PAC money tracked to familiar sources as local political campaigns turn negative – The Northwest Florida Daily News

FORT WALTON BEACH — As election day in Okaloosa County approaches, a couple of heavyweights are squaring off in the battle for school superintendent. 

Yes, either Marcus Chambers or Ray Sansom will occupy the seat when the dust has settled, but it’s U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and developer Jay Odom who appear to be covering the cost of mudslinging. 

Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, has not directly contributed anything to the Chambers campaign, but a federal political committee called Friends of Matt Gaetz has funneled $75,000 into a state PAC that has funded anti-Sansom advertising.

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The Gulf Coast Conservatives Fund appears to have used the money it received from Friends of Matt Gaetz, most recently July 20, to pay for flyers, and now television ads, that label Sansom as an untruthful big spending career politician.

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For his part, Odom has contributed $24,000 through various businesses he runs directly to the Sansom campaign, including $18,000 on July 29 via 18 individual $1,000 donations.

Odom has given another $100,000 to a PAC called Florida First Forever, which in turn has made $75,000 in donations to another PAC called Floridians for Ethics and Truth in Politics.

It is Floridians for Ethics and Truth in Politics whose name appears on flyers and in television commercials that label Chambers “incompetent” and tells voters “We just can’t trust Marcus Chambers.”

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It attempts to tie Chambers to the scandal-plagued administration of former Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson, who was removed from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis and later forced to resign in disgrace. Chambers was the highest ranking district administrator at the time Jackson was suspended. He was subsequently appointed superintendent.

Chambers said he is focused on his campaign, and not on negative politics. 

“From the beginning, my opponent and his supporters have done nothing but run a negative campaign spreading fake news,” he said in a statement. “I am proud to have been appointed by Governor DeSantis to lead our schools, I am proud to work hand-in-hand with Sheriff Ashley to keep students safe, and I am proud to be supported by countless parents, teachers and staff.”

Odom has backed Sansom financially throughout his long political career. The two were arrested in 2009 and accused of plotting to use a state appropriation secured by Sansom, then the Florida House Speaker designate, to build a hangar at Odom’s Destin Jet airport facility. Both men were acquitted at trial.

Sansom said he is unaware of who is behind the attack ads directed toward either him or his opponent.

“I haven’t spent a lot of time looking at either one of them,” he said. “I don’t have a PAC, so I don’t get involved going down that PAC road. I really haven’t gotten involved in all that stuff.”

The superintendent’s race is not the only local campaign that Gulf Coast Conservatives Fund, the one receiving money from Friends of Matt Gaetz, has meddled in this year. A recent negative television advertisement targeting Republican Jeff Hinkle, a candidate for the District 4 state House of Representatives seat, was also paid for by the PAC.

Gaetz has been featured prominently in ads promoting the candidacy of Hinkle opponent Patt Maney, also a Republican.   

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Asked what the Hinkle campaign knew of Gulf Coast Conservatives Fund, spokesman Anthony Pedicini responded “just what is on the Department of State website and that they’re running a dirty dishonest ad about Jeff.”

The Florida Division of Elections provides information about political committees including who contributes to them and some details about how money collected is spent.

Though the Hinkle campaign is now airing a television commercial denouncing negative advertising, the campaign itself has not shied from anti-opponent rhetoric. Hinkle, who is paying for his own campaign ads, has labeled both Maney and fellow Republican candidate Jonathan Tallman as “liberal never Trumpers.” 

Sandra Adkinson, a fourth Republican running for the state House seat, co-chaired the Okaloosa County Trump campaign in 2016 along with now-Shalimar Mayor Mark Franks. She has thus far avoided being targeted in the negative ads focusing on Hinkle as a strong Trump supporter.