Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanans congressional re-election campaign is fighting back against a new television ad released by Democratic opponent Keith Fitzgerald, calling it false, dishonest and outrageous.
Sunshine State News contacted both campaigns and interviewed several key players in the race's latest controversy to get to the bottom of the accusations.
Buchanan and former state representative Keith Fitzgerald both launched new TV ads Tuesday. Buchanans was positive, highlighting the Central Florida congressmans commitment to lower taxes, a balanced budget, and incentives for small businesses to create jobs. Fitzgeralds went on the attack.
If yours is a middle class family like mine, then you know Washington just isnt working for you, Fitzgerald narrates in Price, the first ad of his campaign. Skyrocketing deficits. Mountains of debt and congressional waste and corruption are a big part of the problem. It is costing us billions. And our own congressman?
What follows are two news clips which mention corruption allegations that have dogged Buchanan for several years.
The first clip, of a July 2008 news segment narrated by Tampa news personality Keith Cate, refers to claims made four years ago by two of Buchanans former car dealership employees, who alleged that they were fired after they refused to cooperate in unethical campaign practices. They both said they were reimbursed for contributions they made during Buchanan's 2006 congressional campaign, a violation of federal law.
Sunshine State News contacted Doug Lyons, the Tallahassee attorney who represented the former employees. He told the News that the suits were voluntarily withdrawn.
The allegations were subsequently investigated for two years by the Federal Elections Commission, which in December 2011 closed the case without charging Buchanan with any wrongdoing.
The second clip in the Fitzgerald ad is taken from a June 2012 segment narrated by CNNs Anderson Cooper, referring to congressional and federal investigations into Buchanan's business practices. As previously reported by Sunshine State News, on Sept. 11 the Department of Justice (DOJ) ended all of its probes into allegations and announced that no criminal charges would be forthcoming. The United States House Committee on Ethics is still investigating them.
Fitzgeralds ad neglects to mention the DOJs dismissal of the allegations against Buchanan.
"This ad is false, dishonest and outrageous, Buchanan campaign spokesman Max Goodman told Sunshine State News. Fitzgerald knows full well Buchanan is not under federal investigation. It shows how desperate he truly is.
Sunshine State News spoke with Fitzgerald campaign manager Adam Scott, and repeatedly asked if he was aware of any instance in which Buchanan had been found guilty by any court of law or ethics panel of the numerous accusations that have dogged the congressmans political career. Scott would not answer the question, simply telling the News that we need to raise the bar of what we expect of our elected officials; if the bar is they have not been indicted or criminally charged, this community deserves a lot better than that.
Scott also referred to a supposed investigation of Buchanan by the IRS, citing an article published earlier this month by WTSP reporterMike Deeson. Sunshine State News contacted Deeson, who was unable to provide, before Tuesday evening, the source for his claim that Buchanan still faces an inquiry by the IRS. Deeson confirmed that his information did not come directly from the IRS; instead, he forwarded the News an excerpt from a January deposition by Salvatore Rosa, former CFO of Buchanan Enterprises. In the excerpt, Rosa refers to a report he made to the federal government alleging tax evasion by Buchanan, and to recent correspondence he received that the matter has not been terminated [as of January 2012] by the federal government.
"There was never anything but malicious speculation to support the claim that Congressman Buchanan was the subject of a criminal tax investigation, one of Buchanans attorneys, William McGinley, insisted to Sunshine State News. What is beyond dispute is that the Justice Department's announcement two weeks ago that it has closed all aspects of its investigation resolves the question categorically: There is no criminal IRS investigation of Vern Buchanan."
Ironically, Fitzgerald himself is the subject of an investigation by the Florida Commission on Ethics, in response to a complaint filed Aug. 20 by retired Bradenton engineer George Del Monte. The complaint alleges that Fitzgerald, during his tenure in the state House, earmarked some $6 million of special funding to New College of Florida without disclosing his employment by the college as a tenured professor of political science. That investigation remains ongoing.
Sunshine State News obtained a copy of an email from the office of the clerk of the Florida House, addressed to another state representative, affirming that [w]e find no notice of conflicts [of interest] on file with the clerks office from Representative Keith Fitzgerald during his term (2006-2010).
Scott referred the News to a five-page legal memorandum provided to the Fitzgerald campaign by the law firm Messer Caparello and Self. In it, attorneys Mark Herron and Melanie Leitman opine that Fitzgeralds nondisclosure did not violate Florida law because "there was no special private gain or loss [from the earmarks] that inured to New College or to [Fitzgerald] personally.The benefit inured to all public universities generally and, more specifically, to the entire class of people who either attend or are employed by New College."
Research by Sunshine State News did not yield a single instance of either Buchanan or Fitzgerald having been found guilty of corruption in a judicial or legislative tribunal. When asked whether it was fair of his campaign to accuse Buchanan of corruption on the basis of investigations that have never substantiated such allegations, especially while Fitzgerald himself is the object of such an investigation, Scott told the News, Congressman Buchanan needs to open up and tell the truth to his constituents about the investigations that hes been under and continues to be under.
Scott characterized Del Montes ethics complaint as simply bald-faced lies by Congressman Buchanan. Asked what evidence he had that the Buchanan campaign was behind the complaints, Scott replied: Everyone knows these things don't happen by accident. Everyone knows Vern Buchanan is the only person with any reason to falsely attack Keith Fitzgerald's unquestioned integrity.
Goodman adamantly denied any involvement of any of Buchanans legislative or campaign staff in Del Montes complaint, and said the campaign became aware of the complaint only after it was filed back in August. Del Monte himself confirmed as much to Sunshine State News.
This is not the first time Fitzgerald has been accused of embellishing facts to smear Rep. Buchanan. In exclusive interviews with Sunshine State News Sept. 15, Fitzgerald was denounced by Habitat for Humanity officials for falsely accusing Buchanan of misleading the world-renowned Christian charity in a 2008-2009 land deal.
Reach Eric Giunta at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
