Homestead absentee ballot man and convicted felon Tim Milton is back in the shady election business with a slate card that looks like an authentic endorsement from an actual group.
But it’s all fake and is likely campaign propaganda disguised as “third party validation” vís-a-vís a PAC called People’s Choice for Florida and Milton, who is really no more than a paid mercenary for campaign operatives.
Milton is already in violation of Florida campaign laws, which Ladra believes was part of the plan anyway. He created the PAC on July 30th and serves as chairman and treasurer, but has filed no campaign finance reports, which Ladra believes was part of the plan anyway. He has already received two letters from the state Division of Elections for not filing reports due Aug. 8 and Aug. 15, which Ladra believes was part of the plan, because the fines won’t matter once the PAC disappears on Aug. 27, which Ladra believes was part of … oh, you get the picture!
So who is paying for the slate cards and signs? We don’t really know, since Milton is hiding it. But probably it is one or two or even three political consultants or campaign managers who are common denominators behind the candidates on the slate.
Those would be, most likely, the judicial candidates, who are Veronica Diaz, Victoria Ferrer, Mary C. Gomez, Fleur Jeannine Lobree, Stephen Millan, Jaqueline “Jack” Schwartz, Rodney “Rod” Smith and Martin Zilber. Toss in former Gov. Charlie Crist for guv, former State Rep. Eddy “Here Comes Hialeah” Gonzalez for property appraiser and a community council candidate Johnny Farias and it’s an interesting mix.
Milton– who has worked on the campaign for Sen. Dwight Bullard, the new chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party — is an interesting character. He’s was convicted for two felonies, cocaine possession in 1988 and battery on a police officer in 1992. He was also arrested in 2008 for carrying a firearm, something he is not allowed to do as a convicted felon.
This Florida City man, who has been investigated for absentee ballot shenanigans in the past, was paid this year by at least three of the judicial candidates on the slate card. He got $1,250 from Lobree and $1,000 from Zilber and $1,800 from Schwartz for poll workers, according to campaign reports that have been filed. If they paid Milton with the purpose of putting them on a slate, that would be a violation for them. But Milton indicated in a short telephone conversation that he was working the PAC for a group of people.
“They filed it,” he said about the missing campaign finance reports. “I’ll let them call you,” Milton told Ladra before he hung up just as I was asking him who “they” and “them” was.
Gypsy conartist Vanessa Brito comes to mind. Not only because she posted this picture on Facebook last week of the slate card on a sign at one of the early voting sites. But also because Brito is the campaign manager for one of the lucky People’s Choice picks — Miami Assistant City Attorney Veronica “Little Miss Ultra” Diaz, who is running for judge while being investigated for ethical breaches.
And shouldn’t Little Miss Ultra tell Brito not to promote that slate card on her platforms in order not to violate cannon seven?
Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador shows up on the reports for both Lobree and Smith and she’s been accused of co-mingling funds for slate cards before. It was for the 2012 elections and Ladra wonders why that investigation is just sitting in multiple boxes at the State Attorney’s Office with no traction. Oh, and Sasha’s charges to Lobree, close to $3,200 from the $38,000 Tirador billed to Lobree was for palm cards.
Influence Communications, which is working for the Diaz campaign has also been paid by candidate Victoria Ferrer. Other names that are cross referenced on the reports are Miguel Amador, Lourdes Molina and Stephanie Bromfield, who are alternately described as consultants or publicists.
Some malas lenguas suspect political consultant Bob Levy, who they claim has several of the judicial candidates among his clients this election cycle, was behind the slate card.
“If anyone paid Tim Milton …they did not do so at my suggestion,” Levy said, confirming that he was working for a number of judicial candidates on the slate but not saying which ones (other than Diaz, which we already knew about). Levy insisted that he never met Milton and had nothing to do with the slate card, which he finds ineffective anyway.
“In fact, if asked I responded that I would not recommend it and that I was against this type of activity. I believe in a straight absentee mailer — and direct mail and cable and other means of direct voter contact and let the voters decide without all these quasi legal slates and non-slates,” Levy responded to my questions via email.
“Regardless of how many of these campaigns I am working on, if there is any involvement with Tim Milton that decision was made either without consulting with me, without telling me or, if asked, against my 
suggestions and advice. After all, we all only offer advice and the candidate makes the ultimate decision.”
But some candidates are worried that the slate cards, which have a picture of Barack and Michelle Obama at the top, could have a significant impact in the black community.
“It makes it look as if the president himself and the First Lady are supporting these candidates and they are not,” said one judicial opponent who wished not to be quoted.
Alex Dominguez, who is running for property appraiser against the slated Gonzalez, said he has come acorss a bunch of diff
erent slate cards, including one with endorsements from the African American Democrats — a group that doesn’t even exist.
One of the slate cards he got at an early voting place as the candidate made his rounds these past couple of weeks was paid for by a Winter Park company, Common Sense Solutions.
“They are all over the place,” Dominguez told Ladra.
He said such slate cards take advantage of the elderly and non-educated voters 
who didn’t know all the candidates, particularly in judicial races.
“It’s obviously meant for older Americans, whether they are African-American or Cuban-American, people who can’t vote for themselves,” Dominguez said. “They are trying to take advantage of how much these people appreciate it made easier for them since they don’t know who the judges candidates are.”
“The educated voter doesn’t even take that or look at it, but in Little Havana and Little Haiti, they eat it up.”
Shady campaign slate cards are staple of early voting added by Ladra on
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