Judicial candidates accused of unethical campaigning
A partisan flier encouraging voters to elect Democrats in Broward County races is causing a stir in judicial races, which are supposed to be non-partisan.
Four candidates for judge are endorsed in the flier distributed in parts of Broward County last week. Their names appear alongside Sen. Bill Nelson, who’s running for re-election; Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who’s running for governor; and congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who is running for another term.
Judicial races are non-partisan, and candidates are more restricted than most other officeseekers. For one thing, they are not allowed to seek the endorsements of partisan groups.
“A Better Florida For All,” which openly supports Democrats in South Florida races, endorsed Broward judicial candidates Haccord James Curry, Stefanie Camille Moon, Tanner Channing Demmery and Jackie Powell.
The endorsements raised eyebrows when they were publicized on a local political blog, BrowardBeat.
Other fliers purporting to endorse Democratic candidates also included judicial candidates — one card shows a photo of Maria Markhasin-Weekes, Curry’s opponent for a Circuit Court seat, side by side with Gillum, with other candidates listed by name without a picture.
Others endorsed on that flier, distributed before the August primary, include Moon’s Circuit Court opponent, Jason AllenRosner; Powell’s County Court opponent, Allison Gilman; and Demmery’s County Court opponent, Corey Amanda Cawthon.
In Broward County, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2 to 1.
Judicial candidates are bound by rules laid out by the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, which prohibits candidates from engaging in partisan activities — they cannot form slates, cannot run as Democrats or Republicans, and cannot endorse other candidates to make it appear they are running as a slate.
But they also cannot stop anyone from endorsing them, and they are not required to have their names removed from endorsement slates.
Omar Smith, treasurer of A Better Florida For All, insisted this week that none of the candidates were picked because of financial ties to the political action committee or to any of Smith’s
businesses, which perform campaign services.
Curry paid Smith’s company, FlyerSmith, more than $5,000 in August and September for e-mail marketing, social media promotion and printing, according to campaign disclosures and Smith.
“Those payments had nothing to do with his appearance on that flier,” Smith said.
Curry echoed the statement. “I’m on a whole bunch of palm cards, none of which I requested or have prior knowledge of,” he said.
Demmery said he had no idea why his name appeared on the Better Florida for All flier, though he did pay one of Smith’s contractors for campaign signs. Dennery said he was unaware of the connection between the contractor and Smith, and by extension the PAC, until after the flier began circulating in Tamarac.
Moon’s campaign issued a statement acknowledging payments to FlyerSmith but denying a quid pro quo for a political endorsement.
“Stefanie is not seeking partisan political endorsement, and if they are distributed, Stefanie has not endorsed them,” the campaign said.
Efforts to reach Powell and her opponent, Gilman, were not successful Thursday and Friday.
The card featuring opponents of the opposing candidates appear to have been produced by Fort Lauderdale political activist Walter Hunter, who received a $2,000 consulting payment from MarkhasinWeekes in August, another $2,000 from Cawthon and $2,000 from Gilman.
Hunter was divorced in June — his attorney was Allen-Rosner. “We’ve been friends for about five years,” Allen-Rosner said. He said he was paid for his services as an attorney.
Whether there is anything unethical about the combination of aboveboard payments and coincidental endorsements would be up to the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission to decide. Candidates are permitted to hire consultants and pay for services, and they cannot stop individuals or partisan groups from making endorsements.
Curry denied a report that he made a personal payment to A Better Florida For All, which would have been a more clear ethical violation. The PAC’s records show a $450 donation was made by someone named Haccord James Curry in mid-August, before the primary.
According to Smith, that payment was made by Curry’s father, who has the same name. The address, according to public records, matches Curry’s father’s home and not the candidate’s.
But the donation is also recorded as coming from an attorney — Curry, the candidate, is the only one with his full name who is a member of the Florida Bar.
Smith called it a data entry error — the person who reported the contribution mistakenly believed the check came from the candidate and not his father.
The Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, which advises the Judicial Qualifications Commission, has rules that allow family members to act on their own while others bind them to the same limits as the candidates. It’s not clear whether contributions to political action committees are permitted.