Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 7.12.22

Capital City Consulting and Prodigy Public Affairs of Miami are merging, with the latter rebranding as Capital City Consulting Miami.

The merger will see Prodigy owners Rodney Barreto and Brian May become new partners at CCC, providing local government, public affairs, and business-to-business consulting services to clients in South Florida as they have done together for the past 25 years while helping CCC further its statewide presence.

“For nearly two decades, Capital City Consulting has been committed to delivering winning results for our clients at the state level and in select local markets, and we are excited to add a strong and established Miami presence,” said Nick Iarossi, co-founder of CCC.

“With this merger, we will add the biggest local market in the state to our portfolio; and with Brian, one of Florida’s top local government consultants, and Rodney’s reputation and experience as a business leader, there is no doubt they will take our service offering to a new level.”

In addition to Barreto and May, CCC Miami’s team will include Tim Gomez and Felipe Angulo as directors. Gomez and Angulo previously served roles with Miami-Dade County, both for the County Commission and the Mayor’s office.

“The two firms fit very well together,” May said. “The Capital City Consulting team has had tremendous success for their clients at the state level, and we look forward to continuing that same success in Miami as Capital City partners. We believe we can help Capital City deliver results for many of their statewide clients in the Miami market, as well as expand to other major markets in Florida.”

___

This quote is a century old, but it’s as accurate today as it ever was: “When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.”

It may be trite, but so are many of the endorsement emails that campaigns have been blasting out in the lead-up to the Primary.

Does it matter if U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is endorsing Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis? Or if Sen. Lauren Book endorses Sen. Janet Cruz?

It might if either were facing a challenger in August. But they aren’t. It would matter if Rubio and Patronis weren’t both Republicans, or if Book and Cruz weren’t both Democrats. But they are.

The same goes for Charlie Crist endorsing Joy Goff-Marcil. It would barely matter the other way around, but it would still be a snoozer of a news release.

But if, in some strange turn of events, Rubio endorsed Adam Hattersley … Well, that’s what we in the industry call news.

So, to all the campaign comms directors, you don’t need to send an email with an all-caps subject line every time a dog bites. It’s going straight into the trash folder.

___

Primaries are six weeks away, and ad buy alerts pop up left and right. In short, your TV — or YouTube playlist and Facebook feed — is about to be inundated with 30-second campaign spots from dozens of campaigns and political committees.

The most active markets, of course, will be those with high-profile Primary races. For congressional races, the hot zone is the I-4 corridor.

This week, Laurel Lee is debuting her first ad In Florida’s 15th Congressional District, where she faces Rep. Jackie Toledo, Sen. Kelli Stargel, and two others in the Republican Primary for the Tampa Bay-area seat.

The video pitches her as the only candidate “trusted by Gov. (Ron) DeSantis to secure our elections” — not a big stretch considering she served as Secretary of State for the past three years. It also highlights her career as a prosecutor and judge and claims she will “battle (Joe) Biden’s leftist agenda, build (Donald) Trump’s border wall, and defend gun rights.”

To watch the ad, click on the image below:

Laurel Lee TV Ad from Laurel Lee on Vimeo.

A little east, in Florida’s 7th Congressional District, one of the Republicans vying to succeed Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy is hitting the airwaves for the first time. According to AdImpact, Rusty Roberts anted up $61,000 to run ads on Fox News starting Tuesday and running through Aug. 28. Meanwhile, Primary rival Cory Mills topped off his recent cable buy with another $2,600. Another half-dozen candidates compete for the GOP nomination for the seats covering Seminole County and southern Volusia County.

And in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, the political committee Club for Growth Action bought a $139,000 flight to air ads on Fox News Aug. 3-23. The committee last month endorsed Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican Primary. Luna, who won the GOP nomination in 2020, is seen as the leading candidate in a field that includes Kevin Hayslett, Amanda Makki and Christine Quinn.

In South Florida, Broward County Commissioner and former “Master of Disaster” Jared Moskowitz is airing his first ad in the Democratic Primary to succeed Ted Deutch in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. The spot, unveiled last week, spotlights his commitment to reforming the nation’s gun laws and features Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, one of the 17 killed during a 2018 shooting rampage through Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The campaign has backed the ad with an initial buy of $22,490, which will place it on cable and in the Miami and West Palm Beach media markets Tuesday through Monday.

To watch the ad, click HERE or on the image below:

Senate Democratic Leader Book is also beaming her third broadcast ad to Broward TVs, backed by a six-figure buy. The ad, titled “Champion,” features her 5-year-old twins Kennedy and Hudson doing three-peat star turns as the Senator explains what she stands for. Book is in the Democratic Primary, facing her first challenge on the ballot since she first won her Senate seat in 2016.

