Now, we turn to the biggest losers of the 2026 election cycle in Walton County. If you have not already read it, here is a link to the 10 biggest winners.
As stated before, it would be kind of boring to include the names of the actual candidates who lost on a list of losers. With that said, Commissioner Danny Glidewell is the subject of at least one ethics complaint regarding his theft of more than $11,000 from the employee tuition reimbursement fund. So, things could still get worse for him.
Honorable Mention #1: BCC Political Aides
During the campaign, the public was educated about how much some of these aides are making. A couple of them are making well over $80,000 a year to fetch “water and snackies” for geriatric commissioners. When they aren’t doing that, they essentially play the role of a switchboard operator.
Don’t believe me?
Here is Commissioner Danny Glidewell’s aide Teresa Lowery explaining what she does in an interview under oath with Investigator Keith Riddick of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
Spoiler Alert: Lowery has her own spot on the list of biggest losers.
But, there is quite a bit of rumbling amongst the citizenry that the entire aide boondoggle should be re-organized and restructured. Currently, every commissioner has at least one aide, some have more than one. They are assigned to that commissioner. There is a push to rein in this expense and create a “bullpen” of three aides who are assigned to all five of the commissioners.
Could you imagine if Tony Anderson’s aide, Laura Ekstrom, joined the unemployment line with Lowery? When she wasn’t fetching water and answering calls for Anderson, she was apparently having an affair with the former County Administrator Stan Sunday who was married at the time. And her boss, Mr. Destiny Worship Christian Tony Anderson and others, like Glidewell and Commissioner Drake, were aware of it, too.
In Walton County, folks may not turn the other cheek — but they will definitely turn away and pretend they didn’t see anything when it is convenient.
It was a doozy the day Sunday’s wife spoke at the meeting in which Sunday was fired.
And don’t forget the infamous story about another one of Anderson’s aides being dropped off “nekkid” by Commissioner Trey Nick at the former assistant county attorney’s place. That was part of a lawsuit filed against the county.
Honorable Mention #2: Trey Nick
Speaking of Trey Nick!
Rumors have been circulating that Nick is still licking his wounds and chomping at the bit to run again in 2028 after getting trounced by Dan Curry in 2024. His campaign was mortally wounded when racist text messages he had sent to Commissioner Tony Anderson and others were released to the public. Ironically, the local media did cover that story.
When his name came up during this election cycle on social media — it was clear that his brand is still extremely toxic and damaged. Absolutely laughable to think he can run again and win. But, I sincerely hope he tries.
Honorable Mention #3: Non-profit Organizations
Why is taxpayer money being used to fund non-profits in Walton County? Non-profits should have to compete for funding from private citizens. Taxpayers should not have their money confiscated by the force of government only to see it doled out to non-profits that they may not even be aligned with.
Some non-profits have been suckling from the teat of the Walton County taxpayers for a long time. Commissioner Dan Curry has been looking to rein in those contributions, but has not gotten much help from the “conservative” members of the BCC. I would think that these non-profits may be facing some headwinds in future budget cycles.
10. Anonymous Losers with AI Facebook Page
This election cycle we saw something new — “anonymous” social media pages that are almost exclusively powered by AI and operated by morons. They think they are savvy political operatives, but they could barely put two sentences together on their own and their “hit pieces” were mostly duds. Their agenda was obvious: promote and support Commissioner Danny Glidewell and James Calkins.
Rumor has it that Uriah Matthews and Chas Galloway were involved, but that has only been confirmed by the horrible whiff of incompetence emanating from the ruins of these impotent efforts. Matthews is the failed former EDA director and Galloway is the trust fund loser with daddy issues who supported Trey Nick and Chuck Wilder in the 2024 campaigns.
The problem is that outside of a handful of goofs who “giggled” and “liked” all of their posts, more comments and engagement came from supporters of Warren Whitaker and Jim Bagby relentlessly mocking their posts. You could tell Glidewell was toast because he had very few supporters. Most of them were family members and the other vocal supporters were anonymous. I can only imagine how demoralizing it was when virtually every single post praising Glidewell was met with a resounding rebuke by dozens of residents with names I did not recognize.
