A brand-new mysterious political committee has deep ties to Broward Mayor Dale Holness. This marks the third political committee tied to Broward’s controversial mayor. On July 15, 2020, REDBROWARD exposed close ties between People of Principle PAC, a Federal political committee, and Mayor Holness. Five days later, individuals tied to Holness started the Stronger Together Florida political committee.

In July, REDBROWARD revealed how the mysterious People of Principle federal political committee was tied to Dale Holness’ longtime campaign marketing guru Omar Smith. The Committee was promoting mostly black candidates on campaign mailers and advertisements.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show People of Principle PAC was created by Charmalin Brown in January 2019. Brown used the address of a Margate UPS store as the headquarters for the political committee. In April 2019, Charmalin Brown purchased the domain name currently used by People Of Principle PAC.

State corporation records show Charmalin Brown, a tax preparer, started a business in 2006 using Omar Smith as her registered agent. Brown used a home on the 300 block of Berenger Walk in Royal Palm Beach as her business address. Numerous records show Omar Smith uses the same Berenger Walk address.

In 2018, REDBROWARD exposed Omar Smith’s role in A Better Florida For All, another mysterious political committee promoting gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and other Black Broward Democrats.

After questions were raised about judicial candidates appearing on the A Better Florida For All campaign materials, Omar Smith spoke to the Sun-Sentinel.

Smith “insisted this week that none of the candidates were picked because of financial ties to the political action committee or to any of Smith’s businesses, which perform campaign services.”

“Those payments had nothing to do with his appearance on that flier,” Smith said.

State campaign records show A Better Florida For All paid Charmalin Brown for expenses related to food.

When REDBROWARD contacted the People Of Principle PAC at the telephone number listed on its website, Omar Smith answered the telephone.

STRONGER TOGETHER?

On July 20, 2020, Kayla Butler filed paperwork forming the Stronger Together Florida political with the Division of Elections in Tallahassee. According to the documents, the political committee is located at home on Barnstead Circle in Lake Worth, Florida. The telephone number for the committee is (754) 444-6117.

Campaign reports from the 2016 Broward election show Kayla Butler was a paid intern on the Dale Holness campaign even though she was living in Palm Beach. According to recent social media posts, Butler is a yoga instructor still living in Palm Beach county.

The telephone number for Stronger Together Florida is also found in State records regarding third party groups conducting voter registrations. The number is listed for “All Consulting And Marketing, Inc.” which conducted voter registration drives at 4325 W. Sunrise Blvd in Plantation since May, 2019.

This is the same address for All Broward Realty, Inc, a real estate company owned by Broward Mayor Dale Holness.

According to the State third party voter registration records and State corporate records, All Consulting And Marketing Inc. is owned by Richelle Holness, the daughter of Broward Mayor Dale Holness. State corporate records indicate the corporation was dissolved in September 2019 after failing to file its required corporate report.

State license records show Richelle Holness is a licensed real estate agent at All Broward Realty.

Broward election records list Richelle Holness as the treasurer for Broward Mayor Dale Holness’ 2020 campaign.

On September 8, 2020, the Florida Division of Elections sent a “failure to file” letter to Butler after Stronger Together Florida failed to provide financial information regarding its activities.

“I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU’RE CALLING ME”

REDBROWARD called Richelle Holness to ask about her involvement in voter registration drives and the Stronger Together Florida political committee.

After confirming she was Richelle Holness, she said, “You know you’re calling Richelle. I don’t know why you’re calling me.” After advising Holness that her telephone number was listed in the documents filed with the Florida Division of Elections, we asked what was the purpose of the PAC. Holness said, “You can look it up on FEC [Federal Elections Committee] or whatever.”

When asked if she knew Kayla Butler, Holness said, “Thank you for your time, goodbye” and hung up.

How many times will political committees tied to Broward Mayor Dale Holness be allowed to influence Broward elections?

These three committees failed to fully report contributions and expenditures. Two of the committees had authorizations revoked for failure to follow the rules.

Don’t Broward voters deserve better?