Commissioner in Demo Dominated Ft. Lauderdale Helps Trump
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Fort Lauderdale city campaigns are supposed to be strictly non-partisan.
But that didn’t stop Commissioner Heather Moraitis from donating a big chunk of her left over campaign money to help Donald Trump.
Legally.
Heather Moraitis
Moraitis’ generosity for Republicans is documented in her campaign finance records. Here is how it worked:
Moraitis had more than $145,000 donated to her campaign.
But there was no campaign since she ended up without an opponent.
The non-partisan prohibition ended when her campaign ended.
Under Florida law, what money was left in her campaign could legally be earmarked to help Trump. That’s what she chose to do.
The Broward Republican Executive Committee, the county’s GOP organization, got $20,000. Broward Party is headed by Moraiitis’ hubbie, former State. Rep. George Moraitis, R-Fort Lauderdale.
The Republican Party of Florida got another $2,216.83.
She donated much of the rest left in her campaign to charities.
There was $12,000 for the YMCA.
There was $5,000 to the Friends of Birch State Park.
Another $3,000 went to the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church’s Thanksgiving project.
She also set aside $20,000 for future offices expenses, which is also permitted.
Helping Trump
There is no doubt, no doubt, that the $22,216.83 earmarked for the GOP organizations will be used to strengthen the R’s Get-Out-The-Vote effort. That helps Trump.
True, Moraitis’ district may be one of the few Republican enclaves in Broward. She represents an area largely wedged between the Intracoastal and Federal Highway with the Galt Ocean Mile thrown in.
Even in Moraitis’ District 1, the GOP only has a slight edge. Very slight — 11,431 Republicans to 11,400 Democrats.
With her donation to the Rs, the Democrats she represents are being ignored.
Her campaign consultant – Blake MacDiarmid mentions in online resumes he was a Trump operative four years ago. MacDiarmid got $25,000 from the Moriatis campaign.
(MacDiarmid was a registered lobbyist earlier this year. He showed up at the time for office meetings between lobbyists and city officials including Moraitis about privatizing elements of the water system, according to city records. Hmmmm.)
Under Florida law, Moraitis could have given the contributors back much of their donations instead of handing it over to charities and the GOP.
She didn’t.
But she did hand out some expensive parting gifts.
Her campaign spent $3,186.84 on “thank you” Yeti Coolers, a premium line of high-end coolers and insulated mugs.
Maybe they will be useful in the next Trump boat parade.
September 14th, 2020 at 10:53 am
I’d be curious to know what Democrats have done with excess campaign funds. I know Gillum has spent tons on legal fees, instead of what he said he was going to do, to the chagrin and disgust of his major benefactor, John Morgan. I wouldn’t expect her to donate to Democrats. Until the law is changed, I don’t think she did anything wrong, or anything to point out. I’m just sayin’
September 14th, 2020 at 10:55 am
Yawn. I’m no fan of moraitis, but are you telling me democrats in Broward do anything differently w/their excess campaign money?
September 14th, 2020 at 12:00 pm
Hey Heather,
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO SHAME ??? Your bROWARD pal Roger Stone calls “for Trump to seize total power if he loses the election. Stone also said federal authorities should seize all Nevada ballots, federal agents and GOP state officials should “physically” block voting, that Trump should nationalize police forces, and that Trump should order widespread arrests”
September 14th, 2020 at 12:06 pm
The district is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats. Moraitis should have not donated to either.
Hasn’t she ever heard of nepotism because of her husband.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Dear Mr Nevins n Readers,I used to live in her District n was TOLD BEFORE HER FIRST ELECTION BY YOU ALL KNOW WHO ‘THERE IS A GREAT CANDIDATE TO OPPOSE HER (n her RIGHT WING REPUBLICAN EVANGELICAL VIEWS ‘.) CANDIDATE NEVER MATERIALIZED.
The Jewish, Gay n Lesbian, n other Liberal residents of her District (where the left-wing Reform Temple of Yuppies n Feminists is) ARE USELESS LAZY COWARDLY N ONLY INTERESTED IN SELLING THEIR HOUSES FOR WINDFALL PROFITS TO DEVELOPERS n KEEPING THEIR TAXES LOW. Don’t blame Commissioner Moriatis FOR THE LOWLIFE YUPPIE RESIDENTS who created her election.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:33 pm
Like the 20 grand for office expenses etc.So apparently she will be the next one spending 10 grand on an office sofa( huh Dean).I personally would have donated to the scholarship in honor of deceased police officers that were killed in the line of duty.PS.Nice hair though.
September 14th, 2020 at 12:40 pm
What do you have against Heather Moraitis, Buddy? Every time you have written about her on this site, it has been either a hack job piece or an article where you refer to her as “State Rep’s Wife” in the headline. Not only is there a stench of partisan bias in your coverage of her but there are also hints of sexism as well.
