Did the full-page ad by Ironhorse Property Owners Assoc. have an effect?

On Monday, 2/9, the Ironhorse Property Owners Association purchased a full-page ad in the Palm Beach Post expressing their opposition to trash being hauled in from sources outside Palm Beach County; a full-page ad is very expensive. The Post reporter Joe Capozzi wrote about this and referenced a part of the ad: a little girl holding a doll and wearing a gas mask:

Yesterday the Palm Beach County Commission voted 5 to 2 to allow a Broward County trash hauler to bring trash to the Palm Beach County incinerator. No one will ever know how effective or ineffective that full page ad was, although it drew the ire of one commissioner:

     McKinlay [County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay], in public comments before her vote, criticized Ironhorse for using a photograph of a small girl wearing a gas mask in a full-age newspaper ad the association bought Monday to oppose the plan.
     “That was horrendous,’’ she said. “That is not what will happen with this facility.’’
     After the meeting, Gundermann [Don Gundermann, president of the Ironhorse Property Owners Association] reacted to McKinlay’s comments. “I think she’s a little sensitive. That was legitimate point we were making,’’ he said.

You decide, is Commissioner McKinlay being "a little sensitive"? I don't think so, but that's just me.

Some of the older generation might remember this presidential TV ad from the 1964 campaign that also featured a little girl. Many think this ad is what tilted the election toward Johnson. This ad happened to be highly effective. So there it goes.

By the way, some commissioners as reported by Joe Capozzi had some choice words for Drew Martin, who made some inflammatory claims on behalf of the Sierra Club:

     [But] commissioners shot back at some speakers, including Drew Martin of the Sierra Club, who said the plan will create pollution that will cause cancer.     

    “What we emit is highly regulated. We don’t poison people around here,’’ said Commissioner Hal Valeche, who voted against the plan. “I wish you would be a little more restrained about your claims about what the Solid Waste Authority is doing to residents’ health.’’