Ashley Moody Avoids Nixon, Now Runs from Reporters

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — US Senator Ashley Moody rapidly left a recent campaign appearance when a reporter asked about Flock cameras. Moody’s avoidance of the Flock camera issue fits with her avoidance of questions about her Hope Florida scandal and her refusal to debate her opponent, Angie Nixon.

Moody and Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna held an event on October 19 at The Original Crabby Bill’s restaurant in Indian Rocks Beach. Afterward, they took questions for less than six minutes.

Moody’s team ushered her away as reporter Valerie Smith asked about Flock surveillance cameras. Security personnel physically blocked Smith from following, Creative Loafing reported. Moody also recently walked away from a television reporter asking about the Hope Florida scandal after a press conference where she took no questions.

The Hope Florida controversy involves $10 million that a leaked grand jury report found the state had misappropriated. The report found that Moody, then Florida’s attorney general, knew of plans to divert the money to the Hope Florida Foundation and authorized her former chief deputy to sign the settlement agreement.

When asked in September by Bay News 9 whether she would have approved the agreement knowing what she knows now, Moody responded by discussing her law enforcement endorsements without directly answering the question. In that same interview, Moody said she would not debate Nixon, arguing that her opponent’s views and statements did not deserve a platform.

At the Indian Rocks Beach event, Luna suggested Nixon was afraid to debate Moody. Asked whether she would now agree to face Nixon, Moody again declined.

The appearance ended without an answer to the surveillance question or a change in Moody’s refusal to face Nixon in a debate.