Republican ghost candidate scheme leads to arrest of Seminole Republican Chair, others
May 26, 2022
Although we as a nation are still reeling from the mass murder of 21 people at a Texas elementary school 2 days ago, I want to cover some important developments coming out of Seminole County, Florida, which is between Daytona Beach and Orlando. In the 2020 elections, Republican Jason Brodeur defeated Democrat Patricia Sigman by only 7,720 votes in the Florida Senate District 9 race—a victory margin of 2.7%. However, a candidate named Jestine Iannotti, with no party affiliation, achieved 5,787 votes (2.1%).
Today's government lesson: The United States Congress allots 2 senators per state for the Senate and a number of representatives that varies per state based on population for the House (currently ranging from 1 to 53). Members of Congress are subject to periodic elections: United States Senate terms are 6 years, and United States House terms are 2 years. States, on the other hand, have their own legislatures which are like the national Congress, but work on state laws and state issues. Most states, including Florida, follow the bicameral model of the national legislature. In Florida, we have 40 senators periodically elected from single-member districts (their territories do not overlap) for 4- or 2-year terms depending on whether Census apportionment is occurring, and we have 120 House members, also from single-member districts, elected for 2-year terms.
Republicans have dominated the Florida legislature for over 2 decades, most recently having achieved 24 of 40 seats in the Florida Senate (60%) and 78 of 120 seats in the Florida House (65%) in the 2020 elections. This has happened even as Democrats remain competitive in statewide races, such as the narrow victory of Democratic Commissioner of Agriculture candidate Nikki Fried in 2018 and the narrow losses of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and U.S. Senate incumbent candidate Bill Nelson in the same year. We have long known that gerrymandering is part of Republican's dominance, which involves Republican legislators and governors drawing districts that pack the Democrats into one district or spread them out into many districts, depending on the area. Democrats do this too, in states such as New York and Illinois. However, we now know that another part of Florida Republicans' strategy is blatant criminality.
We can now say with certainty that Jestine Iannotti was recruited as a ghost candidate to siphon off votes from Democrat Patricia Sigman. This scheme included mass political mailers touting her as an independent, anti-corruption candidate with a photo of an unrelated black woman, even though Ms. Iannotti is white. Now, State Attorney Phil Archer has brought the following criminal charges against Ms. Iannotti; Mr. James Foglesong, the political operative who recruited and compensated her; and Mr. Benjamin Paris, the Chair of the Seminole County Republican Party:
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Jestine Iannotti, NPA (no-party affiliated) Candidate, Florida Senate District 9
COUNT 1: COMMISSION OF A FALSE, FICTITIOUS OR FRAUDULENT ACT, STATEMENT OR REPRESENTATION IN A MATTER WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF STATE (F3) 817.155
COUNT 2: ACCEPTING AN AGGREGATE CASH CONTRIBUTION IN EXCESS OF $50 FROM THE SAME CONTRIBUTOR IN AN ELECTION (M1) 106.09(1)(b), (2)(a)
COUNT 3 PERJURY NOT IN OFFICIAL PROCEEDING (M1) 837.012(1)
COUNT 4: PERJURY NOT IN OFFICIAL PROCEEDING (M1) 837.012(1)
COUNT 5: FALSE REPORTING OR DELIBERATE FAILURE TO INCLUDE INFORMATION REQUIRED BY CHAPTER 106, FLORIDA STATE STATUTES (M1) 106.19
COUNT 6: ACCEPTING ONE CONTRIBUTION THROUGH OR IN THE NAME OF ANOTHER IN ANY ELECTION (M1) 106.08(5)(a), (7)(a)
James Foglesong, Political Operative
COUNT 1: MAKING TWO OR MORE CONTRIBUTIONS THROUGH OR IN THE NAME OF ANOTHER IN ANY ELECTION (F3) 106.08(5)(a), (7)(b)
COUNT 2: COMMISSION OF A FALSE, FICTITIOUS OR FRAUDULENT ACT, STATEMENT OR REPRESENTATION IN A MATTER WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF STATE (F3) 817.155
COUNT 3: UNLAWFUL USE OF A TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION DEVICE (F3) 934.215
COUNT 4: MAKING AN AGGREGATE CASH CONTRIBUTION IN EXCESS OF $50 TO THE SAME CANDIDATE IN AN ELECTION (M1) 106.09(1)(a), (2)(a)
COUNT 5: FALSE REPORTING OR DELIBERATE FAILURE TO INCLUDE INFORMATION REQUIRED BY CHAPTER 106, FLORIDA STATE STATUTES (M1) 106.19
Benjamin Paris, Political Operative (Chair of the Seminole County Republican Party)
COUNT 1: MAKING ONE CONTRIBUTION THROUGH OR IN THE NAME OF ANOTHER IN ANY ELECTION (M1) 106.08(5)(a), (7)(a)
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This operation was also funded by dark money via political action committees (PACs), including corporate donors who benefit from continued Republican hegemony in Florida. Florida's laws are so corrupt that donors can easily conceal their identities behind legal entities, and Florida even permits businesses to directly contribute to state and local candidates' principal campaign committees, unlike candidates for federal office.
