Steve Brown and James Clifton’s latest target: the Mayor’s campaign staff 

Peachtree City mayoral candidate Steve Brown and Council Post 4 Candidate James Clifton, who are running a joint campaign, have a new target: the mayor’s campaign staff.

It all started with an erroneous claim on social media that Mayor Learnard’s campaign manager, Caroline Bena, had lied about receiving payment. That never happened. It was actually a case of mistaken identity.

“Not surprised you’re voting for Learnard,” the Brown-Clifton campaign wrote from its official Instagram handle to user @carlobena. “She’s paying you $1,600 to do so.” The comment was directed at the husband of Mayor Learnard’s campaign manager. Carlo Bena, who is married to Caroline, is not now and has never been an employee or contractor of the Learnard campaign. He responded truthfully that he had not been paid, writing, “Again with the lies. She’s not paying me anything.” 

The Brown-Clifton campaign screenshotted Carlo’s comment, presumably thinking it came from Caroline, and shared it on their campaign social media channels without verifying it. In the accompanying caption they called her a liar and included an image of her name, business and home address taken from Mayor Learnard’s campaign finance reports. 

Former city council member Eric Imker, who announced Steve Brown’s candidacy in a letter to The Citizen this summer and continues to be active in their campaign, posted it to about a half dozen Peachtree City Facebook groups and even a Tyrone community page. 

Imker also called Caroline a Democrat in all his posts. Caroline is a lifelong Republican who worked as a digital media director for a Republican governor and managed the successful campaigns of  multiple Republican candidates, according to her LinkedIn. 

Caroline first saw the story online in a Facebook group and immediately commented on the post. She wrote, “I have never ever made that claim. Someone on the PTC Back on Track Instagram page got into a back-and-forth with a relative and he deleted his comment realizing they thought they were talking to me. My instagram handle is @caro399.”

“Too late, it’s out there,” replied Imker.

Bena also posted screenshots to show Imker and everyone else that she had no part in that social media exchange. She asked Imker to retract it. Her husband even commented, “That was my post.”

Facebook users expressed anger that the Brown-Clifton campaign would knowingly continue to spread a lie about their opponent’s campaign and say it was “too late,” even after they had seen the evidence.

One Facebook user wrote, “It’s honestly frustrating and gross to see you keep pushing something that’s already been cleared up. Caroline Bena literally responded and explained what happened—yet you’re still running with misinformation. When you say ‘too late, it’s out there,’ what that really means is you don’t care if it’s true or not. That kind of attitude is exactly what hurts our community.”

“Idiocy, you can’t post facts because you don’t have any,” wrote another.

Others questioned why they had not removed Caroline’s personal information and accused the Brown-Clifton campaign of doxxing her.

When Clifton was tagged in the comments section where Caroline had already shared the evidence that it wasn’t true, he declined to retract the statement. Instead he wrote, “Someone with the username of CarloBena is attacking us on Instagram and saying they aren’t being paid by Learnard. If it is not Caroline, I would be happy to speak with her about the situation and try and figure it out.”

But as of Tuesday night, he is still liking comments that falsely claim Caroline denied she received payment for her work and the story has continued to circulate. Repeating a lie often enough doesn’t make it true, but it often will make people believe it.

Clifton told The Citizen in an email, “After it was posted online, someone accused Eric of doxxing Caroline.” He continued, “Once I was made aware that the public document being shared on Facebook included Caroline’s home address, I asked Eric Imker to remove or redact the information in an effort to protect Caroline’s home address that she and Mayor Learnard mistakenly disclosed.”

Many of the original posts no longer appear on Facebook. In recent days, however, the Brown-Clifton campaign has pivoted its focus to Bena’s husband, writing on their Facebook page Monday that Carlo supports Learnard because his wife was paid. They have also attacked Mayor Learnard for paying a campaign manager rather than using an unpaid volunteer.

For Caroline, this whole episode is emblematic of the Steve Brown brand.

“Steve Brown’s attack on Mayor Learnard for paying a campaign manager is laughable, and his absurd attacks on my husband reveal his true colors. Brown’s campaign, with its constant drama, accusations, and dysfunction, is reminiscent of his one term as mayor. He’s reminding all of us why Peachtree City voters fired him 20 years ago,” she wrote in a text to The Citizen.

The Brown-Clifton campaign has not retracted what it wrote about Caroline or offered an apology, publicly or privately.