‘Shocking and damaging’: Strategist pleads guilty to charges related to 2022 Polk County school board election
POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Polk County School Board member Lisa Miller told a judge Thursday she hopes political operatives take note of what happened to her.
“I am grateful that prosecutors chose to draw a line here in our community between dirty politics and petty crime. I hope others with warped ambitions and broken moral compasses pay attention to the consequences of illegal actions,” Miller told the court.
On Thursday morning, James Dunn pleaded guilty to seven counts of violating text message disclosure requirements.
Dunn, a political strategist, traveled from Texas to help elect school board candidates in Polk County in 2022.
He was introduced to candidates through the organization County Citizens Defending Freedom, now known as Citizens Defending Freedom.
Candidates Jill Sessions and Terry Clark hired him to work on their campaigns.
Documents show Dunn used his company credit card to pay two companies to send text messages from seven phone numbers to thousands of Polk County voters.
One text stated that Miller, who was seeking re-election on the Polk County School Board, was the subject of a criminal investigation related to school board construction contracts linked to her husband’s construction company.
Miller’s husband operates a real estate brokerage, not a construction company.
Law enforcement agencies deny the existence of any such investigation.
“As an elected official, I recognize I open myself up to attacks by criminals like Mr. Dunn. However, to attack my husband and our family business was shocking and damaging,” Miller told the court Thursday.
The texts did not disclose who was paying for them, which is why Dunn was in court Thursday pleading guilty to charges.
Prosecutor Brad Copley said the weight of the case was more than what the charges show.
“There’s no crime in Florida for making a false statement and texting it out to thousands of people but the violation we caught him on was sort of a technical violation but that’s all we could find,” he said.
Copley said Dunn has served more than four years in federal prison for prior charges related to fraud.
Per the plea deal, Dunn will be on probation for 11 months, which he can serve while living in Texas.
“For somebody who’s been convicted of several felonies, of cheating churches and veterans and students with disabilities, it’s really sad that he couldn’t get more of a sentence for this because you’re almost saying that it’s ok, that you can once again do criminal activity,” said Miller.
“I really don’t have a response at this time. There may be other developments so I don’t want to do anything to corrupt that,” said Dunn in response to questions about his behavior and any possible regrets.
Dunn, who owns a company, Black Republicans of Brazoria County, did not clearly state whether he would be staying in conservative politics moving forward, but said he is not associated with Citizens Defending Freedom.
The investigation cleared CDF of wrongdoing though Miller said during her victim impact statement she still holds the organization “morally guilty.”
“This group, and others that are similar, bring people in to disrupt a community and then turn their backs and pretend to be at arm’s length when crimes are committed,” she said.
“It is unfortunate that two school board candidates’ reputations were tarnished by Dr. Dunn’s involvement in their campaigns, and that Lisa Miller suffered distress as result of Dr. Dunn’s actions,” CDF wrote in a statement.
In spite of what can now be considered an illegal texting strategy used against her, Miller won re-election by more than 11 points in 2022.
She said this experience does not dissuade her from running again.
“People have to say this is enough. We have laws and you have to follow them,” she said.
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