PAC Money, Dark Money in Sarasota FL

Astonishing half-hour talk by Cathy Antunes tracking the flow of large sums through interlinked PACs in Sarasota County, FL

Cathy Antunes on Dark Money in Sarasota Politics - anonymous PACs whose sole function is to funnel money into the campaigns of politicians who serve the interests of developers, builders, contractors. Antunes explores the relation of their interests to Charter Schools who spend 40% of their revenues on rent paid to real estate groups from whom they lease their school buildings.

At the center lies Eric Robinson, whose accounting firm channels money at the behest of big donors like Pat Neal, James Gabbert (waste plant at Celery Fields), Rex Jensen (Lakewood Ranch), Gary Kompothecras (Siesta Key), Benderson Development and Carlos Beruff. It also earns rather hefty fees for its "consulting" work, notes Antunes.

The money flows from these developers to PACs run by an elected official (Robinson is on the Sarasota County School Board) to Republican political campaigns. A former head of the Republican Party in Sarasota, Bob Waechter, is active in finding malleable candidates for the County Commission, School Board, Hospital Board, Charter Review Board and other races.

The Tipping Point

While the newspaper points out that rapid, uncontrolled growth is the #1 issue on Sarasota voters' minds, and despite what happened to Carlos Beruff's boat channel, we have reason to take this cum grano salis, and to anticipate the November victory parties of Mike Moran. Eric Robinson, Greg (Got Gun?) Steube, and Joe Gruters. Unless we wake up soon. This week might offer some alarm clocks:

Monday, Sept. 12: Confused about local and state amendments? Wondering about the language about solar in primaries and general ballots? CONA Sarasota hosts an informed discussion of county and state amendments we'll see on the ballot in November -- Monday evening, 7 pm at the Garden Club.

Thursday, Sept. 15: Our esteemed Planning Commissioners -
including the aforementioned Moran * - will meet to consider Pat Neal's humble request to violate or abolish every last feature of the 2050 Comprehensive Plan that he doesn't like. It would be politically, socially, and economically beneficial for folks to tell the Planning Commission what to do with Mr. Neal's request. 6:30 pm. County Commission Chamber, 1st floor, 1660 Ringling Blvd.

For more context, see "Pat Neal Grabs Land"

*NOTE: Mike Moran is no longer on the Planning Commission - after enabling Carlos Beruff to develop two parcels that abut an old, potentially toxic waste dump, he moved on to become a candidate for County Commission. He reports a PAC-stuffed war chest of $76,758.13, built by the usual suspects: Carlos Beruff, Pat Neal, Bob Medred, Bill Merrill III, John Ask, Lakewood Ranch Communities (Rex Jensen), and many, many more.

The current County Commission is the least independent, most developer-friendly Board folks here can remember. They've brought us to what might be Sarasota's tipping point. If Pat Neal and his buddies push these plans through, we can say goodbye to the place we've known, called home, and fought for. Please share this with everyone you know who cares about Sarasota County.

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Dark Money - gets darker

The Detail:

When it comes to dark PAC money in Sarasota/Manatee, there are relatively few managers. Eric Robinson is by far the leader in managing local dark money. With 30-40 political committees under his management, Mr. Robinson manages millions in political committee donations. As he has explained in the local press, donors to political committees “don’t want to be identified”

By the way, remember that $50,000 donated by Robinson Hanks Accounting to Manatee Against Taxation on June 5, 2013?

On July 3, 2013, Manatee Against Taxation turned around and paid Robinson Hanks $50,000 for accounting services. It’s interesting that a political committee required accounting services valued at 43% of its total 115K in assets, and remarkable when a company can make a 50K political committee donation and then one month later charge the same political committee an exorbitant 50K accounting fee, recouping its original donation. Even more remarkable how the PACs treasurer, chair and registered agent are one and the same – Mr. Robinson. Now Sarasota has Mr. Robinson’s accounting prowess at the helm on the Sarasota School Board.

Eric "Dark Money" Robinson

Complete story at The Detail.

Corrupt Sarasota - an eyeopening read

Cathy Antunes on Institutional Corruption in Sarasota County:

Tax dollars turning into PAC donations, County Commissioners working as lobbyists, SANCA using public money without the accountability of government procurement—these and other County practices work against the public interest. We have Institutional Corruption in Sarasota County.

