In the last two election cycles, state Rep. Matt Gaetz has counted on a leadership PAC called the Economic Freedom Foundation to influence local election campaigns.
Before beginning his run for Congress earlier this year, Gaetz resigned as chairman of the Economic Freedom Foundation as well as the Free Enterprise Fund, another PAC he chaired.
Soon thereafter, both organizations turned over all of their assets, $380,314, to a Super PAC supporting Gaetz in his run for Florida’s District 1 seat in the U.S. House.
Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, maintains that he resigned as chair of the organizations he used in 2012 and 2014 to fund opponents of sitting Okaloosa County Commissioners because federal election law dictated that he do so.
He said he has had no contact with the PACs, or their new chair Amanda Clark, since he cut ties on March 18.
Gaetz was therefore unaware, he said, that on May 26 Clark filed papers with the state to shut down the Economic Freedom Foundation and the Free Enterprise Fund.
Or that on June 20 the funds left over in both accounts were contributed to a Super PAC called North Florida Neighbors.
“At the time I filed for office I was legally required to resign from the committees I led. I did so and have had no correspondence or communication with that committee since,” Gaetz said. “All decisions made would have been made by the new head of that organization.”
Efforts to reach Clark on Monday were unsuccessful.
The Huffington Post first reported on and questioned the timing of the funds moving from Gaetz’s former committees to the Super PAC he shares with fellow Republican congressional hopeful Neal Dunn.
“Federal coordination rules prohibit any entity controlled by a candidate from making independent expenditures on their behalf,” the article said.
Gaetz said he’s been “viciously attacked” by the Huffington Post before.
“It’s no surprise the Huffington Post would attack a Panhandle conservative,” he said.
But the financial maneuvering also gave those running against Gaetz room to question big money politics.
“It’s one thing to have a Super PAC come in on their side, but coordinating, that’s against the law,” said fellow Republican District 1 candidate Cris Dosev. “One day that money’s in a state account and the next it ends up in a Super PAC.”
Dosev said the congressional race should be about “credibility, experience and maturity” and not money.
Fellow Republican candidate James Zumwalt said “it is incumbent on all voters to research all of the candidates and not just the ones they see more on television.”
Steven Specht, the single Democrat in the race for the District 1 seat, said the timing of the money movement points out the need for a bipartisan congressional review of campaign finance laws.
Gaetz rebutted the comments of his opponents by pointing out that he has raised more money from in-district donors than the other seven candidates combined. He noted that Dosev, a former Marine with Illinois roots, has received significant donations from Peoria.
Candidate Rebecca Johansen Bydlak, Gaetz said, has received donations from Washington D.C.
Dosev countered that many Gaetz donors are men and women who have received favors from Gaetz as a state House members.
“This is pay for play, quid pro quo,” Dosev said. “You want to play, you pay. These people have paid to play and now they’re paying some more.”
