Senate Democrats call for federal probe

Point to ‘widespread, ongoing’ attempts to tamper with elections

Florida Senate Democrats are urging U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate “widespread and ongoing” attempts to tamper with elections, citing last week’s arrest of a former state senator accused of paying a Palm Beach County man to put his name on the ballot of a Florida Senate race and a mysterious out-of-state organization’s contributions of more than $500,000 to send mailers touting candidates who did no campaigning.

The Democrats on Friday also called for Senate President Wilton Simpson to form a special committee to investigate the matter, a tough sell in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The election schemes involved independent “ghost” candidates who filed to run in three hotly contested Senate races, including Seminole and Volusia counties’ District 9, and were featured in mailers containing language that seemed designed to appeal to left-leaning voters. The ads were paid for by two committees whose only funding came from the same dark money source, a key piece of evidence tying the races together, the state senators said.

Charges have been filed against the independent candidate who filed to run in one of those races and a former lawmaker who authorities say paid him nearly

$45,000 to put his name on the ballot. Frank Artiles, who resigned his state Senate seat in 2017 and Alexis Pedro Rodriguez of Delray Beach, who filed to run in Miami’s Senate District

37, were charged last week with breaking state campaign contribution laws and making false statements in connection with voting or elections.

In that case, the independent candidate received enough votes to have swung the outcome of the election. More than 6,000 voters cast ballots for Rodriguez, while Republican Ileana Garcia defeated Democrat José Javier Rodríguez by just 32 votes.

On election night in November, Artiles attended a gathering with Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur of Sanford, who also had just won his race. An attendee of the party held at a Lake Mary bar told the Miami Herald that Artiles loudly bragged about his involvement in Garcia’s victory that night, saying, “That was me. I did that.”

In the District 9 race, which includes all of Seminole and part of Volusia County, independent candidate Jestine Iannotti received less than 6,000 votes, while Brodeur prevailed over attorney Patricia Sigman by more than 7,600 votes to win his first term in the Senate.

Voters in the South Florida district, received ads in October promoting Rodriguez, claiming he would “fight climate change” and “hold the police accountable.” Residents of Seminole-Volusia’s District 9 and Miami-Dade’s District 39 received similar ads promoting no party affiliate, or NPA candidates, in those races. Those candidates did no campaigning and repeatedly ignored or denied requests for interviews.

The mailers were paid for by two political committees that received all of their funding, which totaled more than $500,000, from the same source, an organization called Proclivity. The committees paid all of that money to a Clermont-based printing shop on Oct. 5, state elections records show.

Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, told reporters on Friday that Proclivity’s investment in all three races suggested a connection between the cases.

Delaware-based Proclivity is registered as a 501(c)(4), a type of non-profit organization that, by federal law, is to be operated “exclusively to promote social welfare,” which can include lobbying.

“As Proclivity’s activities were essential to the illegal acts perpetrated by Frank Artiles and his co-conspirators, it is extremely likely that this organization and others were engaged in potential illegal interstate transfers of funds, in addition to violating federal laws governing 501(c) (4) organizations,” the letter to Garland said.

On Friday, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, whose office investigated and filed charges against Artiles and Rodriguez, sent out a statement suggesting she also sees similarities.

“Given the potential multistate and multi-jurisdictional aspects of what has been outlined so far concerning these Florida elections, a cooperative investigational approach can offer the best option to fully uncover the truth and may supply the most aggressive approach aimed at keeping our election process clean and transparent,” Fernandez Rundle wrote.

But her counterpart in Seminole and Brevard counties, State Attorney Phil Archer, said earlier this week his office does not “conduct any criminal investigations of any type,” adding he doesn’t have the staff to conduct such a probe or for a public-corruption unit.

The state senators’ calls for a Department of Justice investigation came a day after Florida’s congressional Democrats sent a letter to Garland, citing the criminal charges in the South Florida race. They wrote that a “cloud of corruption” hangs over the 2020 election and also cited the shadowy organization that funded the ads promoting the NPA candidates as a reason for further investigation.

The department has not responded to inquiries from the Orlando Sentinel about whether it plans to open an investigation.

Farmer also sent a letter on Friday to Senate President Simpson, saying he believed “the electoral will of the people was subverted” in the District 37 election and asking him to appoint a select committee to investigate “allegations of similar improprieties,” in other state senate races.

Simpson, R-Trilby, said Friday through a spokeswoman he doesn’t plan to grant Farmer’s request.

“Senator Farmer has never spoken with me about his request for a select committee,” Simpson said in a statement. “I have said from day one that I welcome a full investigation. Law enforcement is doing their job, and the last thing they need is interference from Tallahassee. We have full confidence in the ability of law enforcement and should not interfere.”