Familiar Republican consultant targets Fernandez-Randall in ad

Tallahassee

A Republican consultant Considered as a “possible subject” A criminal investigation by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has identified Katherine Fernandez Rundle as the person behind the political committee that attacked the longtime Democrat — even though she is not on the 2024 ballot.

Alex Alvarado, a Tallahassee consultant suspected of orchestrating a 2020 scheme to hurt Democrats by promoting “ghost” candidates who didn’t run, is coordinating political ads criticizing Fernandez-Randall for raising money for a reelection campaign she ultimately didn’t have to run.

“No more of this … ‘out of favor’ Kathryn Fernandez Rundell was re-elected unopposed,” read one text message funded by the political committee Hold Them Accountable. The text message said Fernandez Rundell had “raised over $600,000 for her ‘ghost’ campaign” and claimed she was “paid off by big developers, health care executives and lobbyists.”

The ad reads: “When will we hold her accountable?”

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Alvarado’s political committee is pursuing Fernandez Rendell, four years after her office focused on an investigation that rocked Florida politics.

In 2020, Alvarado formed two committees to pay for mailer ads promoting three fake independent candidates in an alleged effort to help the Republican Party solidify its majority in the Florida Senate.

One of those candidates helped change the outcome of a state Senate race in Miami.

The alleged conspiracy in this campaign is ongoing The criminal case, which is set to go to trial in September, charges that Republican operative Frank Artiles bribed a longtime friend to run as an independent in Miami’s 37th Senate District. The Republican candidate in that race won by 32 votes, while Alvarado’s political committee nominated an independent candidate in that race. Pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges.

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State investigators also allege The second fake candidate, in the Central Florida Senate race, was promoted by Alvarado’s political committee.

Alvarado has not been charged in any of the cases — although Fernández Landes’ political strategist told the Herald that his 2020 tactics were “illegal.”

Christian Ulfert, a campaign adviser to Fernández Landes, said Tuesday that it was not surprising that Alvarado “used questionable campaign tactics to frame” state prosecutors “given that he was found to have spearheaded an illegal and organized effort to sabotage voters in 2020 involving several battleground races in South Florida, including a state Senate district where a ghost candidate was recruited.”

Ulfert added, “Given Mr. Alvarado’s record of intimidating voters with lies in South Florida, the community will see through his veiled threats.”

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Evidence in the case showed that Alvarado set up two political committees to fund political mail ads to support fake candidates who were recruited to sign on the ballot as independent candidates to siphon votes away from progressive candidates. The mailers were paid $550,000, which was paid through the dark money group Grow United, a tax-free Delaware corporation.

In April 2021, Alvarado told the Miami Herald that no one had hired him to perform the work. Instead, he described it as a “business venture.”

Now, when asked about the political committee behind the political attack on Fernandez Randall, Alvarado mentioned the First Amendment.

“The right to free speech and to associate freely without fear of government reprisal is a pillar of the First Amendment,” Alvarado said in a text message to reporters Tuesday.

The committee responsible for paying for the text message ads, “Hold Them Accountable,” was formed on April 24, two days before Fernández Randall was automatically re-elected without an opponent.

The committee has so far reported receiving $20,000 in nonmonetary contributions from Alvarado’s consulting firm to cover legal fees, text message ads and graphics, according to campaign finance reports.