6:10 p.m.:

Thousands of political mailers went out Saturday to homes in southwest Cape Coral warning residents of future city utilities assessments.

A brochure claiming to list which city candidates would restart the utilities expansion project if elected, compared to which ones are against restarting the UEP for the time being, was sent to residences west of Santa Barbara Boulevard and south of Embers Parkway.

Mike Carlino, president of Florida Mail and Print Solutions, said about 3,300 mailers were sent out. The company was hired to distribute the product.

He was contacted Thursday by Advanced Forms and Printing about the product. Steve Lovejoy, owner of Advanced Forms, asked whether Florida Mail and Print Solutions could take the project and get it done by Friday.

Lovejoy said the mailer was from a local company that Advanced Forms has worked with in the past. Most of the content was provided by the client.

“We didn’t do a lot of the creating of the brochure,” Lovejoy said.

He could not immediately disclose the name of the company, nor how much they paid for the printing of the mailer, without the customer’s approval.

“They’re more of a politically involved customer,” Lovejoy said. “We’ve done some more small things for them. They’re very active in the community.”

According to Carlino, his company billed Advanced Forms for the product.

“That’s his mailing as far as I know,” he said of Lovejoy. “I don’t think there was another party involved.”

Carlino noted that it is not unusual for him to bill the printer of a product.

Lovejoy confirmed that there is a third party and the mailer is not from Advanced Forms. He said the customer asked for discretion, which is why he had Florida Mail and Print Solutions bill Advanced Forms for the distribution.

The city of Cape Coral is not the client and officials said the flyer, which states “Advance Notification of Tax Assessments” on its cover, is not an official communication from the city.

“It is not the city of Cape Coral,” said city spokesperson Connie Barron on Tuesday. “The city has not mailed any correspondence or information related to the discontinued utilities expansion project.”

Resident Julie Tinkman was shocked when she and her husband received the mailer at their residence on Southwest 15th Place.

“I thought, ‘How could they? They said they weren’t going to do this,'” she said referring to the utilities expansion project. “It just threw a curve.”

Then Tinkman learned that the mailer was election literature.

“I don’t know who the author of that thing is, however, anyone’s name on the bottom of that paper is accountable,” she said. “If they want to play their dirty political games, let them do it, but leave the citizens out of it.”

Tinkman noted that she will show how she feels on Election Day.

“It was outrageous,” she added of the brochure.

Bernie Feliciano, a qualifying officer for the Lee County Elections Office, reported that the contents of the mailer are not in violation of any rules or regulations. The brochure however should have included a disclaimer on it.

“This particular item that was distributed should have a disclaimer on it,” she said. “Paid electioneering communication, paid for by, name and address of person paying.”

Under Florida statutes, this is a violation of campaign finance laws and a first-degree misdemeanor. Feliciano explained that a person would have to file a compliant with the Florida Elections Commission, which investigates.

If the mailer cost more than $5,000, the sender also would be in violation of more state laws by not meeting registration and reporting requirements.

“We don’t know how much this cost to distribute,” Feliciano said.

She added that violations tied to election literature are far from rare.

“This kind of stuff is done all the time, and it’s not just done by local groups,” Feliciano said.

The contents of the mailer and how it addresses readers, though, is OK.

“It is a paid expression done, in this case, via direct mail that clearly refers to or depicts identified candidates for office,” she said. “It does not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of any of the candidates.”

It does not tell people how to vote – who to vote or not vote for.

“These types of advertisements are permitted,” Feliciano said.

* * *

Thousands of political mailers went out Saturday to homes in southwest Cape Coral warning residents of future city utilities assessments.

A brochure claiming to list which city candidates would restart the utilities expansion project if elected, compared to which ones are against restarting the UEP for the time being, was sent to residences west of Santa Barbara Boulevard and south of Embers Parkway.

Mike Carlino, president of Florida Mail and Print Solutions, said about 3,300 mailers were sent out. The company was hired to distribute the product.

He was contacted Thursday by Advanced Forms and Printing about the product. Steve Lovejoy, owner of Advanced Forms, asked whether Florida Mail and Print Solutions could take the project and get it done by Friday.

Lovejoy said the mailer was from a local company that Advanced Forms has worked with in the past. Most of the content was provided by the client.

“We didn’t do a lot of the creating of the brochure,” Lovejoy said.

He could not immediately disclose the name of the company, nor how much they paid for the printing of the mailer, without the customer’s approval.

“They’re more of a politically involved customer,” Lovejoy said. “We’ve done some more small things for them. They’re very active in the community.”

According to Carlino, his company billed Advanced Forms for the product.

“That’s his mailing as far as I know,” he said of Lovejoy. “I don’t think there was another party involved.”

Carlino noted that it is not unusual for him to bill the printer of a product.

Lovejoy confirmed that there is a third party and the mailer is not from Advanced Forms. He said the customer asked for discretion, which is why he had Florida Mail and Print Solutions bill Advanced Forms for the distribution.

“They asked for it to be discreet,” he said of his client.

The city of Cape Coral was not the client and said the flyer, which states “Advance Notification of Tax Assessments” on its cover, is not an official communication from the city.

“It is not the city of Cape Coral,” said city spokesperson Connie Barron Tuesday. “The city has not mailed any correspondence or information related to the discontinued Utilities Expansion Project.”

Bernie Feliciano, a qualifying officer for the Lee County Elections Office, reported that the contents of the mailer are not in violation of any rules or regulations. The brochure however should have included a disclaimer on it.

“This particular item that was distributed should have a disclaimer on it,” she said. “Paid electioneering communication, paid for by, name and address of person paying.”

Under Florida statutes, this is a violation of campaign finance laws and a first-degree misdemeanor. Feliciano explained that a person would have to file a compliant with the Florida Elections Commission, which investigates.

If the mailer cost more than $5,000, the sender also would be in violation of more state laws by not meeting registration and reporting requirements.

“We don’t know how much this cost to distribute,” Feliciano said.

She added that violations tied to election literature are far from rare.

“This kind of stuff is done all the time, and it’s not just done by local groups,” Feliciano said.

The contents of the mailer and how it addresses readers, though, is OK.

“It is a paid expression done, in this case, via direct mail that clearly refers to or depicts identified candidates for office,” she said. “It does not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of any of the candidates.”

It does not tell people how to vote – who to vote or not vote for.

“These types of advertisements are permitted,” Feliciano said.