‘It’s unconscionable’: Former mayor, police chief decry dark money and attack ads in Tampa city council races

Early voting is happening now in the City of Tampa’s City Council runoff, which ends on Election Day, April 25. And voters who think the substance of mailers and text messages is getting dirty are not alone.

The worst of them are paid for by different political action committees (PACs) and are styled, it seems, by similar graphic designers. The same grainy black-and-white photos of candidates are deployed next to high-contrast red or yellow text highlighting words like “pretender,” “payday,” “accused of sexual assault,” improper conduct” and others.

Mailboxes across Tampa are stuffed with these attacks, and residents are noticing—but not necessarily in a good way.

“Never before, ever—and I am an old woman—has there been this nastiness in a local non-partisan race,” Sandy Freedman told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

Freedman, 79, became Tampa’s first woman mayor after 12 years on Tampa City Council, where she was named council chair in 1983. In 1986, she took over as the city’s executive when then-mayor Bob Martinez filed to run for governor. Freedman was elected mayor twice after that, and served in the role for nearly nine years.

She knows how to work in Tampa’s executive branch and the legislative one. Unlike Castor, Freedman resisted the urge to endorse city council candidates during her term, knowing full well that endorsements can create friction between the mayor and council. And while Castor’s administration and this council generally sail through agendas and agree on multiple items, their disagreements are well documented and almost unprecedented.

For two weeks, talk at Freedman’s coffee spots Gio’s and La Segunda has been about how ugly mailers and texts—specifically those sent by Comite Politico, Inc. and the Janet Cruz campaign—have turned her and other constituents off.

“Frankly, I find it offensive. And it’s offending a lot of people. That’s what I’m hearing all the time,” said Freedman.

Former Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan put the nature of the city council runoff races more simply.

“I moved here in 1990 two days before I started at the academy, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told CL. “Until I became chief I didn’t realize politicians have their own agendas. They’ll say anything.”

Tampa’s city council races are nonpartisan, but tactics used in partisan state and national races are being deployed.

That’s certainly true in District 6, where Hoyt Prindle III is facing decades-long city councilman Charlie Miranda. Both have been on the unflattering end of mailers from various PACs. Some against Prindle allege corporate corruption. The worst of the messaging in the District 6 race is paid for by People for Coastal Common Sense, a PAC run by Michael Millner, a political campaign accountant previously tied to Anthony Pedicini, who has close ties to Florida Republicans.

As the Tampa Bay Times pointed out in 2017, over the years Pedicini has been connected to a vast network of shady PACs across the state. On at least 10 of those committees, according to the publication, his 87-year-old grandmother was listed as the chairman.

“​​Republican dark money has flooded this campaign in an effort to save Charlie because Republican special interests hear what the voters in District 6 are saying in support of our campaign and have seen the polling data that shows we are beating Charlie,” Prindle told CL, adding that he thinks voters will “reject this scorched earth politics.”

The attacks are worse in the battle for Tampa’s District 3 city council seat.

In that race, incumbent Lynn Hurtak—who’s served since being appointed to the seat last April after the contentious exit of Councilman John Dingfelder—is up against former State Representative and State Senator Cruz.

Cruz—the mother of Ana Cruz, a powerful lobbyist who is also the partner of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor—saw a 12-year run in the Florida Legislature end last fall when she was handily defeated by Republican Jay Collins. In the March election, Hurtak performed well citywide, taking 43% of the vote to Cruz’s 39% to force a runoff.

According to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, voters in Cruz’s own precinct also preferred Hurtak over their neighbor and former state legislator, by more than 7%.

The messaging from Comite Politico—a Fort Lauderdale-based PAC run by the Haber Blank law firm, has dubbed Hurtak “Lyin’ Lynn.”

In one of its mailers, Hurtak is criticized for voting to increase council member salaries from $52,060 to $73,713. The mailer does not mention that it was Castor’s administration that presented council with a proposal for a pay bump, or that council’s salary is currently below Tampa’s average median income.

It also tries to blame Hurtak for a record $200,000 lawsuit settlement to an aide who accused outgoing councilman Orlando Gudes of harassment. Nevermind that it was the Castor administration that dug up the accusations—despite the city knowing about them since 2019—after Gudes pushed back on the mayor over issues like rent control.