Tallahassee is getting some love, too, courtesy of The Lincoln Project. The anti-Trump organization has made a $12,573 buy for Fox News ads. We’ll let you guess who they’re targeting — hint: It’s an audience of one.

___

According to a new poll, Book holds a double-digit lead over former Broward County Commissioner Barbara Sharief in the Democratic Primary for Senate District 35.

SEA Polling and Strategic Design asked 400 voters in the district which of the two candidates they preferred, finding Book up 14 points, 39%-25%. Among “Primary super-voters” — those who voted in the last three Primary Elections — Book leads 47%-25%.

The poll had more good news for Book: After providing voters a brief bio of each candidate, her support jumped to 56%, while Sharief’s fell to 20%.

“Carrying such strong leads with those almost certain to vote and those likeliest to vote in this open Primary, Book is in prime position to secure re-election this August,” the polling memo reads. “With almost half of the respondents reporting having seen or received campaign communications, the time is now for either Sharief to close the gap; or, more likely given the data, Book makes her closing run at 50% and victory.

Book and Sharief are the only two candidates seeking the Broward-based Senate seat. With no Republicans, write-ins, or third-party candidates set for the November ballot, the Democratic Primary is open to all voters in the district, and the winner of the Aug. 23 contest will win the seat outright.

The SEA poll was conducted June 29-July 1 by live phone operators in English and Spanish with a text-to-web component. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%.

___

Smells like Rivera — “Democrats caught helping Rhonda Redman Lopez attack Jim Mooney” via Peter Schorsch of Florida Politics — Campaign finance records indicate that a recent direct-mail ad attacking Rep. Mooney is connected to a Democratic operative who served as treasurer for Andrew Gillum’s political committee. The disclosure statements printed at the bottom of the mailers say they were paid for by a political committee called “Floridians for Truth Now,” which lists Yolanda Brown as its treasurer. Brown is a Democratic activist who works for dozens of Democratic candidates and political committees. Notably, she was listed as treasurer for “Forward Florida,” a political committee chaired by Gillum that served as his primary fundraising vehicle in the 2018 Governor race.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

Tweet, tweet:

I was honored to attend the Safer Community Act celebration at The White House. This bipartisan legislation will work to significantly reduce gun violence all across the country by investing money into mental health services, crisis intervention programs, and school safely. pic.twitter.com/d18s50cMm6

— Mayor John Dailey (@MayorOfTLH) July 11, 2022

Tweet, tweet:

My friend @fred_guttenberg lost his daughter in the Parkland shooting.

In the aftermath, I worked with him & other MSD families to turn anguish to action. We stood up to the NRA to pass gun violence prevention laws in Florida.

I know we can do the same in Congress. Watch below. pic.twitter.com/O2PuC8Ihe0

— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) June 28, 2022

—@SLThomas: Mainstream? Biden could double his approval rating, and he still wouldn’t be as popular as abortion rights.

—@ChadWilbanks: Harris/Harvard natl poll shows abt 1/2 US supports ban on most abortions after 6 wks (TX), while a super-majority supports 15 wk ban (FL). Women are more likely than men to support abortion limitations. 10% of Dems support abortion up to birth.

—@LeaderBook: A 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio was denied an abortion. Let that sink in. Thanks to dangerous & extreme GOP policies, this is the world we now live in. The 15-week FL ban signed by DeSantis also contains NO exceptions for sexual assault. Shameful!

—@MarcACaputo: As a political reporter based in Florida, I can tell you the din condemning DeSantis as a child murderer for opening schools in fall 2020 didn’t match the outcome. None who leveled the claims — & basically accused those who didn’t amply them as accessories — admit they were wrong

—@SenMannyDiaz: The Department of Education has NEVER paid MGT for any work related to Critical Race Theory during the @govrondesantis Administration. Full stop. Implying otherwise is dishonest reporting.

—@MDixon55: What isn’t said enough about the troll tornados is that they vastly amplify the stories they profess to hate far beyond what they were doing on their own

Tweet, tweet:

Inbox: @cspan announces Capitol Press Corps alum @TIAreports as the newest Washington Journal host: “Tia is a full-time Washington Correspondent for the @ajc. She will freelance with C-SPAN as a fill-in Journal host.” pic.twitter.com/XmXOelXkhY

— Jim Rosica (@JimRosicaFL) July 11, 2022

—@WesWolfeFP: We really don’t need 10,000 weather bots tweeting the same radar image. Every time a storm goes through an area I’m paying attention to, I have to scroll through three dozen weather bot tweets of the same exact thing. Good job, good effort. We’re aware of the weather.

—@YvetteWrites: I was today years old when I found out that the word nifty is short for magnificent.

___

Sunburn is authored and assembled by Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Daniel Dean, Renzo Downey, Jacob Ogles, and Drew Wilson.