Leon Democratic Party Chairman Ryan Ray has filed an election complaint against a political committee that launched a negative political campaign against its allies, claiming it failed to report the finances behind those attacks in a timely manner.
Grow Tallahassee, a political committee funded largely by local developers and other businesses, has sent attack emails and digital ads against City Councilman Jack Porter and City Council candidate Dot Inman-Johnson.
These candidates are allies of Commissioner Jeremy Matlow. Ray is not only the chairman of the local Democratic Party, but also Matlow’s assistant.
Ray filed his complaint with the Florida Ethics Commission on Thursday, pointing out that Grow Tallahassee failed to report the costs of its attack ads, even though two reporting periods had passed since the first ads were published on July 21.
“When you have a political committee, you have a responsibility to inform the campaign about the amount and source of the funds you are using. Grow Tallahassee failed to do that. Obviously, tens of thousands of dollars worth of negative mail was sent out under the auspices of Grow Tallahassee. The public was illegally prevented from knowing about it, and that is why I filed the report,” he said.
WFSU spoke to Bugra Demirel, chairman of Grow Tallahassee, after the complaint was filed. He called Ray’s complaint a “cheap PR stunt.”
“We report our donations and spending in a timely manner, and when this story comes out, our report will likely be online for the public to view. So I would say instead of spending time, money and resources on these baseless complaints, Ryan Ray should really be focusing on the low Democratic turnout this election cycle,” he said.
The PC’s report was updated on Friday. The PC said it spent over $60,000 on direct mail, but that report was still two reporting cycles behind, as the first direct mail was sent on July 24. In addition, the PC still hasn’t reported how much it spent on digital ads on Facebook.
If the Florida State Elections Commission finds misconduct, it may charge the election official $50 for the first three days of delay and $500 for each additional day of delay.
