Anderson, Vice, and Sarasota's mysterious gaggle of alt-right conspiracists

The piece below is from the "watchdog editor" of the Herald Tribune, Josh Salmon.

St. Cassian, murdered by children

It's a handy guide to several of the incisive editorials written by HT columnist Chris Anderson. Anderson looks into the curious Sarasota County concentration of a species of high-profile extremists who believe -- with the indomitable conviction of medieval martyrs -- that former president Donald Trump is the legitimate president of the United States, notwithstanding cumulative evidence so decisive that even the most determined liar on the planet could not make the facts turn Red. 

Let's hope Mr. Anderson keeps looking.

Surely there's a good story behind the mysterious manner in which Sarasota County became the Florida base for alt-right, QAnonical, white supremacist, Proud-Boy-loving, Moms-for-Liberty-leading "influencers." 

So far, despite Vice News's claim to explain How Sarasota Became the Conspiracy Capital of the United States, much remains obscure -- as dark as the Dark Money that has throttled and twisted local elections here for many years (see Cathy Antunes' guide entitled Local Dark Money . . . Citizens United meets Main Street, which not so strangely happens to focus on Sarasota).

Here's Salmon:

This week, I'd like to highlight one Herald-Tribune journalist in particular and his dogged reporting to keep accountability on a powerful and influential group of new Sarasota County residents. Herald-Tribune watchdog columnist Chris Anderson started with a curious post office box in Ellenton, where he found former Donald Trump national security adviser and Englewood resident Michael Flynn was chairman of a nonprofit called America's Future . The organization became notable when it was revealed it gave Cyber Ninjas Inc. a total of $976,514 for a controversial “audit” of the 2020 presidential election votes in Maricopa County, Arizona.

But his reporting did not stop there. Through a series of investigative opinion columns over several months, Anderson has beaten big national outlets on a huge story in our backyard – one he says could threaten our very democracy.

He shed light on the mysterious money behind Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, whose Sarasota computer security company was in charge of the ballot “audit” in Arizona. Anderson found that groups tied to Flynn, Sidney Powell and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne funded Logan’s Arizona project with nearly $6 million of privately raised money.

He also found Byrne purchased six properties in our area – four homes, a condominium and a medical building owned by a Venice gynecologist – for $10.4 million, overpaying the current market value by $6 million in the process. The columns noted that Byrne had some voter discrepancies of his own, registering to vote in Park City, Utah, listing his place of business as his residence.

Throw in Charlie Kirk, a Longboat Key resident and founder of a popular far-right group that is targeting local school boards around the country, and Anderson writes that Sarasota County has become the Conspiracy Capital of the World.  A chart of blind PACs from Cathy Antunes' exploration of Local Dark Money:

Sarasota, FL: Conspiratorial cluster of Ninjas, Truthers, QAnon Theorists . . .

 How Sarasota Became the Conspiracy Capital of the United States

Mike Flynn

[Mike Flynn] the former general and QAnon icon lives just 25 minutes away, in Englewood, and is part of a growing cast of pro-Trump conspiracy theorists, insurrectionists, and election truthers who call Sarasota County home.

Overstock.com founder and uber–conspiracy theorist Patrick Byrne recently purchased six properties in the country, all at extremely inflated prices. Cyber Ninjas, the company with no election audit experience currently running the recount in Arizona’s Maricopa County, is headquartered in Sarasota County.

Charlie Kirk, head of the pro-Trump, far-right group Turning Point USA, which is targeting local school boards around the country, also lives in the county. As does Florida Sen. Joe Gruters, one of Trump’s closest political allies in the state and someone who promoted buses full of pro-Trump rioters heading to Washington on Jan. 6.

And let’s not forget Maria Zack, the conspiracy theorist who believes that the 2020 election was somehow stolen through the use of Italian military satellites. She also now lives in Sarasota County. Vice, 9.12.21

The Zieglers: 

Bridget Ziegler

 

Like all the other groups, parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty denied to VICE News that it organized the event, though messages shared by leaders of the Florida chapter of the group suggest they were closely involved in the running of the event.

 

Moms for Liberty burning masks in Brevard County, FL

Christian Ziegler

 The group was founded last year by Bridget Ziegler, a member of the Sarasota County School Board and the wife of Florida GOP vice chair [and current District 2 Sarasota County Commissioner] Christian Ziegler, who organized buses for people to travel to Washington on Jan. 6.

Christian Ziegler is also the owner of Micro Targeted Media, a digital marketing company that says “we do digital and go after people on their phones.” 

In the words of Chris Anderson, columnist for the Sarasota Herald Tribune, “Sarasota County has somehow become the Conspiracy Capital of the World."  Vice, 9.12.21 

 

Chris Anderson: Conspiracy theorists keep popping up in Sarasota County

Maria Zack is the latest mole of misinformation tied to our area. She still thinks the 2020 presidential election was rigged, and wait until you hear this doozy of a reason how: She is convinced that foreign powers used a military satellite in Italy to change votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden on election night. 

Zack, who in 2016 formed a Super Pac backing Ted Cruz and discarded Trump as incompetent, has claimed she presented her “ItalyGate” satellite evidence to Trump in person as he ate dinner on Christmas Eve at Mar-a-Lago.

And, of course, she's tied to Sarasota County, which has somehow become America's Mecca of Misinformation. According to state records, Zack is president of a company called Nations in Action, which lists a P.O Box at a UPS store on Clark Road as its address. Herald Tribune, 9.14.21

 Chris Anderson: The secret moves of the Cyber Ninjas moneyman

[Patrick] Byrne, the multimillion-dollar moneyman funding the Sarasota-based Cyber Ninjas in the fantastical quest to find voter fraud in Arizona, thus handing the presidency back to Donald Trump, is a little on the questionable side himself. 

Byrne, meanwhile, is behind a pair of non-profits that have given the Cyber Ninjas nearly $5 million to audit 21 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, Az. during the presidential election. The long-overdue results have been delayed because some of the ninjas have coronavirus. 

Now, it's not that James and Jennifer Vett were looking to sell their six-bedroom, five-bathroom cul-de-sac home in the Oaks Club in Osprey. It's just that Byrne really, really wanted to buy it, and in June, his company offered $3.35 million for a house valued at around $1.5 million, according to the Sarasota County Property Appraiser's Office, whose records revealed even more notable purchases. 

Byrne's company – originally called Manatee Investments LLC – bought two more houses and a condo in the Oaks recently, and he paid over $1 million above the appraised market value for one of the homes. 

In June, his company also purchased a 10,000 square-foot building on Venice Avenue, which was the former home of Bayside Gynecology. Dr. Michael Wolpmann said he was not looking to sell, but who was he to turn down $2.5 million for a building appraised at $654,300?  Herald Tribune 9.9.21.

 

Mike Flynn

From rural Sarasota to Trump allies' inner circle: Who is the Cyber Ninja leading Arizona's audit?

Many assume [Cyber Ninjas' head Doug] Logan got involved with the Byrne, Flynn, and Powell team through one of his contacts in the cybersecurity world, perhaps through his federal contracting work.

[Overstock CEO Patrick] Byrne and [disgraced Trump General Mike] Flynn also have Sarasota County connections. Flynn bought property there in April, and Byrne followed suit in June. Joe Flynn, Mike Flynn’s brother who is involved in the nonprofits funding the Arizona audit, has owned property there since 2018. Herald Tribune 9.20.21