School Board Candidate Replaces Campaign Photo Amid Criticism Over Misleading Image
On Saturday, GnvInfo began investigating allegations that Alachua County School Board member and District 1 candidate Janine Plavac was misrepresenting her appearance on her campaign website.
At the time, one of the first images users would see when visiting Plavac’s website is an image of a Black woman who is not identified in any way. Right under the photo was the caption, “Jaine stands for accountability…”
At the time, there were only two photos of Plavac on the website, both taken from a distance. In one of the photos, which was at the very bottom of the page, Plavac had a name tag that could only be read upon zooming in.
The website was updated Tuesday morning, replacing the photo of the unidentified Black woman with a clear picture of Plavac.
The change was made before GnvInfo reached out for comment. Plavac has not responded to an email with questions.
Monday night, prior to the changes, GnvInfo conducted an interview with former Gainesville City Commission candidate Nelida Jean-Baptiste Pellot, who ran on government transparency and affordable housing.
Q: What was your initial reaction when you first saw the website?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: I was like, “Okay, this is probably just a friend or something." I was looking for a caption… I found no information or no caption, and having met Janine a few times, I barely saw her represented on her website…
Q: Why do you think she made the decision to put a picture of a Black woman who is obviously definitely not her as the first image on her website?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: I can't say what her intentions are, because I don't know what her intentions are, and I don't know her personally enough to say what her intentions might be. But as an outsider looking at the website, and seeing that when you look at that picture and then [what is says] underneath... I felt like it was a misrepresentation of who she was.
Q: Do you think it's gonna come off as misleading to some voters?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: I think it’s absolutely misleading. I actually asked a few people before talking to you… People who are not in politics… Having pulled two or three of my co-workers, [they] guessed that the person in the picture would be Jaine…
Q: As someone who's previously ran for office, do you think a lot of voters might just be looking at a candidate's website and not really paying attention to their social media and things like that?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: Yes…
Q: Do you think the photo looks kind of odd at all to you? It looks like someone just took a picture of her at an event. It doesn't look like an official photo. Do you share that kind of reading?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: It doesn’t look like an official photo and it doesn’t have a caption…
Q: One of the things that Janine Plavac has campaigned on is accountability... Do you think that message of accountability is diminished by her website?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: Absolutely… Again, I don't know what her intentions are, but I feel like her website is misleading, and the accountability is something that needs to happen.
Q: One of the things Janine has campaigned on is saving Williams grade school. I haven't really dug deep into the issue, but it's my understanding, it's a historic Black school and it might get shut down soon. Do you have an opinion on that issue and any thoughts on why she has made it such a pedestal in her campaign?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: There are two schools that she mentions, one is Alachua and one is Williams. I would say specifically the Williams school is in a very mixed but mostly a predominantly Black neighborhood… That school is being shut down, from what I understand [and] from what I've read independently, for health and safety concerns. Keeping that school open while knowing that there are health and safety concerns that affect predominantly Black children… Keeping that school open and keeping those kids in an unsafe environment is something that we should actually look at; why do you want to keep this school open, and you want to keep these kids here… I was just at a candidate forum where she was speaking, and she teaches at a private school, which would probably never have these situations since their funding comes from upper class, and people with means…
Q: Are you familiar with the rapper Fie Scoobie, or Mr. Gainesville?.. He endorsed her, he’s a local celebrity… He made like “Cause I’m from Gainesville,” that phrase, that’s from him.
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: I've met him a few times. He's a really nice guy. I do not know why he would have endorsed her.
Mr. Gainesville appears in a video with Janine Plavac to encourage voters to cast her name on their ballots to save Williams Elementary
Q: Yeah… no disrespect to Mr. Gainesville… He seems to think that Ms. Plavac getting elected would be in the best interest for Williams and East Gainesville. What would be your counter-argument to someone with his viewpoint?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: I would ask if he has any question on the ethics of maintaining kids [at Williams] in the state [it’s in]. Honestly, he might not even know the state of that school. Unless you’re really tuned into politics, you might not actually know how bad that school is off…
Q: What changes should Janine Plavac or her campaign team immediately make to her website and do you think that any additional actions should be taken, such as an apology?
Jean-Baptiste Pellot: I think that accountability for me looks like highlighting it and allowing the person to do what they think is necessary to correct it. I'm not gonna demand an apology… I feel like the candidate is intelligent enough, and I have enough faith that given this opportunity, if her intentions are good, and her intentions are what they say they are, then I know that the candidate will do the best thing, not only for her, but for this misrepresentation that might have just been an error, but maybe not.
