Some voters in Southwest Florida are asking whether a Lee County family is trying to take over and dominate local politics.
David Mulicka is running for the Lee County Commission seat, which is being vacated by Ray Sandelli.
Mulicka’s wife, Jenna Persons-Mulicka, is a state representative, and his father-in-law in Armor Persons is a Lee County School Board member.
“The positions that Armor and Jenna have right now in the state legislature and school board are not directly related to the county commission,” Mulicka said.
Mulicka said he disagrees with critics who say that is too much power for one family to have.
“I think it actually upgrades the service and communication they can provide,” Mulicka said.
When asked why he decided to run for the office, Mulicka said traffic, infrastructure, and rebuilding were the three main reasons he was focused on getting elected.
Despite a who's who of political figures endorsing him, his campaign is facing serious allegations from his opponent.
An ad being sent to Republican voters claims Mulicka, who wants to be a commissioner, is accused of dumping waste into Lee County waters.
The waste the ad is referring to was mostly scrap metal from modular homes destroyed by Hurricane Ian and kept on his property off of Alico Road.
“We had to get their site cleared today to deliver their new home tomorrow. So, I did temporarily bring some of the materials from those job sites, mostly scrap metal, steel, aluminum etc., to my facility there on Gator Road,” Mulicka said.
When asked if there were toxic material kept on the property Mulicka responded by saying, “absolutely not.”
“Any of the materials found on that job site that day of the inspection came from homeowners job sites that would not have been toxic at their address and were not toxic at this,” he said.
Mulicka was ordered to clean up the site and said that has been done.
“Yes, and every single receipt has been turned in to the DEP and Lee County Natural Resources, and we have all the receipts to approve it,” Mulicka said.
An email from the Lee County Pollution prevention supervisor was sent to DEP confirming the site was cleared of the debris and the matter closed.
David Mulicka is running against Matthew Thornton. They are both Republicans, and it is a closed primary race, meaning only Republicans can vote in the August primary race because a write-in candidate filed to run, which under state law allows for a closed primary.