By Bryce Abshier – Contact Bryce@VoiceofSouthMarion.com
Incumbent candidates for the Marion County Board of County Commissioners have raised considerably more funds than their challengers. According to the most recent Supervisor of Elections reporting, Craig Curry and Matt McClain, the only County Commissioners who will face challengers in the upcoming August election, have raised a total of $138,896.20 compared to $14,382.70 by their opponents. This is a staggering difference of $124,513.50. A detailed review of campaign donations, which are public records under Florida law, reveals a troubling pattern: many contributions come from LLCs registered at the same addresses, as well as interest associated with developers in Marion County.
Individuals are limited to $1,000 per candidate per election cycle, but the use of multiple LLCs allows for circumvention of these limits. Each LLC, as a separate legal entity, can donate up to $1,000 per cycle under Florida law, potentiality opening the door for a few individuals to funnel more money into campaigns.
For the 2024 election cycle, the limit for direct contributions to statewide office candidates increased to $3,000 per election, effectively $6,000 for the entire cycle. The limit remained at $1,000 per election for local and legislative offices, totaling $2,000 per cycle. What has come to be called the “LLC loophole” permits wealthy individuals to significantly boost their political influence.
Unlike individual donors who must disclose personal information, LLCs offer less transparency, somewhat obscuring the sources of campaign funds and potentially allowing for undue influence over candidates. This lack of transparency forces ordinary citizens to act as detectives to trace the origins of donations, a process that, while legal in Florida, raises ethical concerns.
Incumbent Marion County Commissioner Craig Curry, running for re-election in District 1 against Sarah Almeida Dennis, has raised $81,426.20 since October 1, 2023. For one example, Curry received five separate $1,000 donations from LLCs registered at one address: 17996 S US Hwy 301, Summerfield, FL 34491. These LLCs – Marion Gaming Management LLC, Diamondback Ranch LLC, South Marion R/E Holdings LLC, CFG Capital Partners LLC, and Central Florida Gaming LLC – are all linked to the Oxford Downs Poker Room.
Similarly, incumbent Matt McClain, seeking re-election in District 3 against David Blackwell and write-in candidate Rich Brown, received identical contributions from these same five LLCs headquartered at 17996 S US Hwy 301, Summerfield.
This pattern of fundraising, as well as other examples available as public record, raises questions about the transparency and integrity of LLC campaign financing.
Developer LLC interests are notably well represented in donations to Craig Curry’s campaign. The following developer LLCs have made contributions to Curry’s re-election bid: Ocala Development of Marion LLC, West Oak Developers LLC, West Oak Developers II LLC, Freedom Commons Dev. LLC, HTM Developers LLC, and 95th Street Holdings LLC. Other prominent developer figureheads, like Harvey W. Vandeven and attorney James Gooding (who has a long history of representing developers, even in recent months at Marion County Commission meetings), have chipped in for Curry as well.
When asked by the Voice, some experts at the University of Florida criticized the use of multiple LLC donations for potentially undermining election integrity, as it allows an individual to circumvent the maximum contribution limits set by Florida law. Ted Bridis, a lecturer at the UF College of Journalism and Communications, remarked, “It’s vitally important that voters understand who is bankrolling political candidates so that we can understand whose special interests they will represent when they’re elected. Shrouding the actual sources of campaign donations behind entities like limited liability corporations – and expecting voters to play detectives by uncovering these hidden connections – is undemocratic, and helps candidates circumvent the spirit of enforcing legal limits on direct campaign contributions.”
Making donations under LLCs is different than the more traditional practice of routing contributions through family members or employees. This adds an additional layer to the downside of such donations – not only can multiple thousands be channeled through each limited liability corporation, the source is more opaque. To find out who is behind those donations, ordinary citizens would need to spend time investigating, a practice which few working class individuals have time for.
Bridis pointed out that the practice of using multiple LLCs to get around donor limitation amounts for campaigns appears to be a routine practice by politicians across Florida. For example, Christian F. Acosta, a Republican candidate in House District 94, received as much as $5,000 in donations from various LLCs sharing the same address. Some sleuthing, which the typical working-class citizen would not have time to do, eventually traced those donations back to interests affiliated with Acosta’s parents, effectively skirting Florida contribution limits. According to Bridis, this example illustrates how the use of LLCs can dramatically amplify the financial power of a few individuals in political campaigns, undermining the democratic process and the spirit of campaign finance laws.
