Big business-linked group funded ‘ghost’ candidate ads, records show – Orlando Sentinel
The records show that the nonprofit, “Let’s Preserve the American Dream,” wired $600,000 on Sept. 29, 2020, to another nonprofit, “Grow United Inc.” Grow United then used that money to send $550,000 to a pair of political committees that paid for mailers touting independent candidates in three important Senate races, in what authorities say was a ploy to confuse voters and tilt the races to Republicans.
Ryan Tyson, a longtime Republican strategist in Tallahassee and the executive director of Let’s Preserve the American Dream, told investigators that he ordered the $600,000 contribution to Grow United, according to a transcript of an interview.
Florida’s “ghost” candidate scandal has revealed tactics and dark-money strategies influencing politics throughout the state.
Tyson also said he told the political consultant who controlled Grow United to expect a request for a donation from Alex Alvarado, another operative who worked for Tyson as a subcontractor to Let’s Preserve the American Dream — and who records show set up the two political committees that paid for the ghost candidate advertising.
But Tyson said he had no control over whether Grow United ultimately passed the money on to Alvarado’s political committees.
“Did you know when this $600,000 was sent to Grow United… that $550,000 of it was going to go to Alex Alvarado’s two political committees?” Miami-Dade County Assistant State Attorney Tim VanderGiesen asked Tyson during the Sept. 30 interview.
“I had a hunch they’d help him,” Tyson replied.
“I assume they’d probably be supportive if Alex called,” Tyson added later in the interview. “But I had no way to know if they actually would. Because once I make a contribution to an entity, I lose control of how they spend that money.”
Authorities are investigating whether Let’s Preserve the American Dream broke election or campaign-finance laws, according to a letter the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office sent to the organization on Dec. 23.
Secret records show Florida Power & Light executives coordinated with the operatives behind the dark-money nonprofit Grow United.
The Sentinel has previously reported the timing of the $600,000 transfer. However, the records made public Tuesday confirm that amount represented virtually all the funds in Grow United’s bank account when it began sending money to the two political committees.
The money from Let’s Preserve the American Dream ultimately paid for advertisements promoting independent candidates who did not campaign themselves in three key Senate races: Senate District 9 in Seminole and Volusia counties and Senate Districts 37 and 39 in Miami.
The ads were worded to appeal to left-leaning voters, which authorities have described as a ploy to draw votes away from the Democratic candidates in the races. All three elections were won by Republicans, helping the party retain control of the 40-member Florida Senate.
In his interview, Tyson disputed the idea that the independent candidates were used as spoilers.
“I can’t testify to what his intent was,” Tyson said.
Several key figures in Florida’s “ghost” candidate scandal are facing the possibility of criminal charges, court records indicate.
Tyson, who records show was personally supporting the Republican candidates in the three races, said he never explicitly asked Alvarado why he was promoting the independent candidates.
As a dark-money nonprofit, Let’s Preserve the American Dream does not have to disclose its donors. But it is closely linked to Associated Industries of Florida, the big-business lobbying group whose members include electric utility Florida Power & Light, sugar grower Florida Crystals and phosphate miner Mosaic Co.
Let’s Preserve the American Dream, which was originally named “Associated Industries for America’s Future,” is run out of AIF’s headquarters in Tallahassee. Tyson is a former AIF vice president and a longtime political advisor to the organization.
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AIF has said it had nothing to do with the ghost-candidate campaign.
Investigators in Miami have obtained detailed records about Let’s Preserve the American Dream’s finances — including documents identifying some of its donors. But the organization has asked a judge to keep that information from being released to the public.
Tyson told investigators that Grow United was controlled by Jeff Pitts, a consultant who now runs a Tallahassee-based firm called Canopy Partners LLC. And Tyson told investigators that Dan Newman, a Democratic fundraiser who worked with Pitts and Grow United, was also a contractor with Let’s Preserve the American Dream.
jgarcia@orlandosentinel.com
