GOP consultant investigated by Miami-Dade State Attorney attacks her with text blasts
A Republican consultant who was at one point deemed a “possible subject” in a criminal investigation by the office of Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is behind a political committee attacking the longtime Democrat — even though she is not on the 2024 ballot.
Alex Alvarado, a Tallahassee consultant tied to a 2020 plot to hurt Democrats by promoting “ghost” candidates who didn’t campaign, is coordinating political ads that criticize Fernandez Rundle for raising money for a reelection campaign she ultimately didn’t have to run.
“Not again… ‘Disgraced’ Katherine Fernandez Rundle was re-elected without opposition,” a text message paid for by the political committee, Hold Them Accountable, reads. The text messages say Fernandez Rundle “raised over $600k for her ‘ghost’ campaign,” and claim she is “in the pockets of big developers, healthcare executives and lobbyists.”
“When are we going to hold her accountable?” the ad reads.
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Alvarado’s political committee is going after Fernandez Rundle nearly four years after her office zeroed in on him in an investigation that rocked Florida politics.
In 2020, Alvarado set up two committees that paid for mail advertisements that promoted three sham independent candidates in an alleged plot to help Republicans cement their majority in the Florida Senate.
One of the candidates helped swing the results of a Miami state Senate race.
The alleged conspiracy into that race is part of an ongoing criminal case that is headed to trial in September, with GOP operative Frank Artiles facing criminal charges that he paid an old friend to run as an independent in Miami’s Senate District 37. The Republican candidate in that race won by 32 votes, and the independent candidate promoted in that race by Alvarado’s political committee pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges.
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State investigators have also charged a second sham candidate who ran in a Central Florida Senate race and was promoted by Alvarado’s political committees.
No charges have been filed against Alvarado in any of the cases — though Fernandez Rundle’s political strategist told the Herald/Times that his 2020 tactics were “illegal.”
Christian Ulvert, Fernandez Rundle’s campaign advisor, said Tuesday that Alvarado’s “questionable campaign tactics falsely attacking” the state attorney are not a surprise “because he was caught in 2020 spearheading the illegal and coordinated efforts to undermine voters in several battleground races in South Florida, including the state senate district where a ghost candidate was recruited.”
Ulvert added that the “community will see through Mr. Alvarado’s veiled threats given his record in South Florida of intimidating voters with lies.”
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Evidence in the case shows Alvarado set up two political committees that paid for political mail advertisements that propped up the sham candidates, who were recruited to put their names on the ballot as independents to siphon votes from progressive candidates. The mailers were paid with $550,000 that was funneled through the dark-money group Grow United, a tax-exempt Delaware corporation.
Alvarado told the Miami Herald in April 2021 that no one hired him to execute the efforts. Instead, he characterized it as a “business venture.”
Now, Alvarado points to the First Amendment when asked about the political committee behind the political attacks on Fernandez Rundle.
“The freedom of speech along with the right to associate without fear of reprisal from the government are pillars of the First Amendment,” Alvarado said in a text message to a reporter on Tuesday.
Hold Them Accountable, the committee paying for the text message ads, was created on April 24, two days before Fernandez Rundle was automatically re-elected without opposition.
According to a campaign finance report, the committee has so far reported $20,000 in non-monetary contributions from Alvarado’s consulting firm to cover the cost of legal fees, text message ads and graphics.