City Says Sorry For Erroneously Reporting Candidate's a Crook

To be fair, isn't it odd to find a SoFla politician who actually isn't?

David Nall has never committed credit card fraud. But he is running for Cooper City commission, and now everyone thinks he's a criminal.

(Considering South Florida politics, you can hardly blame them. Unless your name is David Nall.)

A background check on all nine candidates was conducted by City Hall pursuant to a new ordinance passed in August. Nall's came back on September 13 stating that he had been arrested for fraud in 1987.

Problem is, he wasn't -- and Nall didn't even know word of his supposedly crooked past was spreading through the small town until Sunday, when he heard about it from a friend.

By that time, he says, supporters of his opponent's campaign had gone door-to-door with the false report.

Making matters worse, his ten-year-old daughter asked him if he was a criminal.

"That's when it hit home," a furious Nall told the Sun-Sentinel. "I was innocently harmed and defamed. This has derailed and messed up my election campaign."

Cooper City blames the incident on a defect in the databse of the background check vendor Intellicorp. They moved to make amends on Thursday, posting a note on the City Hall website saying Nall has a clean record and apologizing for releasing false information about him. A similar message is expected to run in the Sun-Sentinel.

Though City Hall never published the results of the background checks, they were released to five parties who requested them, including the Mayor's Office.

In other words, it's politics as usual.

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