{"id":429133,"date":"2026-10-16T02:44:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T02:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429133\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T02:44:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T02:44:53","slug":"floridas-pro-amendment-3-pac-spent-millions-on-gop-operative-connected-to-ghost-candidate-election-fraud-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/429133\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s pro-Amendment 3 PAC spent millions on GOP operative connected to \u2018ghost candidate\u2019 election fraud scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AerialDowntown St. Petersburg, Florida Credit: City of St. Pete\/Flickr<\/a><\/p>\n

Funded almost entirely by Florida Realtors, the Vote Yes on 3<\/a> campaign is hoping to get Amendment 3 passed this November and has raised over $21.5 million to make this happen. Campaign finance records show that over 98% of the political committee\u2019s expenditures are going to a political operative tied to one of Florida\u2019s biggest election fraud scandals in the last decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to public campaign finance records, the Vote Yes on 3 political committee has spent $14,465,117 in a series of payments between Sept. 8 through Oct. 9, with the vast majority of it ($14,213,745) going directly to a vendor listed as SGS Inc.<\/a> in Gainesville.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Owned by longtime GOP operative Patrick Bainter, SGS Inc<\/a>. advertises itself as a full-service polling, communications and political operations company, and since it\u2019s a private institution, it\u2019s unclear exactly how it\u2019s spending the money. But the company does share an address (6211 NW 132nd St.) with another one of Bainter\u2019s companies, Data Targeting<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in 2020, Data Targeting was embroiled in a \u201cghost candidate<\/a>\u201d election fraud scandal that saw Republican and former State Sen. Frank Artiles convicted of three felonies and sentenced to two months in jail.<\/p>\n

Essentially, Artiles was accused of helping Republican Ileana Garcia get elected to the Florida Senate by recruiting his friend, an auto parts salesman in Miami named Alex Rodr\u00edguez who never even campaigned or had a party affiliation, to run against District 37 Democratic incumbent Jos\u00e9 Javier Rodr\u00edguez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea, according to prosecutors, was to siphon off enough votes because they have the same last name. Ultimately it worked, and Ileana Garcia won by just 34 votes after a recount.<\/p>\n

According to NBC Miami<\/a>, emails subpoenaed by prosecutors showed that Data Targeting paid Artiles over $90,000 plus expenses to \u201ckeep tabs\u201d on Jos\u00e9 Javier Rodr\u00edguez, including who he had lunch with, and getting reimbursed for \u201cresearch\u201d and plane tickets. In September 2020, Artiles even wrote in an email that he was \u201cstanding by for orders\u201d from Bainter, reports the station.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bainter, and his company, reportedly cooperated with prosecutors and was never charged with a crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s been a major player in state politics for over three decades, Bainter\u2019s most recent payments from the Vote Yes on 3 campaign seem to dwarf his previous jobs. For example, campaign finance records show that through the entire 2024 election cycle, Data Targeting was paid a total of $8,696,113, mostly from a handful of Florida Republican candidates and organizations. SGS Inc., on the other hand, was paid a total of $4,067,524.84, with the Realtors Political Advocacy Committee listed as the primary benefactors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creative Loafing Tampa Bay reached out to Bainter and the Florida Realtors association for comment with a detailed list of questions and will include any response we receive. <\/p>\n

If approved by voters, Amendment 3 would raise the homestead exemption on non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. It would also lower the annual assessment growth cap from 10% to 5% for non-homestead properties such as commercial buildings and rental units, and would require people moving to Florida after Dec. 31 to wait five years in continuous residency before qualifying for the full increased exemption.<\/p>\n

The proposal, backed by Florida Gov. DeSantis, needs 60% support from voters, but recent polls have showed declining support<\/a>, with one poll from EDGE Communications and MDW Communications showing \u201cyes\u201d votes at 50 percent, \u201cno\u201d votes at 27 percent and \u201cundecided\u201d at just 23 percent.<\/p>\n

Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This article appears in Oct. 15 \u2013 21, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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