A Daytona Beach News-Journal story, published last month in The Sun, reminds us once again just how underhanded, vicious and downright nasty that local politics can be.
It detailed the role of a Gainesville firm, Data Targeting Inc., which has not been charged with a crime, in the flow of “dark money” funding of “ghost” candidates designed to divert votes away from Democratic candidates in order to secure narrow victories for their Republican opponents. (Full disclosure, I am a member of the Alachua County Democratic Executive Committee.)
The News-Journal’s reporting was made possible by court filings in a Miami-Dade case against Frank Artiles, a former Republican state senator facing several felony charges stemming from accusations that he paid a ghost candidate in a South Florida state Senate race and, in turn, was paid $90,000 as a consultant by Data Targeting Inc.
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That candidate — Alex Rodriquez, recruited to run against former Sen. Jose Javier Rodriquez — pleaded guilty Aug. 24 to accepting illegal campaign donations and lying on campaign documents. He also agreed to testify against Artiles.
The News-Journal reported that Republicans in three Florida state Senate races last year adopted the same tactic used in 2018 in Senate District 8 by supporters of Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, in his reelection campaign against a strong challenge from University of Florida anesthesiologist, Dr. Kayser Enneking, to siphon votes away from their opponents.
As reported, Republican operatives armed with “dark money” from shadowy political action committees helped a third candidate, former Gainesville City Commissioner Charles Goston, a Democrat who filed to run as an independent but barely campaigned.
Goston received more than 4,300 votes, more than double the 2,000-vote margin between Perry and Enneking. Goston is an African American with his own following in Gainesville who often complained about how he was treated by the white majority during his time on the commission. Whatever his motivation, this tactic siphoned progressive votes away from Enneking, who is white.
Enneking told the News-Journal, “It’s just wrong on so many levels. I feel like if something comes out of all this and people begin to understand that Data Targeting, and they are based in my hometown … They need to be outed. They need to be shown for what they are.”
In a follow-up editorial The Sun said that then-State Attorney Bill Cervone, a Republican, earlier dismissed calls to investigate the election as “political sour grapes,” and that he double downed on these comments in the News-Journal story, as there is “often speculation and seldom proof” following hard-fought elections.
Cervone is quoted as saying, “I can’t just go on some fishing expedition because the person who lost the election is upset. I’ve got to have probable cause.”
Now there is more than speculation about the tactics used in the District 8 race because a State Attorney in Miami chose to investigate.
According to The Sun, Cervone’s successor, Brian Kramer, said the alleged violations are likely near or beyond the statute of limitations and that his office has limited capacity to investigate such matters. Kramer said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would be more appropriate to investigate to determine if there was probable cause that a crime occurred and then refer it to his office for prosecution.
The truth is that state attorneys have long been reluctant to investigate or prosecute cases with political repercussions in their circuit, or which allege official misconduct. They are politicians, too.
Although my experience in former Democratic Gov. Reubin Askew’s office is dated, it worked when the governor’s general counsel was involved and willing to coordinate investigations with FDLE and Florida’s network of 20 circuit state attorneys. Often, we had to assign an outside state attorney to prosecute the case because the local state attorney wouldn’t touch it. We trusted only a handful to do it right.
I vividly recall an alleged bribery case (later dropped in court) involving former Miami Mayor David Kennedy, an Askew supporter, in which the governor’s senior executive assistant and patronage chief stormed into the general counsel’s office late one night demanding to know: Why were we indicting our friends? Former General Counsel Edgar M. Dunn replied simply, “If our friends are crooks, we don’t need them.”
This required a governor who would put partisanship aside and demand that all concerned follow the facts and the law. What are the chances this could happen with our current Republican governor? Nil.
Robert Mounts lives in Gainesville. He served as assistant general counsel to Gov. Askew from 1972-74.
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