Who is behind "Friends of Teresa Mast"?

Following local dark money

Since the 2010 Citizens United decision, in Sarasota County we’ve seen a stinky stream of PAC money polluting local elections. These PACs barrage voters with mailers, and usually have great sounding names, like “Florida Country”, “Friends of insert name of candidate”, Neighbors for a Better Sarasota, and Manatee for Common Cents (cute!).

It used to be that candidates were prohibited from even coordinating their campaigns with PACs. No more! Now candidates are actually administering their own PACs, usually as the chairman. It’s a gross conflict of interest. Instead of being limited to the new lofty “limit” of a $1000 donation from any one person or corporate entity, now candidates for local office in Florida can set up their own PACs and get unlimited funds from donors. Can Florida’s campaign finance ethics get any worse?

It also used to be the case that corporations in Florida had to actually be incorporated by a person. But in my PAC studies I’ve found that there’s at least one Florida company out there making contributions that has no actual human being listed as an owner. I thought this only was legal in Delaware and Wyoming. Silly me.

Have a look at Friends of Teresa Mast. Mrs. Mast is running for Sarasota County Commission, District One, and she is chairing her namesake PAC.

There are contributions for the usual developer donors. And there’s a contribution from a feeder PAC, Strong Communities of SW Florida (SCSWF). SCSWF received contributions from affiliates of local developers Pat Neal, Randy Benderson, Hugh Culverhouse and Gary Kompothecras. By the way, seeing Benderson and especially Kompthecras donations in there is a pretty good indication that Mast will greenlight megahotels on Siesta Key. But the big enchilda donor to SCSWF is Propel Florida, LLC, which is listed as a technology firm. Hmm.

Propel Florida LLC lists its Manager as Propel Action LLC, also at the same address in Lithia, Florida. But Propel Action isn’t listed as on Sunbiz as a Florida corporation. In Propel Florida’s original 2020 Sunbiz filing it lists a registered agent, and the paperwork lists an “authorized person” (both are attorneys) but there are no actual human corporate members listed. Every year Propel Florida LLC has filed, there has never been an actual human named as a corporate member. Propel Florida’s registered agent company is Capitol Corporate Services, Inc. This firm is on Sunbiz and is identified as a foreign for profit corporation based in Texas.

Buckets of cash being funneled into local elections via Tallahassee PACs is bad news, and this trend has been snowballing since 2010. We’ve seen the associated rise in corruption in Sarasota and Manatee Counties. Be aware of those mailers in your mailbox - be curious about where they come from, and who is funding them. Beware of candidates who benefit from the darkest of PAC donors - anonymous LLCs. Apparently they are now allowed to operate in Florida, with an assist from an out of state, foreign profit corporation.