Stevens Hits Werner’s ‘Dark Money’ Donations; Werner Deems it ‘Cheap’

Pointed if civil criticism was exchanged on Wednesday between Ray Stevens and Andrew Werner, the two candidates facing off for the Palm Coast City Council’s District 3 seat. The remarks came during the Flagler Tiger Bay Club’s local candidate forum at the Palm Coast Community Center.

In his closing remarks, Stevens suggested that Werner was funded by special interests outside Palm Coast, which made him beholden to them. Werner did not address the accusations in his statement, but did respond after the forum’s conclusion.

Ray Stevens’ Claims About Andrew Werner

“I want to discuss something that concerns me, and that is the influx of dark money, PACs, especially real estate and development PACs, into this election,” Stevens said. “If a candidate accepts thousands of dollars in PAC money, where is that person’s allegiance going to lie? Is it going to be with the people of Palm Coast and the city? Or is it going to be the people in the PACs, the real estate and developer PACs that pumped thousands of dollars into their campaign?” He went on to advertise that he self-funds his campaign and that he wouldn’t owe any donors if elected to the City Council.

Stevens is correct that Werner’s campaign has been funded heavily by political action committees (PACs) headquartered outside of Palm Coast. Six PACs made donations to Werner’s campaign according to data from the Flagler Supervisor of Elections Office. One, the most obviously relevant to Stevens’ accusations, is the Florida Realtors PAC. Funded by the National Association of Realtors plus many state and local real estate entities, the Florida Realtors PAC donates to both Republican and Democratic causes within the state. Another of Werner’s donors, Floridians for Conservative Values, has been funded heavily by developers in Florida.

Also donating to Werner are Liberatem and Florida First Forever, two conservative super-PACs. The latter of the two, also heavily funded by builders, later had its $1,000 contribution refunded from Werner’s campaign bank account. A contribution was also made by the Perspective PAC, a group co-founded by Palm Coast resident and unsuccessful state legislature candidate Darryl Boyer which seeks to increase racial diversity in conservative politics. Rounding out the group is the Florida Foundation for Liberty, a PAC funded by NextEra Energy and Sentry Insurance which also donated to Flagler County Commission candidate Ed Danko and state legislature candidate Sam Greco, both Republicans. All of Werner’s PAC donors contributed $1,000 (Florida Realtors PAC made two thousand-dollar donations), and all are based outside of Palm Coast.

Stevens also claimed that he is self-funded, unlike Werner. This isn’t quite true, but it’s not far off. He self-funded 98.4% of the $17,132.00 in logged contributions, with $275 (1.6%) coming from other donors. That last bit of cash comes from a mixture of Palm Coast and Ormond Beach residents.

Andrew Werner’s Response

Andrew Werner does not deny what the data shows. He readily acknowledges his PAC donations, as well as his endorsement by the Flagler County Association of Realtors. At a question-and-answer forum in August, Werner said he doesn’t have the wealth to self-fund, and emphasized the time he’s spent knocking on doors in Palm Coast and speaking to residents face-to-face.

“If I were to get into this doing the bidding of any special interests, I will have wasted my time completely,” Werner said on Wednesday. “For me this has been about getting to know my community and listening to the concerns of the people of Palm Coast. I think [Stevens’ comment] is a cheap political move, to be honest with you. You can do research into any of the people who gave me money, that’s all public information. He claims to be a self-funded candidate and used that as a political attack. I’m proud of my PAC money. I’ve had family friends who are senators in the state who give me money because they believe in me.”

Beyond that, Werner said he wouldn’t levy accusations of corruption against Stevens (though he’d be unable to do so on the same basis as the ones against himself). “I have no apologies to make, if you want to make political attacks on your opponent that’s up to him. But I won’t be doing that kind of thing. I think it’s a cheap move.”

Werner’s Contributions at a Glance

PACs account for over half of the $11,111.80 Werner has logged in campaign contributions as of Monday. Individual donors make up just under a third of his donations, with self-funding and the lone business contributor Woolsey Morcom Attorney at Law making up the rest. Palm Coast-based donors represent the largest group out of Werner’s contributions, but still less than half of the overall haul; the PACs based in Tallahassee, Orlando, and Gainesville make up the majority of his cash. A small number of donors live outside of Florida, all individuals donating $100 or less.