting enough for me to research.

One thing first. At the top of the page, just before the laundry list, it says:

To comment on the crimes cited below, click here.

Crimes, eh? Here's the crime in question, apparently committed by Jeb Bush:

Abuse of State Seal

Letter sent by Florida Republican party with Jeb's signature and the Florida state seal urging Florida Republicans to vote by absentee ballots

(democrats.com)

As a lifelong Florida resident, I found it surprising that the action described might represent a crime. So I looked up the Florida Statues. As of 2007, we had this:

493.6124 Use of state seal; prohibited.--No person or licensee shall use any facsimile reproduction or pictorial portion of the Great Seal of the State of Florida on any badge, credentials, identification card, or other means of identification used in connection with any activities regulated under this chapter.
(The Florida Statutes don't link directly. Choose the appropriate year and then look it up by number)(I'm happy to report that the site now does link directly!--that's a welcome change)

Doesn't exactly sound like what Bush did, does it? But as the 2007 statutes might not represent the law in 2000 ... but actually they do.

I can't find any hint (other than that above) that using the state seal of Florida as described is unlawful.

Sent them a message, I did. Perhaps it goes in the vertical file once they note my party affiliation (they asked for it on the form). Maybe not. I guess we'll see. Here's the message:

What's this about the "crime" of using the state seal on a campaign letter? I can't find any evidence that the practice is criminal. If you can't either, then I suggest you re-word some aspects of your Web page.

Note:
I don't normally append a note for spelling fixes, but let's just say that there is only one "s" in "Misappropriating" when it is spelled correctly.

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