Having manners doesn't cost anything

On Wednesday, I received two candidate mailers--Commissioner Christopher McVoy's and Omari Hardy's. Both had nice photographs and both photographs are mine.

The campaign of Christopher McVoy called me to let me know that Chris liked my photo taken at John Prince Park and asked if he could use it on a political mailer. Of course, I said "yes." If you ever notice Commissioner McVoy on the dais, he is always polite and respectful.

Omari Hardy, on the other hand, used a photo I had taken of him at City Hall that was used on a mailer sent by the Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County Local 2928, Inc. No one called me. No one asked for my permission. It was grabbed right off my blog.  Although the photo was taken in a public place and no permission is necessary by the subject, Mr. Hardy, for me to shoot it, he still did not object to my taking the photo. He was giving his consent for me to 1) take it and 2) to publish it. Normally it is sufficient that when using someone's published photo that appropriate consent is given...it wasn't when my photo appeared on this mailer. A simple phone call would have sufficed.

Omari Hardy's mentor, Scott Maxwell, did the same thing in 2016--grabbed a photo right off my blog without saying "boo," "thank you," or "kiss my @#$."

I asked AJ O'Laughlin of the union how he had acquired the photo. He wouldn't tell me. He suggested that I was supporting someone else and I told him that had nothing to do with it, that it was my property. "See you in court," he said. Mr. O'Laughlin, who describes himself as a "simple fireman" says he will not have any discussion with me on this without an attorney present. At that I ended the discussion.

Some people in positions of power don't get it nor do they care about common courtesy.