Government records say the Brevard consultant did not report political contributions, gambled with PAC money.

BREWARD COUNTY, Florida. – A Brevard County political consultant faced a long list of election law violations in connection with campaigning and a non-existent PAC he used during the 2020 election cycle, according to a report by News 6 partner Florida Today.

But while the 12 cases against Robert Burns that were heard by the Florida Board of Elections last month represent a “pretty extreme case,” according to a voting law expert, things aren’t as bad—and perhaps a lot worse—for a man who has run local campaigns for both Republicans and Democrats, including one of the most nasty Brevard primary battles in years.

FEC investigators said Burns did not file months of financial statements for his short-lived Friends of Florida political action committee, did not disclose tens of thousands of donations, regularly spent money that PAC did not have, and did not disclose properly paid political advertising. with PAC funds, according to case files released last week.

Burns has campaigned for Palm Bay City Councilman Kenny Johnson and for Marcy Adkins, State Rep. Randy Fine’s nominee in the 2020 Republican House Primary. This race was marked by scathing public accusations, including Burns’ unsubstantiated allegations that Fine had slept with prostitutes, in Facebook posts to Fine’s mother. Fine later upped the ante by ratcheting up a rape charge that had been leveled against Burns by a fellow soldier during his time in the US Army, which Burns had long denied.

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Fine personally filed four complaints that led to the FEC’s investigation into Burns, case files show.

According to him, Burns created the Friends of Florida PAC specifically to counter Fine. But his participation in an unrelated race for city council in Martin County that same year also led the FEC to charge Burns with electoral corruption—a possible third-degree felony if criminally charged.

In total, investigators uncovered 48 separate violations spread across 12 overlapping cases, with a whopping 116 combined counts against Burns, according to a FLORIDA TODAY review of found case files.

The documents show that Burns has already settled half the cases, agreeing to pay just $1,100 in fines so far. He continues to negotiate five cases, and another case was dismissed outright.

While most alleged violations are classified as first-degree misdemeanors, the FEC has the power to impose only civil sanctions, such as fines, which makes it uncertain whether Burns could face criminal charges. It is not clear this week if the cases have been referred to law enforcement.

However, he may have more trouble ahead as bank records in the case file show that Burns may have misappropriated PAC funds by withdrawing thousands of dollars from casinos and gambling houses in May and August of that year.

Although the FEC has not yet touched on the discovery in public documents (two additional cases are pending and remain sealed), the costs could expose Burns to the risk of additional violations.

Burns admitted to most of the allegations against him in an interview, telling FLORIDA TODAY he didn’t try to hide the money or how he spent it.

“I didn’t file them, I should have filed them,” Burns said of the reports. “And I’m ready to accept the consequences, I accepted the consequences and paid the fines.”

Burns admitted to using some of the money for gambling, but said he believed some of the funds he spent were personal funds that were paid for his campaign and consulting services.

Its largest donor told FLORDIA TODAY that it was not discussed that Burns would receive a personal share of the donation and said he did not know how Burns spent the money until he was contacted for this story.

Burns blames mental health and busy election season

Investigators contacted Burns for almost six months of unreported financial statements for Friends of Florida PAC between May and October 2020, which they said included about $42,000 of undisclosed contributions and about $43,000 of expenses.

The unrecorded dollar amounts were inflated due to a series of failed transactions in September that resulted in multiple withdrawal attempts and refunds to the account. In fact, the total amount of money PAC brought in was closer to $20,000.

While failure to file timely reports is a common election-related violation, Tallahassee election attorney Ronald Meyer said it’s rare to see so much from one committee.

“This is a pretty extreme case,” Meyer said. “When you see the number of missed reports, it’s unusual. This suggests that they may have tried to dissuade someone about how much money they have and what they spend it on.

Burns vehemently denied that he was trying to hide anything, and spoke openly about the case to FLORIDA TODAY, even sharing a list of his few members, which included a Sanford pharmaceutical company executive and three developers from Central and South Florida.

He blamed his failure to provide disclosures on his mental health, which he said was plagued by family problems, the early COVID-19 pandemic, and his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder while working as a military medic for the US Army.

This was exacerbated by, in his words, Fine’s “continuous” attacks as he ran Fine’s opponent’s campaign in the 2020 Republican primaries.

