Judge upholds dozens of election violations against Brevard political consultant

A Florida judge this week upheld dozens of election law violations against Brevard County political consultant Robert Burns related to his defunct Friends of Florida political action committee and campaign efforts during the 2020 election.

State administrative law Judge Lawrence Stevenson said Burns "willfully" violated election laws ranging from failure to report political contributions, making unauthorized expenditures and failing to include proper disclaimers on campaign advertisements, in a 46-page partial final order issued Wednesday.

Dozens of other alleged violations were thrown out. Across five cases open with the Florida Elections Commission, Stevenson upheld 50 charges against Burns and Friends of Florida and dismissed 54. Many were duplicate charges for the same offenses due to overlap between investigations.

The most serious charge against Burns for "corruptly influencing voting" — a third-degree felony — related to deceptive campaign ads in a mayoral race in South Florida, was among those thrown out.

“Four years ago, I tried something I on my own I had never done before — running a political action committee. It being during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic made that even more challenging. It’s not something I plan to ever try again. During that time, I failed to follow the letter of the law in certain instances related to reporting requirements and expenditures," Burns said in a statement. "These were errors on my part, and I fully accept and expect my responsibility for them.

"I believe in accountability. Just as I expect those I report on to be held accountable for their actions, I expect the same standards to be applied to me. I am no different than anyone else, and I expect to be treated just like everyone else in this process," he said. "I have learned a great deal from this experience and I remain committed to the principles of fairness and transparency that guide my work.”

The order did not include possible penalties for Burns, who also owns and runs the Space Coast Rocket local news site, which Stevenson said would be determined in a future hearing. While many of the violations are classified as first-degree misdemeanors, the FEC only has authority to issue civil penalties like fines. It remained unclear Friday whether Burns could face any criminal penalties related to the case.

Burns is also facing unrelated federal charges connected to allegations of small business loan fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic. That case continues to make its way through court.

Deceptive ads are protected speech, judge rules

Burns had been charged with corruptly influencing a town council race in Indiantown, a small town about 16 miles southwest of Stuart in Martin County, after he ran Facebook ads mocked up to look like they came from his client's opponent in its 2020 mayoral election.

The ads featured a confederate flag and phrases with racist undertones like “Heritage matters” and “It’s time to take our town back.” FEC investigators said the ad was deceptive and may have swayed enough voters in the largely Hispanic and Black community to swing the election. Burns' client, who is Black, won by just 27 votes, or about 3% of the vote, records show. His challenger was white.

Burns told FLORIDA TODAY in a prior interview that he pulled the language directly from the candidate's Facebook page, but later clarified to the court that the language came from a commenter and not the candidate himself.

Stevenson in his partial order called the ads "repellant" but said he was "extremely hesitant" to uphold the charge against Burns due to potential implications for political speech under the First Amendment.

"Misleading advertising, mudslinging, or even outright lying about the opponent's position is protected speech," Stevenson wrote in his order dismissing the count.

Court finds campaign finance, reporting violations

The court upheld dozens of campaign reporting violations after Burns failed to file six months worth of finance reports for the Friends of Florida PAC, despite over 80 notifications sent to a P.O. Box registered in Burns' name, the order said.

Records showed that Friends of Florida collected and spent about $20,000 in contributions during that time, some of which funded political advertising in the Indiantown race and against State Rep. Randy Fine, who was running against a client of Burns in a 2020 Republican primary race for State House.

"Respondents were accepting contributions and making expenditures, but there was no transparency," Stevenson wrote. "Potential voters did not have information about Friends of Florida's financial activity prior to casting their votes."

Burns also withdrew PAC funds at ATMs located in card rooms in Jacksonville and Volusia County, which he admitted in a prior interview that he used for gambling. Burns maintained in court the money was his personal fee for his campaign services.

While Burns was not charged over his use of the funds, Stevenson noted Burns did not have a system in place to determine how much of the PAC money was earmarked for campaigning and how much was to be paid directly to him, nor were there any written agreements in place with his clients or contributors.

The judge upheld charges of unauthorized spending related to some of those withdrawals, however, which exceeded the PAC's bank balance and put the account in a "substantial deficit" against state law. The bank later closed the account without recovering the funds from Burns, the order noted.

Failure to disclose source of campaign ads

Burns also failed to include disclaimers identifying his PAC as the source of six Facebook ads in the Indiantown and State House races, the judge ruled.

The court was unconvinced by his argument that he had provided the disclaimer language to Facebook, which Burns said replaced the language with its own disclaimer, according to the order.

"Mr. Burns knew the advertisements were in violation and chose not to include required language in the ad graphic or in the verbiage displayed above the ad," the judge wrote.

Eric Rogers is a watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Rogers at 321-242-3717 or esrogers@floridatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard political consultant broke election laws, judge rules