Officials with the latest political committee filed paperwork to launch it with the Division of Elections on Jan. 30, after it became public that a former Treasurer for Welch\u2019s previous committee, The Pelican Political Action Committee, had allegedly stolen $207,000 from the committee. Yolanda Brown, according to Welch\u2019s campaign, made a series of unauthorized expenditures to a business she controls. The campaign has said it forwarded a complaint to state and federal law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Even before that happened, Welch had his first political committee, The Pelican PAC, revoked by the state for consistently failing to file certain required documents.<\/p>\n
The new political committee\u2019s name appears on a flyer for Welch\u2019s campaign kickoff, and already it appears as though the committee is off to a rough start. The flyer contains the required disclaimer noting that it was paid for by the Welch campaign, but it lacks a disclaimer regarding the political committee, which is required because the flyer points donations to that fund.<\/p>\n
And while the \u201cdonate\u201d button is now working, as recently as last Tuesday, when Florida Politics first checked, the button on the website<\/a> established for the new PAC did not work. When users clicked the link, nothing happened.<\/p>\n Powerbroker Magazine reported<\/a> Monday about the new political committee, including comments from the committee\u2019s Chair, Adrienne Bogen, arguing the new PAC is meant to \u201censure there are absolutely no distractions from the work ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n She called the creation of a new PAC \u201cabout transparency, accountability, and maintaining the highest ethical standards,\u201d according to Powerbroker Magazine.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a strange way to try to shore up confidence in accountability. Creating a new PAC accomplishes nothing that removing Brown from the previous committee and correcting accounting errors hadn\u2019t already created. And it\u2019s worth noting that even removing Brown didn\u2019t go smoothly. Brown wasn\u2019t removed as Treasurer until Jan. 28, 16 days after committee officials filed amended finance reports including the unauthorized transaction.<\/p>\n That means it took more than two weeks<\/a> for anyone in Welch\u2019s camp to remove an accused thief from its ranks. And it did so just hours after I first reported<\/a> that Brown\u2019s name was curiously still listed as an officer of the committee.<\/p>\n And if none of that were enough, establishing a new committee \u2014 again Welch\u2019s third as Mayor \u2014 does nothing to change the challenge he faces in terms of a funding deficit.<\/p>\n As of Monday, Welch and Maria Scruggs \u2014 a candidate who has run for office numerous times and never with success \u2014 are the only filed candidates in this year\u2019s mayoral race. But former Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to run, and launched a political committee late last year that, in its first seven weeks, hauled in three-quarters of a million dollars<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Pelican Political Action Committee, Welch\u2019s previous committee that suffered the alleged six-figure theft, had just over $30,000 in it as of the end of December. While that money will presumably be transferred to the new committee, it\u2019s still comparatively akin to starting with nothing.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MAA-2502_EduRefresh_DigitalSponsorship_SafeEffec_FL_728x90_Final.jpg\")
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