The word “scandal” is sometimes thrown around pretty loosely. But boy, does it apply to Jason Brodeur’s 2020 campaign.
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Three different people were either convicted or took plea deals in an elaborate and illegal scheme meant to help the Sanford Republican get into the Florida Senate.
This wasn’t a campaign as much as a criminal enterprise.
My question: Will any of that matter to voters?
I’m not sure, as I’m increasingly convinced that some people would vote for a serial killer as long as the maniac shared their party affiliation.
Brodeur is now seeking re-election in one of Florida’s most-watched Senate races. And Democrat John Lowndes, an attorney and mayor of Maitland, is giving voters a fresh and scandal-free alternative in the District 10 race that covers Seminole and part of Orange County.
In fact, this race — in a competitive, purple district that has slightly more Republicans than Democrats — strikes me as a bellwether for Florida.
Basically, if a respectable, Democratic candidate can’t oust a Republican with more baggage than a Samsonite store — during what’s supposed to be a blue-wave year — I’m not sure other Democrats have much hope.
Brodeur has made messy headlines since he first stepped into the Legislature 16 years ago.
During his freshman term in the Florida House, he authored one of the most laughably unconstitutional bills this state has ever seen when he drafted legislation for the gun lobby that sought to imprison doctors who discussed gun safety with their patients.
Why Florida politicians fought a 6-year gun battle with doctors – one they knew they’d lose
It didn’t matter if a patient walked into a psychiatrist’s office with a semi-automatic rifle and said he was feeling particularly homicidal that day. If the doctor asked the patient what he planned to do with that gun, Brodeur wanted to imprison and fine the doctor up to $5 million.
Before passing the bill, GOP lawmakers watered down the punishments for physicians who might discuss gun-safety with their patients. But the restriction on free speech between adults in a private setting was still blatantly unconstitutional and struck down by multiple courts.
Brodeur also made news in 2018 when an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times found that he received more money from opioid makers eager to peddle their pills than any other legislator in the state. He was chairman of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee at the time.
And this newspaper has written plenty of stories about Brodeur’s efforts to undermine Seminole County’s rural boundary, even as his buddy, Chris Dorworth, has tried to build there.
Brodeur supports measure that could gut voter-approved rural boundaries
Personally, I’ve thought Brodeur was a cringey mess from the get-go. But now he’s facing a serious challenger — and an electorate that has seen three people pay a criminal price for trying to get him into this current seat.
The scandal in question was Florida’s infamous “Ghost Candidate” scheme where political operatives tried to help secure victories for Brodeur and two other GOP senate candidates friendly to the state’s business lobby.
In Central Florida, three people got in trouble. In South Florida, a former legislator was actually sentenced to jail time.
In Brodeur’s race, operatives recruited a woman named Jestine Iannotti to run as an independent candidate, but promoted her as a green lefty. They weren’t hoping Iannotti would win. (She didn’t even personally campaign, hence the “ghost candidate” moniker.) Instead, Brodeur backers hoped voters who wanted a progressive candidate would be tricked into voting for Iannotti instead of the real Democrat, giving Brodeur a better chance to win.
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Now, it’s legal to play dirty in politics. But it’s not legal to lie about the money involved … especially on campaign finance forms submitted as allegedly truthful documents to the state. That’s what the people involved did here, file bogus paperwork about who was financing the ghost-candidate’s campaign.
Down in Miami, operatives actually managed to recruit a guy with the last name Rodriguez to run as an independent against the Democratic incumbent, Jose Javier Rodriguez. Again, fake-candidate Rodriguez wasn’t trying to win, just siphon enough votes away from real Rodriguez to make him lose.
And it worked. Fake Rodriguez managed to snag about 6,000 votes in South Florida while Real Rodriguez lost to the Republican candidate by about 30 votes. (The Real Rodriguez, by the way, is now running for Florida attorney general, hoping to take on the kind of special interests that wanted him out of the Senate.)
In Seminole, Brodeur looked like he would’ve won the race anyway, since he posted a slightly larger margin of victory. But that didn’t make the scheme meant to help him any less illegal.
Brodeur claimed he knew nothing about all this scheming on his behalf, even though his former buddy Joel Greenberg told investigators Brodeur was “absolutely” aware.
Joel Greenberg told investigators Brodeur knew of spoiler plot, transcript shows
Also, the guy convicted of trying to help Brodeur was actually working with Brodeur at the time. Former Seminole County GOP Chairman Ben Paris — sentenced to 12 months of probation and 200 hours of community service for the misdemeanor — was vice president of the Seminole County Chamber of Commerce while Brodeur was president.
(As a side observation, it sounds like something out of a Carl Hiaasen novel to read about a criminal scheme involving a chamber of commerce leader in Florida. But this story was told in open court.)
Jury finds Seminole GOP chair guilty in ‘ghost’ candidate case
There are also, of course, the actual issues in the race between Brodeur and Lowndes.
Brodeur has vowed that, if he’s re-elected, he’ll work to make Florida more affordable, safer and swears that he is “a staunch defender of Seminole County’s rural boundary” … despite supporting a bill that, as the Sentinel explained, “would have gutted the rural boundary.”
Lowndes, who cut his teeth in local government, working as an attorney for Orange County before being elected mayor in Maitland, also says affordability is a top issue. And he’s walked the walk on that front, serving as a strong voice in the push to diversify the way hotel taxes can be spent, which would lower the tax burden for locals.
Lowndes has also made protecting the environment and lowering insurance prices staples of his campaign.
Maybe the issues will matter this time more than partisanship — especially if this district’s sizable chunk of unaffiliated voters get involved.
But one thing is for sure: The current incumbent got into this office amidst a provable, criminal scandal.
So it will be interesting to see whether voters in this district say they’re OK with that kind of illegal behavior. If so, we should all expect to see a lot more of it.
Florida ‘ghost’ candidate scandal: Insiders confess. Masterminds skate | Commentary
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