To say that donating to the local party is the equivalent of giving Trump a bear hug is simply poor reporting. While those funds certainly could go to supporting Trump’s re-election, there are numerous other races where those funds can and may be deployed. If she did want the money to go into the Trump team’s hands, why didn’t she give give it directly to his campaign?
If you think that simply reminding people that she is a Republican will somehow cost her the District 1 seat (where I am from), you clearly don’t know the district that well. Not only is it well-known she and her husband are Republicans, most voters don’t care that much. We focus on the issues when choosing our candidates. We care much more about things like bringing good-paying jobs to our community and improving our beachfront than we do about someone’s party label. Maybe go out and do some actual reporting on those issues instead of just browsing campaign finance databases in the service of cheap partisan attacks.
FROM BUDDY:
I agree, there are other candidates that the GOP can use the money to support, although few (if any) have a realistic chance in Broward County.
This election is about Donald J. Trump.
The Republican Party has one key goal: Reelecting Donald J. Trump.
The Democratic Party has one goal: Defeating Donald J. Trump.
On the Broward GOP website’s front page is a huge picture of Trump. It states this:
“Joining Broward GOP gives you voting power, influence, and most importantly responsibility in local party affairs and the ability to nominate the party’s representative to the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF).
There is no better way to represent your conservative values and see to it that President Trump is re-elected than to join the Republican Party of Broward County.”
September 14th, 2020 at 2:16 pm
Well spoken Buddy.Its that plain and simple.
September 14th, 2020 at 9:27 pm
The Trump campaign has a boatload of money. Why wouldn’t she donate to local candidates? Two excellent choices, Wayne Clarke for Sheriff and Gregg Rossman for State Attorney. Both men have reached across party lines garnering support from Republicans and Democrats, clearing demonstrating Broward wants qualified leadership regardless of party affiliation. The local Republican Party likes to complain they cannot win in Broward, of course you can’t, you do nothing to help your local candidates.
September 14th, 2020 at 10:14 pm
The “face of Broward County” (honorary Mayor) is a Democrat named Dale Holness who does not pay property taxes. The most likely Sheriff of Broward has several “demerits” on his record. The Clerk of Courts has many odd quirks.An almost Broward State Attorney was backed by Soros money. The almost Governor of Florida is a troubled man who could not even run Tallahassee. Hmm, all are “D’s”. It is time to give an “R” a break as long as nothing she did was illegal.
September 15th, 2020 at 8:33 am
#7: I am a lifelong registered Democrat and as such I am not a fan of Ms. Moriatis or her husband’s politics. However to brand Buddy as a partisan shill for Democrats is laughable. His history shows him to certainly be right of center if not Republican. His son worked for Ellen Bogdanoff for God’s sake. While that may not reflect directly on him I know he has been taken to task by my fellow Democrats in the past for that and other posts he has written which they felt showed a bias towards conservative causes. I guess the fact that he is now accused of favoring Democrats shows he is actually non-partisan in his critical review of the actions of politicians.
FROM BUDDY:
Thank you.
September 15th, 2020 at 11:36 am
This largely seems a big “who cares” story. Republicans give their money to Republican causes and Democrats give their money to Democratic causes. No surprise here.
September 15th, 2020 at 12:53 pm
U know #7 makes a valid point and your rebuttal although sustained, however Pres.Trump although will take any monies that come his way,he if he has to will use his own monies if it is warranted.So Comm.Moratis gave her campaign monies to the basically RNC.Another part of this story is Comm.Glassman has a boat load of $( over 200 thou).Real point I’m making is what is he( Glassman) going to do w/ his monies.It would be great to see Comm.Glassman reply as he is an avid follower of your blog Buddy.Ditto to Comm.Moratis
September 15th, 2020 at 4:46 pm
The money should be returned to its rightful owner if you have no opponent. That would be the conservative thing to do, we all know the commissioner is far from conservative, she voted for HUGE raise for herself and other comm/mayor, votes to raise taxes, development, change the contribution laws… sounds like she is just trying to help hubby keep the chairmanship. Not a lot of substance or commitment to a job that now pays a wage of more than most people make to show up on zoom 2x a month.
“I contributed. $1,000 bucks and all I got was this lousy Yeti”
September 16th, 2020 at 10:01 pm
But the Republicans in HER DISTRICT held the DESPICABLE ‘no mask’ parade at my old Target in the Coral Ridge Mall! That’s what her donations fund? CORONAVIRUS DENIERS?
October 7th, 2020 at 4:48 pm
#14, you are spot on. Although a commissioner for District 1, she serves the whole city. There are numerous charities in Fort Lauderdale hit hard by the effects of Covid. Her passion is/was education. She could have easily donated to Jack & Jill, MODS, Riverwalk, Women in Distress etc. instead of to a racist, son of a Klansman POS president.