TAMPA - It's what a lot of people hate about politics: Negative ads created by groups that sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to keep the public from knowing who they are.
An I-Team investigation looks into who was behind two mysterious direct mail flyers sent to thousands of Tampa residents just before this spring’s municipal election.
Dick Greco went from leading the polls with two weeks out, to third place in the March 1 mayoral primary, missing the run-off and a chance to become Tampa's mayor for a fifth time by less than 400 votes. "I feel worse for letting you down than for myself," Greco told supporters on election night.
To this day, Greco believes his bid to re-claim the Mayor's office was sunk by a good old-fashioned dirty trick.
"Do you think this mailing could have influenced a couple hundred votes?” We asked Greco. "Easily,” he responded.
The flyer showed up in the mailboxes of thousands of Tampa residents just days before the Tuesday election. The ad thanked outgoing Mayor Pam Iorio for 'cleaning up Dick Greco's mess.'
"There's no way to answer. It’s too late,” says Greco.
The incident is an example of what's wrong with politics, opined Mary Boyle of the nonpartisan political watch dog group Common Cause. "It's cowardly and chicken on behalf of the people who are sending it, and doesn't do a lot to help our democracy," she said.
The flyer was sent out by The Liberty Leadership Fund at 382 Northeast 191st Street in Miami, which is a warehouse.
"I don't know who that is," says Lauri Barron of Delivery on Demand.
Barron runs a delivery company which allows businesses to use the address as a mail drop.
"They even have letterhead with this address on it,” we showed her. “Yeah, because they basically use this address,” Barron says.
The Liberty Leadership Fund isn't the only political organization we found making it difficult to find their location and backers.
Another flyer featuring most of the Republican candidates in March's Tampa election including Mayoral Candidate Rose Ferlita was also sent out to Tampa residents.
The only problem, says Deborah Cox-Roush, the Chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Republican Party, is “I have no knowledge of who mailed that. We had nothing to do with it."
Cox-Roush is emphatic for good reason. By law, Tampa's municipal elections are non-partisan. The political parties aren't supposed to be officially involved.
But in a closer look at the flyer, despite the elephant, the return address doesn't actually say it's from the Republican Party but rather The Florida Future Leaders Fund.
So where is the Florida Future Leaders Fund located? Again in Miami. This time at the Doubletree Hotel and Condominium. Specifically Room 1640.
St. Petersburg-based political consultant Peter Schorsch says he was the man behind the flyer. "This mail piece is a way of telling voters these people are Republicans," Schorsch says.
The only problem is that the individual who registered The Florida Future Leaders Fund with the IRS is a Democratic political consultant, not a Republican. He told us, "As clear as I can be, this organization participated in no way with this mail piece."
"Have you ever been to that address?” We asked Schorsch. “No. Why would I be?” He responded.
Schorsch wouldn't respond to the organization's allegations he "hijacked" the name of a Democratic political group.
"Who paid for this?” We asked. “A collection of Republican donors that wanted to get the message out about the candidates in the municipal election.”
Schorsch refused to provide their names.
Common Cause says it is hearing stories like this more frequently ,because the courts have gutted many campaign finance laws.
"It’s troubling, it's dishonest," says Mary Boyle.
As for the Liberty Leadership Fund, which Dick Greco believes sunk his campaign, its Chairman, R. Absher filed a "statement of organization" certifying the information is "complete, true, and correct," with the Division of Elections using only a first initial despite the requirement for "full name." The Washington DC phone number listed is disconnected. The address is that Miami warehouse.
Here's what the I-Team has been able to find out.
We traced the Liberty Leadership Fund's bulk mail permit, not to Tampa or Miami, but to Gainesville. The owner of a printing company tells us he printed and mailed it. And it turns out, one of the few real names associated with the Liberty Leadership Fund in state documents is Stafford Jones, a paid consultant for the group and the Chairman of the Alachua County GOP.
When we told him why we were calling he said, "No comment," and hung up.
"I think it's wrong. I think it's terrible," says Dick Greco.
Greco claims he's done with politics but he may be gearing up for one last campaign. He filed a formal complaint to the State Elections Commission. "I've run for office a number of times. It means a lot to me. And I would not want to win doing something like this,” Greco says.
The Tallahassee law firm
PRINT
