James McLynas


James McLynas is an American police reform activist and candidate for sheriff of Pinellas County, Florida. A victim of police abuse in Pinellas, McLynas is a vocal critic of incumbent sheriff Bob Gualtieri and has worked to expose police corruption, namely among the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office under Gualtieri's tenure. McLynas is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2020 election. McLynas previously ran against Gualtieri, a Republican, in 2016 as an Independent and earned over 100,000 votes despite limited campaigning and media coverage.

Personal life

McLynas was born in New York City and raised in Detroit. He later moved to Pinellas County, Florida. He is divorced and was awarded custody of his daughter.
McLynas has a passion for classic automobiles that has been noted in several publications. In 2017, McLynas received local attention when his custom boat car, nicknamed the "Boatswagon", was featured on Bay News 9 after the Seminole Recreation Department started a social media campaign to find its owner in an attempt to bring the car to the city's annual holiday parade, which McLynas agreed to participate in; the "Boatswagon" was inspired by the "boatmobiles" in SpongeBob SquarePants.

Police abuse victim

Beginning in 2009, McLynas and his estranged wife disputed over the custody of their daughter. She allegedly became violent towards James, but James did not believe it was appropriate to hit his wife in self-defense, so he called 9-1-1. When a male Pinellas deputy arrived to the home, according to James, his wife and the deputy went into their bedroom alone, and a few minutes later McLynas' wife had new scratch on her arm and accused James of domestic violence against her. After James was arrested, his wife admitted to making up the false allegation, yet she was never charged. McLynas claimed his wife later began "dating" the same Pinellas deputy who arrested him, along with two others from the Pinellas Sheriff's Office; two from the Clearwater Police Department and one from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. McLynas claimed these officers harassed him over the next five years; in 2016, McLynas said there were over 150 false police reports, 7 fraudulent Domestic Violence Injunctions, and 22 false Child Protective Investigation reports filed against him and four false arrests from 2009 to 2015.

Campaigns for Pinellas County Sheriff

2016

In August 2013, McLynas privately informed Gualtieri that he would challenge him for sheriff in the 2016 election to "expose his corruption". On October 28, McLynas' 60 pound, 10-year-old daughter was handcuffed and arrested in an incident he believed was politically motivated. Then on October 30— the day before his custody hearing, McLynas was arrested on five felony charges in what he alleged was Gualtieri's attempt to keep him out of court and lose custody of his daughter, and thus drop his campaign for sheriff. It was later revealed that Gualtieri used a Stingray phone tracker to track McLynas down. At his final custody hearing, the judged ruled that McLynas' wife and the police colluded against James, and he was awarded 100% custody of his daughter while incarcerated— a first in Florida history. All charges against McLynas were dropped and he publicly announced his candidacy for sheriff after being released from jail on November 1.
McLynas persisted through his 2016 campaign; although he finished second to Gualtieri, following the results on the night of the election, he immediately pledged to run again in 2020.

Endorsements

On August 7, 2017, McLynas gave a speech addressing the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement in St. Petersburg, in which he exposed Gualtieri's "secret" chase policy, following the road incident deaths of black children who were pursued by Pinellas deputies who did not have their emergency lights flashing.
On March 14, 2019, McLynas formally filed to run in the 2020 election; at the time he intended on running under no party affiliation. Upon paying the qualifying fee on June 10, 2020, McLynas decided to run as a Democratic candidate. McLynas qualified by reaching enough donations to pay the $10,303.56 fee; he claimed that Gualtieri made petition signature gathering illegal, citing the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida, in an attempt to prevent him from qualifying on the ballot. McLynas will challenge Eliseo Santana in the Democratic primary on August 18; the nominee will attempt to unseat Gualtieri in the November 3 general election.
McLynas participated in the first sheriff's forum of the 2020 election, hosted by Dream Defenders, on June 17. In this forum Gualtieri spoke alone the first hour, while McLynas and Santana shared the second hour together. McLynas has called out Gualtieri for refusing to debate him, calling him a coward. Gualtieri acknowledged that he refused to debate McLynas over a series of photo-shopped pictures and memes criticizing him.

YouTube channel

Although McLynas launched a YouTube channel in 2016 during his first campaign, it did not receive much attention until his second campaign in 2020; while McLynas only had a little over 30 subscribers in June 2019, his audience grew to over five thousand subscribers by June 2020.
In January 2020, McLynas published a video of an encounter with Pinellas deputies that earned over 42,000 views within five days. In another videotaped incident published in February 2020, McLynas encountered difficulties making a standard public records request; when the clerk refused service to him, she brought in six deputies to question him. McLynas claimed his constitutional rights were violated, that he was harassed and physically assaulted twice, and that the deputies made up numerous false allegations against him in an attempt to arrest him; McLynas believed this was another attempt by Gualtieri to interfere in the election.

Website

Campaign platform
McLynas' campaign website consists of ten pillars detailing his platform positions.
  1. Responsibly end the war on drugs
  2. Reduce costs and lower taxes
  3. Limit use of weapons violence and force
  4. End warrantless citizen spying
  5. Community outreach help and support
  6. Body cams & police accountability
  7. Training & retraining
  8. Ending all "policing for profits"
  9. A constitutional sheriff 24/7 365
  10. Justice reforms
    PCSO history and corruption
McLynas' campaign website features an extensive background of the history of the PCSO, from its founding in 1912 to present time. It also features a page detailing PCSO corruption, namely under Gualtieri's tenure.

Endorsements

McLynas has described himself as a "constitional" candidate for sheriff. McLynas ran for sheriff of Pinellas County under no party affiliation in the 2016 election. McLynas qualified as a Democratic candidate for sheriff of Pinellas County in the 2020 election.

Electoral history

Publications and interviews

;Publications
  • McLynas, James. , The Burning Spear Newspaper.
  • McLynas, James. , The Burning Spear Newspaper.
  • McLynas, James. , Tampa Bay Guardian.
;Interviews
  • Metz, George. Interview with Rogue Nation.
  • Interview with Concrete Pillow.
  • Wasserman, Craig; Wasserman, Marc. Interview with Pot Brothers at Law.
  • Interview with BOLT Action News Group.
  • Graham, Taya. Interview with The Real News.

    Citations