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VERIFY: Did Andrew Gillum fail the city of Tallahassee after Hurricane Hermine?

As Tallahassee recovers from Hurricane Michael, the city's mayor, Andrew Gillum, is in the middle of a political storm. Gillum is the Democratic candidate for governor, who in recent days, has been defending himself against attack ads on television by his opponent Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida.

As Tallahassee recovers from Hurricane Michael, the city's mayor, Andrew Gillum, is in the middle of a political storm. Gillum is the Democratic candidate for governor, who in recent days, has been defending himself against attack ads on television by his opponent Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida.

Our verify team took a look at a particular ad criticizing his response in the aftermath of Hurricane Hermine, which hit Florida about two years ago.

"After the hurricane, we had no electricity for over a week," a woman, only identified as Kathryn from Tallahassee, says in the ad by the Republican Party of Florida that people suffered under Andrew Gillum's leadership.

"But leaders are supposed to help people in tough times and Andrew Gillum didn't help us. He failed us," says "Kathryn" at the end of the ad.

Is it true that Andrew Gillum failed his city during Hermine? Let's verify that claim.

On a verified Facebook post from September 4, 2016, about three days after the storm, Andrew Gillum wrote:

"This is my final update for tonight, and frankly one that I am embarrassed to have to give....some have suggested that I have refused help from any company that is not unionized. Others have stated that I have refused help offered by any Republicans....Let me be clear. We are happy to accept any help from any person or organization that is going to accelerate the speed at which we can safely restore power to our residents."

The reason Andrew Gillum had to make that comment is because the city of Tallahassee was being criticized for turning down an offer from Florida Power and Light, which is hinted at in the campaign ad.

"Utility companies lined up trucks to restore power. But as mayor, Andrew Gillum refused help from workers," "Kathryn" says in the television ad.

But, was Gillum the man to refuse help? Our verify team made some phone calls and found the man who actually did.

"Any suggestion the mayor was involved in the selection or movement of utility line workers or crews during the hurricane is just an absolute lie," Barry Moline said. Moline is the former head of the Florida Municipal Electric Association.

Moline is no longer in Florida. Moline is now the Executive Director of the California Municipal Utilities Association. Moline says he and Tallahassee’s utility director were the only people making decisions about power crews during Hurricane Hermine.

"I was involved in the selection of crews with the utility director from the city of Tallahassee. We were the only ones who made those decisions and there were no other officials that were involved and the mayor was absolutely not involved in those decisions."

Moline told our Verify team the city was already receiving help from quite a few power crews and the additional help wasn't necessarily needed. When we reached out to Andrew Gillum's campaign, they sent our team an article from the Tallahassee newspaper from September 7, 2016. It says the city restored power to 90 percent of customers three days after the Hurricane, despite their initial estimate that it would take a week.

If you're wondering why Andrew Gillum didn't make the decisions, Moline says the mayor's role in Tallahassee is limited and that an elected official of his stature would not necessarily be involved in the decision. It would be left up to the department heads.

"There were two people making decisions about the staffing in Tallahassee. The utility director and me," Moline added.

So, there is some truth to this ad that the city did turn down an offer from Florida Power and Light. But, it wasn't Andrew Gillum who made that decision, and according to Moline, FPL's services were not needed at the time because the city had already accepted the assistance it needed. We would say this ad is largely false.

We reached out to the Republican Party of Florida and they stand by the ad. They say, in their opinion, the blame still falls on Andrew Gillum.

If you have a political ad you would like for us to verify, email us at verify@firstcoastnews.com

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