Dear Friend,
We already knew that consultants for fossil-fuel polluter Florida Power & Light rigged our elections with “ghost candidates,” tried to bribe an elected official in Jacksonville, and plotted dark-money schemes through a fake email account for the company’s CEO.
But it turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to FPL’s attempts to undermine our democracy.
In just the past few weeks, newspapers around Florida have reported that FPL consultants spied on a journalist in Jacksonville (in addition to spying on elected officials and state regulators). They financed and controlled a fake news website in Tallahassee that tried to fool people into thinking it was doing legitimate journalism in order to launder pro-FPL propaganda and smear anyone who dared to stand up to the company (including me).
And they helped orchestrate the defeat of one of the strongest champions we had in Tallahassee on climate and corporate-accountability: former state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, who was so despised by the CEO of FPL that the CEO ordered his consultants to “make his life a living hell…seriously.” (And what makes it even grosser: FPL worked with a *Democratic* consultant on this plot to take out JJR – one of the best Democratic elected officials in the state.)
From the beginning, I’ve been one of the loudest voices in Florida speaking out against FPL’s efforts to control our elections, keep us addicted to fossil fuels, maintain its monopoly, and squeeze more and more profits out of everyday Floridians through record rate hikes.
I’ve never accepted money from FPL. I sponsored legislation to transition Florida to 100 percent renewable energy sources. I fought FPL’s attempt to undermine rooftop solar. And I pushed the Public Service Commission to actually do its job and audit FPL’s dark-money spending.
But these stories show just what those of us willing to stand up to companies like FPL are up against. And we need your help to keep going. If you can, please consider supporting our re-election effort, by donating to our campaign, volunteering for a neighborhood canvas event, or requesting a yard-sign for your home.
And please help other champions of everyday Floridians – people like Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, who FPL and its allies are targeting this election, and Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil in Senate District 9, who is trying to take back the Central Florida state Senate seat that FPL’s consultants stole with the ghost-candidate scheme.
As big and powerful as FPL is, we are bigger and more powerful when we stand together.
Onward,
Representative Anna V. Eskamani