9. The Customary Use Boys (John Dillard & Dave Rauschkolb)
These posers masquerade as warriors for customary use and public beaches, but they supported Commissioner Danny Glidewell who was one of the officials who voted to settle with the 1,000+ beachfront property owners and give up the fight for public beach access in 2023.
To his credit, Rauschkolb publicly endorsed Glidewell at the end of the campaign.
Dillard never overtly stated that he was supporting Glidewell, but his comments and actions revealed it. On a public post where I highlighted Glidewell’s contributions from beach vendors, Dillard suggested the donation amounts were “inconsequential.” Additionally, after posting a handful of times in his “We are all shoreline defenders” group where I educated the members about Glidewell’s vote and linked to court documents, Dillard banned me and deleted all my posts.
After beating the drum for customary use for years and then supporting one of the commissioners who voted away customary use — nobody takes these hypocrites seriously anymore.
8. Gary Shipman (Dunlap & Shipman)
For years, many have believed that Gary Shipman and his law firm have been given preferential treatment by the Walton County Planning Department. To his credit, he has been incredibly successful at advocating on behalf of his clients who love to build bigger and at higher densities. He has also been a campaign donor to the BCC commissioners that support unlimited growth and development even though infrastructure has not kept up.
I have a suspicion that he is going to find the navigation of his projects through planning to be a little rougher in the near future.
7. Walton County Sheriff’s Office
Over the years, the composition of the Walton County BCC has been dominated by former deputies in the department (e.g., Mike Barker, Boots McCormick, Danny Glidewell, etc.). They have allowed the sheriff to massively expand his operations and budget by taking on responsibilities that should be under the domain of the BCC.
It is my expectation that the BCC will move to wrestle back that control and budget authority as they seek to bring greater accountability and transparency to the taxpayers that elected them into office.
6. County Administrator Brian Kellenberger
It’s no mystery that the most vocal and influential supporters of Dan Curry, Jim Bagby, and Warren Whitaker have been critical of County Administrator Brian Kellenberger — most notably when it comes to the code compliance department. What makes it even more notable is that most of those people who are critical were largely supportive of his selection.
The issue is that under Kellenberger’s contract there needs to be four votes to terminate — which is a high threshold.
Commissioners Brad Drake and Tony Anderson are obviously reading the tea leaves and pondering how the results will impact them moving forward. Anderson is a wild card as rumors have swirled that he may step down before the end of his term due to health issues and a desire to possibly have his son appointed to complete his term. The Drake calculus really hinges on whether he desires to seek re-election in 2028.
Assuming there are three votes to terminate when the new board is seated (Bagby, Curry, and Whitaker) — where does the fourth vote come from? If you are Kellenberger and you make a sharp pivot in recognition of the election results, he could possibly mollify the newly elected and stave off termination in a county where there has been tremendous volatility in that top spot.
But that requires terminating Scott Brannon and overhauling the planning and code compliance departments to such an extent that it satisfies those critics who have been irreparably damaged by their actions.
5. County Attorney Clay Adkinson
Where else do you put this wily veteran of local politics other than smack dab in the middle? Each time you think there have been votes to get rid of him, he manages to stay firmly ensconced as the county attorney and arguably the most influential person in all of Walton County politics.
He was appointed to the permanent post on a 3-2 vote. Unfortunately for him, he has lost two of his supporters in Glidewell and Johns. I suspect his third vote of support, Curry, may be seeking a fresh change on this front as well.
It is unclear at the current time where Whitaker and Bagby stand on Adkinson, who makes more than $50,000 per month in his part-time role. There is near universal support amongst the Bagby and Adkinson supporters to terminate the Adkinson contract. However, there was very little discussion about Adkinson or his contract during the campaign.
Like Kellenberger, it takes four votes to terminate. My suspicion is that the agenda of change and reform that has been so pervasive this election cycle carries over and washes Adkinson out of power. But, I ain’t putting any money on it because Adkinson always seems to find a way.