Read about it here.

PAC money and Sarasota's schoolchildren

Cathy Antunes:

School Board candidate Eric Robinson works for over 40 political committees. A review of their financials raises a number of issues.

Follow the Money! 

This bit of wisdom tells us to take a close look at how money moves through our political system. Understand the money flow and who is involved and you gain clarity around who influences elections and what they may expect to gain from doing so. Simple enough. But these days, following the money is a different animal. Political committees have changed the campaign funding landscape as donations are swapped from political action committee to another. Political committees are exempt from limits on donations, and can stuff voter mailboxes with a barrage of political ads late in local elections. Candidates who don’t attract lush PAC funding are unable to respond to the onslaught. This dynamic is a huge factor in City and County elections. School Board candidate Eric Robinson works for over 40 political committees. A review of their financials raises a number of issues.  Read more . . .

Political Action Committees:

More about PACs and SuperPACs:

Wikipedia
Open Secrets 
Federal Election Commission

Eric Robinson

Runs for School Board

Sarasota School Board Background

What is Eric Robinson up to?

Did candidate violate Florida campaign finance rules?

The Prince of Dark Money

Prince of Dark Money

The Detail

BY CATHY ANTUNES   |   SRQ DAILY SATURDAY PERSPECTIVES EDITION   |   SATURDAY APR 25, 2015

         

School Board Member Frank Kovach announced this week he will not run for reelection after 16 years of service. Kovach said the recent nonpartisan school board race was “corrupted by cash” and he expects the trend to continue. Former Sarasota GOP chair Eric Robinson is interested in running for the School Board.  Robinson expects to decide by June 1. 

When Kovach first ran for school board in 2000, $10,000 for a campaign would have been a lot. Last fall’s race between Bridget Zeigler and Ken March had each candidate raising over $51,000 and $72,000, respectively, with Zeigler getting support from a shadowy political action committee called Citizens Against Taxation. Eric Robinson was the PAC’s chair, treasurer and registered agent.

The Herald-Tribune reported last fall on difficulty tracing a major donor to the Citizens for Taxation PAC.  The donor in question, Phoenix Media, gave $45,000 to the PAC. Robinson refused to disclose who was behind Phoenix Media and the Zeigler PAC financed mailers, saying “donors don’t want to be identified.” Robinson refused to say where Phoenix Media was based (the company doesn’t do business in Florida) and told the newspaper “You’re not going to find it.”  Robinson would only affirm the company filed LLC paperwork in the United States.

My research turned up five Phoenix Media LLCs in the United States—they are in New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Oregon and Wyoming.  The NJ and NY Phoenix LLCs don’t list registered agents, but have been in existence since 1997 and 2002. The Oregon and South Carolina Phoenix LLCs seemed unremarkable, with registered agents who are actual people. Phoenix Media, LLC in Cheyenne, Wyoming is a different animal.

Phoenix Media in Cheyenne was formed in July 2014. The $45,000 in donations to Robinson’s Citizens Against Taxation PAC from the unidentified Phoenix Media began in August 2014 and ended in October 2014.  

The Wyoming Phoenix Media’s business principal, mailing and registered agent are all listed as Wyomingregisteredagent.com, Inc.  It seems in Wyoming, the level of anonymity and untraceability for LLCs is such that you don’t even have to identify an actual human being with a company—you can use a website.

Phoenix Media LLC in Wyoming shares its address, 1621 Central Avenue, with 249 other LLCs.  Another 250 LLCs are listed next door, at 1620 Central Avenue in Cheyenne. Scores of these firms also list Wyomingregisteredagent.com, Inc. as their registered agent, just as Phoenix Media does. I wondered if I had found a cottage industry of untraceable LLCs—are these other companies donating to PACs as well?

Maybe the Wyoming Phoenix is the one who donated to Robinson’s PAC, maybe it isn’t. The point is, we shouldn’t be wondering who from out of state is pumping thousands of dollars into our school board races. With numerous PACs supervised by Robinson, continuously being created and disbanded, and hundreds of thousands of dollars passing through these entities, it’s too late for Robinson to don the cloak of transparency as a candidate—that ship has sailed. The corruption of nonpartisan school board races by Robinson-assisted dark money ought to disqualify him as a candidate for school board.