Over the past week, voters in District 44 race have been bombarded with multiple mailers and phone calls trying to tear down the good reputation of John Newstreet.
By Jacob Engels
As is common in any dirty attack, the missives come from some secretive committee with a righteous sounding name. In this case, it’s Central Florida Republicans for Truth.
At the West Orange Chamber of Commerce debate, Bobby O said he wouldn’t be using such mailers. He said he wanted to run a clean race. He said he would not allow third parties to operate on his behalf.
But, now that he’s losing yet another race, he’s decided to break his promise and attack John Newstreet with mailers from Central Florida Republicans for Truth. His name is not associated with the group, but his campaign advisors are knee deep.
Bobby’s campaign is run by Tampa-based Anthony Pedicini. He’s no stranger to third-party mailers. He has four committees registered with the state to send these type of mailers.
Their treasurer on all them? Michael Millner, a South Florida political player who operates nearly 30 such committees. He’s an “ECO-for-hire” guy. He’s who Pedicini calls for dirty deeds.
He’s the treasurer for the committee funding the Newstreet hit pieces.
Sure, Pedicini’s name isn’t directly on Central Florida Republicans for Truth. The chairman is a former candidate for UCF Student Government Association President, who was kicked out of the election at UCF.
He just started working for Target as a manager. How does a manager at Target afford to send a direct mail piece? He’s simply a pawn in Bobby O’s game, I actually supported his bid for Student Body President.
Want further proof? The negative robocall from Central Florida Republicans for Truth was from an 813 area code. That’s Tampa, where Bobby’s campaign team operates out of.
The phone number was used by former Democrat Governor Bob Graham against a constitutional amendment most recently.
How truthful is it that a group labeled Central Florida Republicans uses the same tool as one of the most powerful and respected Democrats in the state?
We won’t get into details too heavily, they accuse Newstreet, a former aide to Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Mel Martinez, of being in love with Obamacare.
A crafty and clever campaign tactic, but a blatant and outright lie.
Voters are tired of this type of campaigning and should reject Bobby O for his desperate, do anything to win mentality.
On August 10th, we’ll know who funded these pieces and we’ll follow up then.
Jacob Engels is an Orlando based journalist whose work has been featured and republished in news outlets around the globe including Politico, InfoWars, MSNBC, Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, Daily Mail UK, Associated Press, People Magazine, ABC, and Fox News to name a few. Mr. Engels focuses on stories that other news outlets neglect or willingly hide to curry favor among the political and business special interests in the state of Florida.
