Shadowy groups target Farmer in Broward state Senate race
Moms Speak Out, a new political committee running attack ads against state Sen. Gary Farmer, DFort Lauderdale, ahead of his Aug. 28 Democratic primary, filed its first report of campaign contributions Friday, and it’s a big one — $850,000.
But Moms Speak Out is using a 527 organization to hide its donors, though Florida law prohibits anyone from making “any contribution through or in the name of another, directly or indirectly, in any election.”
A 527 group is a tax-exempt organization that can take unlimited donations from individuals or other groups. In this case, a 527 group also called Moms Speak Out filed its initial paperwork with the IRS on July 17.
That group then sent $850,000 to the Moms Speak Out political action committee, which can spend it on advertising against political candidates. And on July 26, the political action committee spent $112,000 on advertising, state records show.
Farmer is in a contentious primary race against former state Rep. Jim Waldman in state Senate District 34, which includes Hollywood, Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach and the entire coastline of Broward County.
Waldman has said unequivocally that he has no ties to either group and does not know anyone involved with them.
Both the 527 group and the political action committee list their sole contact person as Leiann McInnis. The address listed for both groups is a UPS Store in Fort Lauderdale. The phone number listed with the political action committee goes straight to a voice message, which tells callers to leave a message after the beep — but no beep ever comes.
Only one Leiann McInnis is listed in public records in Florida. But a man who answered the phone at her Gainesville address said it was a wrong number.
The 527 group eventually will have to list major donors on a form filed with the IRS, but that won’t be until tax time next April — long after the election’s consequences have come and gone.
The group has sent out mailers attacking Farmer for his vote against the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Safety Act in this year’s legislative session. During debate on that bill, Farmer made it clear that his no vote was due to a provision that would allow some teachers to carry firearms at school. But the bill also included some guncontrol measures, including a 21-and-older age requirement for firearm purchases and a three-day waiting period.
The mailers attack Farmer for voting against those gun-control measures, saying he has backed the position of the National Rifle Association.
In fact, Farmer has filed gun control bills in 2017 and 2018 that would require trigger locks and universal background checks, but those bills never received a committee hearing. And despite the mailer claiming Farmer has an “A+” rating from the NRA, he has an “F.”
“This is the sleazy underbelly side of politics that voters have so grown tired of,” Farmer said. “What this hidden structure shows us and what we’ve been able to discern from it is that Republicans don’t want me back in Tallahassee.”
Other mailers sent by the group attack Farmer for a quarrel he had with state Sen. Lauren Book, DPlantation, during this year’s legislative session as Democrats tried to decide who would be Senate Minority Leader in 2021-22. Both Farmer and Book were angling for the job, and Farmer reportedly told Book that her young twins could prevent her from doing the job effectively. He later apologized.
And Moms Speak Out isn’t the only mysterious group attacking Farmer.
A group called Floridians Against Guns has set up an anti-Farmer website and Internet ad. That group does not have a state political committee, though it incorporated as a nonprofit in the state on July 2, despite its lone officer having a California address.