The supporters of the pro-abortion Amendment 4 paid $1.25 million dollars to a controversial vote canvassing company operating out of an empty Broward county office. The group, Floridians Protecting Freedom, is funded by Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, SEIU and and an organization tied to George Soros. According to State of Florida campaign records, Floridians Protecting Freedom made payments of $250,000 and $1,000,000 to Hard Knocks Strategies in August 2024.
State business records filed in July 2024 show Hard Knocks Strategies is based at a Plantation medical office building near Fort Lauderdale.
A visit to the Hard Knocks Strategies headquarters revealed it is nothing but an empty office space. No sign on the locked door. The view through the door’s mail slot showed a pile of broken electrical fixtures in the empty office suite.
This is not the first time the well-compensated Hard Knocks Strategies used empty office space.
In September 2020, REDBROWARD reported on the millions of dollars Hard Knocks Strategies received from political groups tied to ultra-left wing philanthropist George Soros.
In 2018, Soros’ Federal Win Justice PAC paid $2,239,334 to Hard Knocks. Federal campaign records showed the money supported the campaigns of Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Donna Shalala and Senator Bill Nelson.
In 2020, Federal records showed the Win Justice PAC gave $474,000 to Hard Knocks Strategies, which included a $250,000 payment for “phone banking” on behalf of Joe Biden.
At the time, Hard Knocks was based at another empty office space near Plantation.
In 2020, REDBROWARD asked Hard Knocks Strategies owner Itohan “Stephanie” Ighodaro for comment. While she was involved in the 2018 election cycle, Ighodaro told REDBROWARD she was no longer affiliated with Hard Knocks Strategies. She said she gave control of the company over to Eric Brakken. Ighodaro said she would provide Brakken with our contact information.
According to LinkedIn, Eric Brakken of EJB Strategies is the former executive director of SEIU Florida.
According to 2020 Federal campaign records, the SEIU PAC paid $592,076 to Hard Knocks Strategies. State records show the SEIU political committee gave $296,218.23 to Hard Knocks Strategies.
Current State business records show Hard Knocks Strategies is lead by another former employee of the SEIU union.
STATE FINES HARD KNOCKS
Earlier this year, the State of Florida fined Hard Knocks Strategies over its handling of ballot petitions.
According to the January 2024 Florida Department of State Office of Election Crime and Security (OECS) Report to Legislature, a local State Attorneys Office investigation revealed Hard Knocks Strategies “conducts no or limited background checks” on employees hired to handle sensitive voter registration information. One Hard Knocks employee was a fifteen time convicted felon.
The OECS said it repeatedly fined Hard Knocks Strategies for violations of voter registration laws such as submitting petitions after the statutory deadline and submitting petitions to the wrong supervisors of elections. The State said it collected nearly $50,000 in fines from Hard Knocks Strategies.
Now, Florida Democrats and their media allies cry foul as the State investigates allegations of wrongdoing in the Amendment 4 ballot petition signature process. A process run by Hard Knocks Strategies.
Florida Voice reported, “DeSantis’ Office of Election Crimes and Security is concerned that a ‘substantial number of voter signature forgeries were submitted by Floridians Protecting Freedom’– the group behind Amendment 4 – and subsequently ‘verified as valid’ by supervisors of elections.”
