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Some mailers have urged of us to “Re-elect Shlomo Danzinger,” that includes flattering pictures of a cheesing city mayor. Different, comparable flyers have been despatched round in assist of Vice Mayor Jeff Rose.
However whereas these advertisements clearly said that they are bankrolled by the candidates themselves, residents of the small, eight-block-long city have been flooded with mailers from a extra mysterious supply: a political motion committee named One Surfside. The PAC’s mailers advocate for Danzinger, Rose, and fee candidates David Forbes, Jared Brunnabend, and Fred Landsman.
Danzinger is working towards Charles Burkett, who served because the city’s mayor between 2006 and 2010 and once more from 2020 to 2022, a time period that coincided with the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse.
Operated out of Broward County, greater than 20 miles away from Surfside, on-line information present One Surfside is run by Aaron Nevins — a Florida political operative and public affairs supervisor who was thrust into the nationwide highlight years in the past after working with an alleged Russian hacker who despatched him 2016 election knowledge. Information reveal the majority of the PAC’s money, which has already been spent on mailers, stems from a $20,000 donation from a state political motion committee known as Floridians Collectively for Change, for which Nevins is treasurer.
However this is the catch — as a result of Floridians Collectively for Change isn’t required by the state to report its monetary disclosures till a number of weeks after the election, voters may not know who’s funding the mailers till after they forged their votes.
As Surfside residents head to the polls this week for early voting upfront of election day, March 19, the flood of political advertisements begs the query: Who’s behind this tangled internet of outdoor marketing campaign money?
What’s “One Surfside”?
Launched in September 2023, the One Surfside PAC is operated by Nevins and primarily based in Plantation.
Whereas the PAC has raised practically $25,000 as of March 7, information present it shelled out nearly $15,000 to a sequence of distributors together with Nevins’ firm Chelsea Highway Consulting, IT firm AddinSolutions Inc., and graphic design firm Mark Graphics for mailers and different promoting. Each the PAC and Rose reported a January 31 cost to Boca Raton-based Mark Graphics.
The majority of the committee’s just lately raised cash stems from a $20,000 contribution obtained on January 24 by Floridians Collectively for Change, a state PAC based in December. In keeping with on-line information, the PAC’s chairman is Ethan Bazak, a senior at Don Soffer Aventura Excessive Faculty and legislative aide to embattled Florida Rep. Fabián Basabe. Nevins is listed because the committee’s treasurer.
Amongst different controversial laws, Basabe co-sponsored the Stay Native Act, a invoice that bans government-enforced lease controls and gives tax breaks to builders for tasks designated as reasonably priced housing.
On condition that Floridians Collectively for Change is required to observe state reporting deadlines, which mandate the committee file its quarterly monetary disclosures by April 10, the supply of the $20,000 contribution may not be publicly revealed till then. Although the sum appears modest within the context of statewide or federal elections, it represents a big inflow of political advert cash for Surfside, a city with a inhabitants of lower than 6,000 residents.
Bazak has not responded to requests for remark by way of LinkedIn and Instagram.
The One Surfside PAC additionally obtained a $4,000 contribution in February from a South Carolina-based firm, Inspiration Museum.
Whereas it’s unclear what the company, which is predicated in Myrtle Seaside, does precisely, South Carolina public information present that it is run by a person named Jeff Brown and was created in March 2021. An organization of the identical identify and agent seems to have been registered in Florida with addresses in Fort Lauderdale and Plantation; its goal is vaguely described in a 2010 submitting with the State of Florida as “the achievement of web’s concepts and companies, which contribute to society and enhance folks’s lives.”
In response to a request for touch upon the PAC exercise – particularly, about residents’ considerations that exterior cash is pouring into Surfside’s election –– Danzinger tells New Occasions that his foremost considerations concerning the election aren’t associated to political committees.
“My major concern lies not with the pursuits of political motion committees (PACs) that seem like following the regulation, however moderately with the soiled politics, surreptitious anti-Semitism and dissemination of misinformation inside our group,” Danzinger tells New Occasions, referring partly to an e mail circulated to residents that he says falsely claimed the Shul of Bal Harbour, a neighborhood synagogue, doesn’t assist his re-election.
Danzinger says he’s “proud to function the primary Orthodox Jewish conservative mayor in our predominantly Jewish group.”
“There are numerous who wish to see me succeed on this position. It’s extremely humbling and an honor to obtain such widespread assist from numerous people and organizations who’re invested in my success on this position,” he says, including that the “election has veered away from addressing native considerations and descended right into a realm of tribalism.”
His opponent Burkett’s marketing campaign platform is partly primarily based on curbing over-development within the city, the place some residents lately have been important of the mayor and commissioners over perceived concessions to highly effective builders, together with DAMAC Worldwide, the corporate creating the positioning of the Champlain Towers South collapse.
Who’s Aaron Nevins?
Nevins, the son of former Solar Sentinel political author and columnist Buddy Nevins, works as a state lobbyist and political marketing consultant. He beforehand labored as a legislative assistant and chief of workers for Republican politician Ellyn Bogdanoff when she was a state consultant and later state senator.
In keeping with Nevins’ LinkedIn profile, he’s the managing member of Chelsea Highway Consulting, which makes a speciality of governmental affairs, lobbying, and marketing campaign consulting. His profile additionally signifies he’s the president of Painted Canine Productions, a digital media manufacturing agency.
Following Russia’s meddling within the 2016 presidential election, the Wall Road Journal reported Nevins obtained hacked knowledge from the Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee and later posted the data on his weblog HelloFLA.com.
He reportedly made contact with the hacker referred to as “Guccifer 2.0,” writing, “Be at liberty to ship any Florida primarily based data,” earlier than he obtained 2.5 gigabytes of information. He was not charged with any crime within the Russian interference investigation, although he did voluntarily converse with particular counsel Robert Mueller’s group, in keeping with the Solar Sentinel.
Within the days after a gunman killed 14 college students and three workers members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, Nevins solicited donations in $17 increments to his political motion committee Folks Over Politics.
Utilizing the slogan, “It isn’t about politics, it is about Parkland,” and a picture of the highschool, he sought donations to “assist assist Parkland’s leaders” and “present assist for this group that was shattered by gun violence.” The transfer garnered criticism from Parkland residents who accused Nevins of attempting to “money in” on the tragedy.
Warren Sturman, who was working for the Fort Lauderdale metropolis fee on the time, terminated Nevins as his marketing campaign supervisor after he discovered concerning the donation effort, in keeping with a Solar Sentinel report.
“Taking cash within the wake of a tragedy I believe is horrible,” Sturman stated.
In keeping with his skilled profile, Nevins has organized a grassroots marketing campaign to guard the Vibrant Futures Scholarship Program and a marketing campaign to assist the Brightline high-speed passenger prepare.
Nevins declined to talk with New Occasions.
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