Campaign donors dispute Miami commissioner’s claim that he offered everyone refunds

Two donors who gave to the aborted congressional campaign of Miami Commissioner Ken Russell are disputing his claim that he contacted all his contributors and offered their money back before he rolled $100,000 into a political committee supporting his reelection to city office.

One day after the Miami Herald reported on the transfer of campaign cash, downtown business owner Gary Ressler took to Twitter to criticize what he called Russell’s “false assertion” that he contacted all his donors, saying he never heard about his $1,000 check. On Monday, Isadore “Izzy” Havenick, whose family operates Magic City Casino, said his mother did not receive a call or a refund about her $2,700 donation.

“I did not get the phone call. My mother says she didn’t get it,” said Havenick, whose plans to open a state-licensed card room in Edgewater were shot down by Russell. “She’s the one who wrote the check. There was no letter or anything.”

Of the roughly $250,000 left in his congressional committee when Russell withdrew from the race in April, the city commissioner has reported more than $66,000 in refunded contributions and donations to charity, along with the $100,000 check made out in July to the political committee supporting his reelection campaign for city commission. Russell also cut $55,000 in checks to the Florida and Miami-Dade Democratic parties, which rubbed some of his Republican donors the wrong way.

“While I was reached out to by Ken Russell, he never mentioned anything to me about donating the money to a PAC which would make donations to Democratic organizations,” said Manny Prieguez, a Republican former state representative and lobbyist who represents the Havenicks. “He intimated to me that the money would go for his re-election and some to charity. Had I known that my donation would be going to Democratic causes, I would have asked for it back.”

Russell says dozens of refund checks have been cut but have not yet been reported as cashed. The latest round of Federal Election Commission campaign reports through the end of September show he has less than $20,000 left in the congressional campaign committee account.

The public sniping — and Russell’s belief that the gripes are political potshots — foreshadows a potentially bumpy reelection campaign for the city’s District 2 commissioner, who was forced to give up his congressional bid for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s seat in the U.S. House due to a new state law requiring him to resign his city seat in order to qualify to make the August ballot. Russell, who is often a swing vote on the commission, has been no stranger to difficult decisions and has turned some former friends and campaign donors. into enemies.

“Of the people mentioned, all have an ax to grind because I did not vote a certain way in my capacity as commissioner. My vote is not for sale,” Russell said in a statement. “Manny Prieguez absolutely got a call from me and I offered his money back. He told me to keep it. The fact that he is acting surprised that a Democratic candidate for Congress would support the Democratic Party is just a facade for his actual buyer’s remorse — he represents the casino that did not like my legislation.”

Russell, who returned excess campaign cash during his 2015 run for city commission, says all donors “under a certain amount” received an automatic refund when he decided to withdraw from the primary race for Florida’s 27th congressional district. He remains adamant that he contacted his larger donors to explain that pro-rated refunds were being sent, and kept those donations that were expressly committed to him going forward.

“I am working with my accountant and campaign staff to make sure that anyone who has not yet received a call or refund is taken care of as soon as possible,” Russell wrote. “There are about 50 refund checks that we sent out which have not been cashed or returned. I’ll be working to follow up with those folks as well. The intention is a good one. Anyone who tries to twist it into something else is being disingenuous.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 2:45 PM.