A spokesman for Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that the campaign removed certain information, including references to the Church of Scientology, that once appeared on Jolly’s Wikipedia page.
Spokeswoman Sarah Bascom confirmed to BuzzFeed that the campaign took off parts of the Wikipedia entry that told of Jolly’s ties to Scientology. The campaign also removed references to Jolly’s past career as a lobbyist and his past positions on gay marriage, according to the report.
Jolly told the Tampa Bay Times that he disagreed with his staff’s decision to remove the info from his page.
“It was a careless staff mistake,” Jolly told the Tampa Bay Times. “I stand by my full record, relationships, and life experience, and believe every day that voters and the community are best served by having as much information as possible, regardless of whether it comes from critics or supporters.”
The Tampa Bay Times points out that Jolly’s spokeswoman is his cousin.
Jolly is currently running to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). His spokeswoman accused a rival campaign, which she did not identify, of planting “campaign propaganda” like the Scientology references in the first place, according to BuzzFeed.
One reference the report pointed to included a paragraph about how Jolly was well connected to fundraisers hosted by the church:
Jolly’s relationship with the Church of Scientology, which is based inside his congressional district in Clearwater, Florida, has been reported on in the press, including Jolly’s attendance at various fundraising events hosted by the organization.
BuzzFeed showed that paragraph had been replaced with other biographical information:
Jolly has filed legislation to provide additional and more permanent flood insurance relief, improve health care and education choices for our veterans, extend the life of ongoing beach renourishment projects for Pinellas County, and provide for investments in transportation and infrastructure, health care research and education.
