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Writer's pictureMike Lednovich

The Bean machine: Dark money and Dirty politics


Commentary

The transformation of Fernandina Beach city elections happened so gradually that few noticed at first. Like a tide slowly rising, the change in local politics crept in until, in the past few weeks, residents woke up to find their small-town elections had become something entirely different.

For better or worse, our small coastal city has become a microcosm of modern American politics, where even the most local of elections cannot escape the gravitational pull of partisan warfare and big-money influence.

Just seven years ago, city commission races were simple affairs. Six candidates competed for two seats, collectively raising a modest $23,000 to fund campaigns. Campaign strategies consisted of lawn signs dotting neighborhood yards, handmade flyers and the occasional newspaper ad. Those candidates stood on their individual merits, without party labels attached to their names.

But that was before the Bean political machine went into overdrive.

At the center of this political transformation stand the two Beans: U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean and his son Bradley Bean, mayor of Fernandina Beach. The elder Bean has long-cultivated connections with Tallahassee's Republican power brokers, particularly a GOP attack operative named Stafford Jones from Gainesville – a man who has controlled an intricate web of 175 political action committees.

The first tremors of change came in 2022. That year, local firefighter Darron Ayscue ran for city commission. Despite the race being officially non-partisan, something unprecedented happened: GOP flyers began circulating, boldly declaring "Vote for the only Republican candidates running for city commission." Though Ayscue, himself a Republican Party precinct committeeman, denied any knowledge of these tactics, public records show the flyers came from Jones's PAC, "True Conservatives."

The same election saw Bradley Bean's successful mayoral campaign benefit from $2,000 in contributions from Jones-controlled PACs with innocuous names like "Strong Leadership" and "Women Building the Future." The transformation was underway.

By 2024, the transition to dark money, partisan politics was complete. Campaign coffers now swelled to $141,000 for three commission seats. Television commercials – a first for city commission races – have aired. Jones's PACs have poured an estimated $50,000 into attack flyers, targeting candidates like Joyce Tuten, a mild mannered, retired high school science teacher, who they branded a "radical liberal."

The public records money trail tells the story. AT&T's Florida PAC, which has supported Aaron Bean's campaigns since 2000, now contributed to his son's mayoral campaign. The Bean political machine had successfully imported the tactics of state-level politics into small-town elections: dark money PACs, attack ads, and partisan warfare.

When asked about this transformation, Tuten posed the questions many residents had begun asking themselves: "Why are political PACs in Tallahassee so financially vested in our City Commission race? Do these PACs share our concerns about overdevelopment and bioethanol? Why do these PACs want Bean, Sturges and Christy Kelly to win? What future votes are these political PACs interested in?"


While answers remained elusive, one thing is clear: The days of simple, neighbor-to-neighbor city elections in Fernandina Beach are over. The Bean machine had changed the rules of the game, turning what was once a community-focused process into a partisan battleground where dark money flows freely and attack ads have become the norm.

In Florida, as in other states, political action committees (PACs) associated with "dark money" are often characterized by their opaque funding sources. "Dark money" refers to funds that are used to influence elections or political decisions but come from donors whose identities remain undisclosed to the public. Dark money PAC operators like Jones can contribute large sums to influence outcomes without public scrutiny, raising concerns about undue influence over local candidates or policies.

Jones is associated with 175 PACs registered with the state Division of Elections. State records show that Jones traveled to Fernandina Beach in June of this year for two days of meetings and stayed at the Ritz Carlton. The next month, his PACs Women Building the Future and Strong Leadership contributed $2,000 to Mayor Bean's election campaign.

Why has it changed? City commission elections by definition are nonpartisan where candidates are listed on the ballot without any party affiliation, meaning voters choose candidates based on their individual qualifications and positions rather than party labels like Democrat or Republican.

It's clear from public records, the seismic shift from no party affiliations to GOP involvement happened in 2022 with the local GOP and Jones in the elections of Commissioner Ayscue and Mayor Bean. Ayscue had become involved with Jones in 2018, contributing $1,000 to his PAC Conservative Leadership for the First Coast. His run in 2022 got $500 from the Jones PAC First Coast Conservatives.

The 2022 campaign really moved the political needle when Ayscue, a Republican Party of Nassau County precinct committeeman, benefited from local GOP flyers screaming "Vote for the only Republican candidates running for city commission." It marked the first overt campaign tactic attaching a city commission candidate to a political party.

Of course, Ayscue denied any knowledge of the local GOP's efforts on his behalf despite the fact that the GOP flyer was put out by who else, Mr. Jones and his PAC True Conservatives.

The flyers were printed and mailed by a Jones political ally strategist Alexander Pantinakis's company On Target Messaging in Jacksonville.

But in 2022 the GOP machine was just getting started.

Last January, Ayscue spearheaded the GOP's efforts to become more involved in city commission elections, asking City Attorney Tammi Bach for an opinion if city commission candidates could use political party affiliations in their campaigns.

Bach said yes, basing her decision on an Escambia County case of a non-partisan school board election where a candidate sued for the right to say he was a republican. He won the lawsuit.

When asked about the ruling in the wake of the GOP supported 'attack' flyers against current city commission candidates, Bach said the flyers had exceeded the scope of the Escambia case on which she based her decision.

Now the partisan floodgates opened.

Sunday Fernandina voters received an attack mailer from Mayor Bean accusing Tuten of lying about her party affiliations. Again, in a non-partisan race for city commission.

The flyer was produced by a PAC called Voters Response, run by a Tallahassee GOP PAC operative David Ramba, who was involved in smear campaign flyers in the Flager County School Board race in 2022 and the Boca Raton city council in 2012.

Records show Aaron Bean spent $43,000 with Pat Bainter in his 2018 campaign for the Florida State Senate. Published reports show Bean connected with Bainter and Jones, both of Gainesville and GOP operatives.

In Bean's 2012 state senate campaign, a Jones Pac called Florida Liberty Foundation of Florida paid for a campaign video in support of Bean featuring former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Both Beans pride themselves on their deep local roots, and each claim to care deeply about Fernandina's political future. Yet, when attack flyers - five in just two weeks - began filling voters' mailboxes, neither of them denounced the smear campaign against their rivals. One target of these attacks, two-term city commissioner Tim Poynter, said the tactics made him "ashamed to be called a Republican."

The Bean machine has changed the rules, and the residents of Fernandina Beach now find themselves in a new kind of political landscape — one that is nasty, divisive and turns neighbor against neighbor. A political landscape no longer controlled by the citizens who live with the consequences.


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