What’s more is that the lawsuit against Gudes was actually dismissed months after the settlement, with a judge declaring that there was not enough evidence to prove claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress by Gudes.

Hurtak and Prindle are both registered Democrats. But despite the runoff being a nonpartisan election—with Florida Statutes chapter 106.143(3) prohibiting candidates from stating the candidate’s political party affiliation or campaigning based on party affiliation—ads against Hurtak and Prindle accuse them of supporting or working with Republicans.

On April12, a digital ad from the right-wing Front Line Patriots Fund, Inc targeted Cruz and highlighted her connections to Mayor Jane Castor.  Shortly after, the former state senator’s campaign claimed in a mass text message that Hurtak is now “accepting campaign help from a local Ultra-right MAGA organization.”

Hurtak told CL that she has not reached out to any Republican organizations for assistance.

“My opponent’s campaign has variously described me as an ‘extreme socialist’ and now ‘ultra-right MAGA,’” Hurtak said about the many attacks from PACS and the Cruz campaign. “So I’m not sure what, if any, point they think they’re making.”

Pushing back further on claims that she’s taking help from right-wingers, Hurtak pointed out that Cruz has taken help from Mayor Castor’s Tampa Strong PAC.

“[Tampa Strong] endorsed and financially supported DeSantis ally Blake Casper [in the general election last month], which again brings us to the old adage—proving very true in this race—that every accusation is a confession” Hurtak said.

According to public finance documents, Tampa Strong has donated a total of $24,000 to Janet Cruz’s Building The Bay PAC,  making it her largest singular donor since she announced her run for city council.

On top of this, after Jane Castor won her bid for re-election on March 7, her Tampa Strong PAC has continued to aggressively spend money on campaign-related expenses, with at least another $29,300 going towards things like “voter contacts,” “video production” and “research.”

“The only group I’ve engaged in any kind of organizing with is the Hillsborough County LGBTQ+ Democratic Party caucus, because I’m the only candidate in this election they endorsed,” Hurtak said, alluding to the coalition which spoke out against Cruz when she suggested Hurtak was homophobic.

“I don’t have any political alliances with any other groups—let alone ultra-right fringe groups—and I’ll point out again that I don’t even know what group they’re talking about.”

A representative for Cruz’s campaign did not respond to a request for comments, or even context and proof of the claims in the latest text message campaign.

One of the most glaring accusations in the text message claims ”Hurtak took advice from a registered sex offender,” referring to John Ring Jr, who was arrested last month for failing to register his email addresses after her was being convicted of “unlawful sexual activity with certain minors 16/17 years old,” back in 2010.

Ring, who went by Gio Fucarino, was also listed as a host of Castor’s birthday party and re-election campaign launch. Upon his arrest, Hurtak told CL that she was unaware of Ring’s past and that it was the mayor who introduced him to her.

“Castor told me he was a good friend of hers and a valuable resource to get input from Ybor City residents and business owners, and I took her advice. He has had no role in my campaign other than being a host for a single event,” she said.

Adam Smith, a spokesperson for Castor, said the mayor was also unaware of his crimes and has no recollection of the introduction.

Notably, the State Attorney recently asked for the search warrant in Ring’s arrest to be sealed, citing, in part, “potential evidence suggesting public corruption within the City of Tampa was located.”

Keeping up with all of it is exhausting, and there’s no telling if it will have an effect in an election that traditionally sees abysmal turnout. Former Tampa Mayor Freedman, for her part, can’t stand to see it happening.

“I hate all these special interest groups that have formed and that they have dark money that you can’t trace,” she said. “At the local level it is truly offensive.”

The silver lining, Freedman added, is that there are some voters who aren’t taking the bait.

“But I don’t think that’s the answer, although I think that’s the way you should deal with it. It is really an affront. That’s the only word I can come up with,” she said. “It’s an affront to local voters who know the candidates. It’s unconscionable in my judgment.”

Early voting for the 2023 City of Tampa Runoff Election is going on now through April 23. Election Day is April 25.

This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2023.