4. Scott Brannon, Director of Governmental Coordination
It is absolutely unbelievable that Somali Scott Brannon has not been fired by Kellenberger. We started revealing the time card fraud in December. It is so egregious when you examine the cell phone records, the computer access and email logs, and his building access logs.
Throw in the fact that he was arrested on a domestic violence charge and his mugshot is highly suggestive that the rumors of meth addiction are true. For years, this guy has been a leech off the taxpayers and this is what Alan Osborne talks about when he says some people in Walton County are connected and protected.
If Brannon is not terminated before the new commissioners are seated, Kellenberger will need to be fired. And if they can’t fire Kellenberger because they don’t have the votes, then they need to vote to move the position under the authority of the BCC so that they can fire him. Either way, Brannon has to go.
3. Teresa Lowery, Commissioner Danny Glidewell’s aide
Over a year ago and before her annual salary bump, Lowery’s salary was in the low $80,000 range and her annual benefits cost an additional $32,000. She will not be hired by Bagby or Whitaker so she is going to find herself without a chair when the music finally stops in November.
Her only hope is that Kellenberger throws her a lifeline and finds a job for her somewhere in the county. But she is going to have to take a major pay cut. And that is only if Kellenberger really wants to thumb his nose at the newly elected members and really tempt fate.
Do not forget that Lowery has an active civil lawsuit against Walton County, Commissioner Donna Johns, former County Administrator Quinn Robertson, and yours truly. We all have different attorneys and law firms representing us. And these attorneys are being paid by the county taxpayers — not us.
The lawsuit is totally frivolous, but I will save that for another day. Regardless, no quarter should be given to Lowery in Walton County government.
2. Planning Department
The Planning Department has been highly criticized and scrutinized over the years. There has been internal organizational tension. When Quinn Robertson and I were hired in 2023, we were starting to really drill down into the myriad of issues facing the department. This included writing up Mac Carpenter, who was the director at the time, which sent the message that things in the department had to change.
Like a body rejecting a new organ transplant, there was a massive pushback by the powers that be namely in the form of Commissioner Tony Anderson and Gary Shipman. They saw the writing on the wall and Shipman feared losing his “Ace in the Hole” in Carpenter. Glidewell, who at the time was not really an ally of Anderson, then joined forces to eliminate Robertson from his position of leadership. They had different motivations, but the same goal.
Then you have the external tension as residents have grown increasingly furious with the unchecked growth and failure to build the infrastructure needed to handle the growth. Traffic congestion is insane and poor decision making by county leaders over the years has let the developers off the hook. They are not paying their fair share for the infrastructure. Instead, taxpayers are subsidizing these developers — so they are left paying literally and figuratively in higher property taxes and lower quality of life.
1. Code Compliance Department
The biggest shakeup is going to come in the form of the Code Compliance Department.
Director Tony Cornman and Assistant Director Michael Gainey have been soundly criticized by many of the supporters of Curry and the incoming commissioners. When I was hired in as the assistant county administrator in October 2023, which was technically the number 3 spot in the organization, Cornman was slated to retire in April 2025 from his position as the deputy county administrator. Naturally, I was slated to slide into the #2 spot.
We are more than a year beyond that original retirement date and it would make sense for him to decide to punch out so he does not have to deal with the very public attacks and criticisms that are bound to come his way. On top of that, you have the complaints filed by the department against Curry, you have Gainey publicly mocking Curry on Facebook posts, and the mounting pressure on Kellenberger to save his job.
Perhaps, Kellenberger believes he has 2 firm votes and decides to “hold the line” and maintain the status quo even after the new commissioners get seated. That is the only way I see these departments surviving unscathed.
However, if Kellenberger pursues this path — he will be the focal point of the 2028 election cycle and every candidate will have to take a position on whether they will fire the county administrator.
The smart thing to do if you are Kellenberger is to pivot and make substantial changes in recognition of the incoming mandate the two new elected officials will bring to the dais.
Wow!
That’s a pretty good summary.
As Walton Turns..
A good read, very informative and painfully honest.