“With all these things, it became the least of my priorities at the time,” Burns said. “So I thought I would just pay the fine because at the time I had too many other things to worry about. That’s what it really led to.”

Association with Brian West

Records provided by Burns showed that the $7,000 PAC contributions came from two South Florida developers associated with Palm Bay real estate developer Brian West, who was arrested that year after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said he tried to bribe members of the Palm Bay City Council. .

The whistleblower told FDLE investigators that West indicated that Burns was part of the alleged plan and the PAC money was meant to be channeled to council members, according to West’s arrest affidavit.

West pleaded not guilty to the criminal case, which is still pending in the courts. West’s lawyer said in an email to FLORIDA TODAY that West is “100% innocent of these charges.”

“He has created more than 10,000 jobs in our state, has no criminal history and will not engage in criminal activity – especially vote buying,” attorney Barbara Kibby wrote.

Burns claimed he was never asked to pay bribes. The money was for political publicity in a Martin County city council race, which West was interested in, he said.

Burns’ involvement in the race, in which he says West hired him to advise the incumbent mayor of Indianatown, a small town about 16 miles southwest of Stewart, got him into further trouble.

Among several ad purchases for this race, Burns funded a Facebook ad that was modeled to appear to come from a mayoral challenger and was laced with racist overtones, featuring a Confederate flag and phrases such as “Legacy Matters” and “It’s time to take back our city.”

FEC investigators said the ad was deceptive and may have influenced enough voters in the mainstream Hispanic and black community to influence the election, in contravention of a rarely used election law that prohibits “corrupt voter influence.” According to the documents, the incumbent mayor, who was black, received just 27 votes, or about 3% of the vote.

Burns downplayed the charge—possible third-degree felony—stating that he believed the advertisement was no more misleading than other political advertisements. He said that he copied the text directly from the applicant’s Facebook page, which, according to him, was soon removed.

“I didn’t mean to cheat,” Burns said. “I ran one ad basically showing the statement this guy made so people can see it, now that it’s been removed.”

Bidder, Indianatown builder Guy Parker, told FLORIDA TODAY he never spoke or published the words featured in the ad.

“He blatantly lied,” Parker said of Burns, adding that he grew up in New York and had no reason to fly the Confederate flag. He stated that he does not hold racist views. “This is the furthest from me,” Parker said.

According to him, “there is no doubt that advertising influenced the outcome of the race.”

Burns spent some PAC money at the card table

Burns also faces multiple accusations related to PAC account overspending, often when the balance was already negative, including failed September transactions.

On at least two occasions, bank records show that the account was overdrawn in part due to Burns either directly spending or withdrawing thousands of PAC dollars at casinos and card clubs outside of Brevard.

In total, about $7,000 of the $20,000 PAC raised was spent or withdrawn at gambling houses including Jacksonville’s Best Bet Casino, Daytona Beach Racing and Card Club, and Orange City Racing and Card Club in Volusia County, according to the allegations.

Burns did not deny that he had spent at least some of the PAC money on gambling, but denied that he had stolen the funds. The money, he said, was his personal fee for campaigning and consulting work related to Adkins’ main run and his role in the Indianatown race.

“I get paid for my services, right? I don’t do it for free,” Burns said.

Burns’ biggest backer, Orlando real estate developer Thomas McNamara, told FLORIDA TODAY there was no agreement that Burns would receive a portion of the $10,000 donation he made to Friends of Florida in May 2020 to support the management of the Adkins State House. About $6,000 that Burns spent or withdrew was McNamara’s contributions, according to records.

“As far as I know, all of them should have been spent on the Marcy campaign,” McNamara said. “I didn’t have conversations about anything else.”

McNamara said he had no idea that Burns was not filing financial statements and was “disappointed” to find out what the money had been spent on.

Adkins’ financial records show that she paid Burns about $33,000 directly to his consulting business, Relentless Group, for “consulting services” throughout the campaign. Adkins did not immediately respond to a message asking for comment.

While the FEC has yet to charge Burns with expenses, it could put him at risk of further violations.

“Florida law says that a political committee can only make expenses to influence the outcome of an election,” election attorney Meyer said.

“It is counterintuitive (to think) that gambling or even spending heavily at casinos for other purposes… would meet this requirement.”

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