What’s News In This Story?
Updated: 8-9-18 at 3:19 PM EST (Campbell responds)
–Senator Daphne Campbell has been accused of illegally sending mailers to Republican voters in an attempt to trick them into voting for her, a Democrat.
–Campbell says that it is her opponent Jason Pizzo who is behind the ploy.
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Miami has a long and rich history of politicians playing dirty tricks on each other.
And signs are pointing to another example of that in 2018.
William Stuttgen is a registered Republican who lives in the Belle Meade area of Miami.
He’s retired and really dislikes his State Senator- Daphne Campbell.
He even has a campaign sign for Campbell’s opponent, Jason Pizzo in his front yard.
So when he received a letter in the mail last week that apparently came from a group of local Republicans that endorsed Campbell in the District 38 primary on August 28th, he was incensed.
Since no Republican or Independent registered to run in the general election in November, all voters in the district will be able to vote in the Democratic Primary.
Whoever wins in three weeks will be the district’s next State Senator.
And Stuttgen thinks that Campbell is using a classic dirty trick to get unsuspecting Republicans to vote for her.
“Someone got a list of the registered Republicans,” Stuttgen said in an interview at his home with RISE NEWS. “Pizzo didn’t do this. This is a Campbell thing.”
The chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party Juan Cuba said that they will be investigating whether Campbell is behind the flyer, as first reported by the Miami New Times:
The @MiamiDadeDems steering committee will be investigating/ sending @SenCampbellD38 a letter inquiring whether her campaign is involved with this mailer, & asking her to renounce this illegal tactic.
— Juan Cuba (@juancuba) August 7, 2018
Stuttgen said that the flyer was mailed to his house and had a stamp on it.
But it had no return address.
The name of the organization that claimed to pay for the flyer- “your Republican Neighbor” is not a registered political group in Florida and it is not clear where the money for the mailing came from.
It is also not clear how many people received the mailer.
Pizzo told RISE NEWS that his campaign has received another flyer from a voter in Miami Beach.
A Pizzo-supporting dark money group called FloridaStrong also said that have received a flyer from a voter who lives in Miami Beach that came from the same “your Republican Neighbor” group.
RISE NEWS canvassed six random houses on the street that Stuttgen lives on in Belle Meade.
None of the people we spoke to, including a registered Republican had received the flyer as of Sunday.
“Given my opponent’s unethical practices, there should be little doubt that she and her campaign coordinated this slate card,” Pizzo told RISE NEWS.
In a wide ranging phone interview that lasted nearly 45 minutes, Campbell denied the claims that she was behind the flyer.
She said that it was Pizzo who paid for the flyers to go out.
“He made it. It’s Christian Ulvert,” Campbell said of Pizzo’s political advisor. “I don’t have no money to do a slate. It’s them doing it. They’re so stupid.”
“Jason Pizzo can not take me down because I’m a people person,” Campbell said. “I’ve done so much for the communities I serve.
“Pizza wants developers from New Jersey to get rid of Haitians from Little Haiti,” Campbell said. “This is an attack on a black woman. I pray to God that August 28th that he gets his results. I leave Jason in God’s hands.”
On the campaign trail, Campbell has claimed that Pizzo is a secret Republican who wants to buy the election.
“I’m a proud Democrat,” Campbell said at a recent event in North Miami.
While Stuttgen is a Republican, he said that he is moderate on social issues.
Campbell is a pro life, anti-gay marriage Democrat who has been consistently supported by one of Florida’s most conservative religious groups, the Christian Family Coalition.
“She thinks people vote party line and they don’t look at the names,” Stuttgen said. “This is lunacy.
Campbell has a long history of controversy and borderline criminal behavior.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, RISE NEWS uncovered that Campbell had used her personal connection to an FPL lobbyist to try to get power turned on at the house of her “mother” before her other constituents.
Stuttgen said that if Pizzo loses to Campbell, he will be leaving Miami for good.
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