An aide for State Senator Annette Taddeo (D-Miami) recently created a political committee apparently tied to the upcoming Coral Springs city commission election. State records show the “Coral Springs Community Strong” political committee was created on May 20, 2019 by David Geller. He is listed as the chairman and treasurer of the PAC. According to the documents filed with the Florida Division Of Elections, the committee is located at 1221 South 21st Avenue in Hollywood, Florida.

This is the same address used by the Barreiro, Geller, Wahid (BGW) lobbying firm.

Last week, REDBROWARD revealed Coral Springs city commission candidate Khurrum Wahid hid his role as a lobbyist from voters. None of Wahid’s campaign materials list his lobbyist work. However, the website for his law firm trumpets Wahid’s lobbyist role.

Mr. Wahid is also a partner at Barreiro Geller and Wahid Consulting, a lobbying firm…. lobbies local, state, and federal government agencies in order to leverage relationships for the benefit of corporate interests. Additionally, BGW Consulting manages several elected officials public images and election efforts.

David Geller was Wahid’s partner at BGW Consulting. The Wahid campaign did not respond to questions regarding his lobbying or clients.

An entry on his vanity website, KhurrumWahid.com, mentions a new lobbying group–“Axcis Partners Government Affairs Consulting.” According to State records, Axcis Partners is owned by Gus Barreiro, Khurrum Wahid and Adam Geller, the brother of David Geller.

Adam Geller’s firm, Geller Tamayo, uses the same Hollywood address as the “Coral Springs Community Strong” political committee.

State Senator Annette Taddeo has endorsed Khurrum Wahid, but is she aware her aide started a political committee?

DARK MONEY COMES TO CORAL SPRINGS?

Will “Coral Springs Community Strong” attack Khurrum Wahid’s five opponents for seat 2? Earlier this month, REDBROWARD reported a Wahid campaign official blasted candidate Diane Gonzalez Simpson for using a Sun-Sentinel article about the election. Alissa Jean Schafer blasted Simpson for “feeding into the fear mongering” by “sharing this racist article.”

Even though the Simpson Facebook advertisement made no mention of Khurrum Wahid, Schafer believed the sharing of a newspaper story could lead to violence. Schaefer wrote, “This is downright shameful at best, and dangerous at worst. We already know that spreading hateful fear-mongering rumors can lead to devastating violence, we have far too many recent examples.”

Not only does Alissa Schafer, an elected official, thinks the Sun-Sentinel story could lead to violence, she falsely claimed the Sun-Sentinel apologized for the story.

In response to the REDBROWARD story, Lisa Huriash, the Sun-Sentinel reporter who wrote about the candidates said no apology was made to Khurrum Wahid. Huriash wrote, “Hello. I just want to set the record straight here. Yes, we did update the story after a candidate, Khurrum Wahid, issued a response, including why he has represented terrorism suspects. We did this out of fairness, to provide more explanation and context. The first story was accurate, and we never apologized for it. That’s the full truth. Thank you for allowing me to share it.”

Once again, the Wahid campaign refused to respond to the controversy or apologize to Huriash.

Will “Coral Springs Community Strong” spread fake news like Schafer?

Will “Coral Springs Community Strong” fund mailers or palm cards for the June 18th election?

REDBROWARD asked David Geller to comment, we will update story if he responds.

Coral Springs voters deserve answers from Khurrum Wahid, right?