A complaint filed with the Florida Elections Commission says that a political action committee formed by Matt Gaetz improperly donated over $300K to a federal PAC supporting Gaetz’s congressional candidacy after the Florida Division of Elections had warned them about donating to the same PAC just seven months earlier.
On August 18, 2016 Pensacola resident Clark Yates filed a complaint with the Elections Commission regarding the June 20, 2016 transfer of $369,008.25 from Economic Freedom Foundation, a Florida PAC, to North Florida Neighbors, a Federal PAC.
(See Statute referenced by complaint)
According to a November 2, 2015 letter signed by Kristi Reid Bronson, Florida’s Division of Elections notified Economic Freedom Foundation that a prior, $10,000 donation from Economic Freedom Foundation to North Florida Neighbors, dated August 12, 2015, violated Florida Statute 106. Specifically, the donation violated Florida law that prohibits the transfer of State PAC money to Federal PACs.
The State did not penalize Economic Freedom Foundation for the $10,000 violation. Economic Freedom Foundation’s attorney, Bucky Mitchell, on November 12, 2015, told the Division that Economic Freedom Foundation “will not make this type of expenditure in the future.”
Economic Freedom Foundation was dissolved on May 26, 2016. Per a North Florida Neighbors financial report, the $369K donation from Economic Freedom Foundation is dated June 20 – after Economic Freedom Foundation was disbanded.