Unfortunately, over 2% of voters fell for this scheme and voted for Ms. Iannotti. Not everyone has the time to investigate each candidate in each political race. There is no guarantee Ms. Iannotti's voters would have leaned toward Ms. Sigman over Mr. Brodeur, and he did achieve a majority of the vote—50.3%. But, this should not be considered a mitigating factor. President Richard Nixon won the election of 1972 by an overwhelming margin, but was enormously concerned he would not, leading to acts of corruption so shocking that he later resigned instead of facing what he presumed would be impeachment and conviction. Since then, the Republican party has become more tolerant of corruption, with President Donald Trump's actions exceeding Nixon's in egregiousness but falling short in terms of consequences.
Surprisingly, the Seminole County Republican Party is standing by Chair Paris, with their state committeeman announcing, “our party believes in election integrity and the presumption of innocence." Seminole Republicans are no strangers to scandal—Tax Collector Joel Greenberg's corruption and sex crimes with United States Rep. Matt Gaetz led The Orlando Sentinel to conduct a massive investigation and even to launch a podcast mini-series called "The Joel Greenberg Podcast." Greenberg has been convicted of various crimes. His wife divorced him and he is now awaiting sentencing. Congressman Matt Gaetz has not yet been brought to justice.
One of the reasons Republicans are so brazen in Florida is that they know the machinations of government have their back. For instance, see my May 24, 2022 letter about our new Secretary of State, Cord Byrd, appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis. We know Byrd is not exactly a neutral figure. He cannot be counted on to oversee Florida's elections in a neutral manner. He has already claimed the 2020 election was rigged for Biden and publicly supported overturning the will of the people. Thus, local Republican leaders are empowered to act with impunity while Democrats cower in fear of retaliation, even though both are, in theory, subject to the same laws, rules, and regulations.
In this instance, Republican State Attorney Phil Archer of Florida's 18th judicial circuit is prosecuting the Republicans. I say "Republican State Attorney" because that's how it is in Florida. You might be surprised to learn that by Florida law, our prosecutors, public defenders, supervisors of elections, clerks of court, and more are elected in partisan races where voters choose with the ballot showing R or D next to their names. This has been heavily criticized, such as by Naples Daily News (see Notes).
It remains to be seen how these legal cases will play out, but we know that corruption must be exposed, challenged, prosecuted, and ultimately, prevented—uniformly and without selective favoritism—in order to build a democratic, open, and merit-based society. In Florida, we have a long way to go, and it seems that for each step forward, we take two steps backward.
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Notes:
From the Office of State Attorney Phil Archer on May 24, 2022: Prosecutors Announce Charges in 2020 NPA Campaign for Senate District 9:
News stories from Florida Politics:
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/527781-ben-paris-staying-on-as-seminole-republican-chair/
Tweet by Thomas Kennedy, a DNC delegate and progressive activist:
News story from The Washington Post:
Statement from the Florida Democratic Party and Seminole County Democratic Party, courtesy of the Charlotte County Democratic Party:
The Orlando Sentinel's investigative journalism on Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/joel-greenberg/
Back in August 2021, regarding the legal investigation that led to the May 2022 arrests:
Facts and statistics on the 2020 election in Florida Senate District 9:
https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_State_Senate_District_9
2018 editorial from Naples Daily News criticizes Florida law defining state attorney and public defender races as partisan:
My May 24, 2022 letter, referenced today: The terrifying appointment of Florida's new Secretary of State, Cord Byrd