Condemnation of FAKE Voter Guides

Fraudulent voter guides are confusing voters, exasperating candidates, and misrepresenting Republican Party affiliations.

Manatee County is the latest county to attempt to alert voters of a deceptive guide that uses the MAGA name along with images of Trump and DeSantis to suggest endorsements that don’t actually exist.

Current Board Members of the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee, along with past Board Members and current Candidates, joined together to publicly condemn the slight-of-hand marketing that continues to confuse voters.

Florida’s early voting happens this week and volunteers at the early voting sites began seeing a pattern: voters would approach their table carrying the guide, believing this was an official endorsement slate of Trump, DeSantis and the Manatee County GOP. When they learned of the source of the marketing piece, they were grateful they learned in time to cast their vote for candidates who reflect their values to put Manatee County Government back into the hands of the people instead of the special interests.

Those who had cast their votes felt deceived, defrauded, and duped.

Voters were angry at the local Republican Party:

• “Why isn’t the Republican Party telling voters this isn’t their guide?”

• “How are they allowed to get away with using the name and logo?”

• “Why are Republicans letting this happen?”

The Chair of the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee, April Culbreath, is listed as one of the PAC’s choices on the deceptive guide. Further, office workers at the REC Headquarters handed the guides out to visitors and texted the guide to callers in direct violation of RPOF Rules and MCREC Rules.

When Committee Members learned of this, they were very upset by the unethical behavior of the Chair, and wrote to Board asking them to remove the two volunteers who were violating the rules.

In response, April Culbreath shuttered the Republican Headquarters until after the primary.

Because of the clear conflict of interest with the Chair, volunteers who saw the confusion at the early voting sites contacted the MCREC’s Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer, begging them to issue a statement.

Printed below is the response from them and Republican Candidates who are equally as astounded by the deception.

Images of the letter are included below.

---

An Urgent Letter to Manatee County Republicans  

From: Board Members of the Manatee County GOP

and Manatee County Grassroots Candidates 

August 14, 2024 

Dear Fellow Republicans, 

PLEASE BEWARE: A document claiming to be an “official voter guide” (see attached) was recently mailed to all registered Republicans in Manatee County featuring images of President Trump and Governor DeSantis and the MAGA logo and hat. The guide is clearly designed to communicate that Trump and DeSantis “Endorse” a particular slate of local candidates. The guide further implies that it is a product of the Republican Party as it included official GOP logos and QR codes to the Manatee County and Florida State GOP websites.  

As Members of the Board of the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee, and local grass roots candidates, we want to warn you this is false and deceptive. Please alert your fellow Republican voters: 

• Trump and DeSantis did not officially endorse any of these candidates & and is not associated with this voter guide 

• The Republican Party of Manatee County did not vote to endorse any of these candidates & and is not associated with this voter guide. 

To be clear, the Manatee County Republican Executive Committee has no association with this guide. While we acknowledge that the fine print on these documents contains some disclaimers, we nonetheless condemn the marketing slight-of-hand that features pictures of Trump, the Make America Great Again name, and a MAGA hat to deceive voters into believing these candidates are endorsed by Trump and DeSantis. We condemn the marketing slight-of-hand that allows the creators of the guide to blatantly impersonate the Republican Party. 

The True Authors 

The guide(s) were developed and distributed by a local Political Action Committee called MAGA pc inc., www.magacommittee.com, whose principle 2024 donors are current candidates for the Sarasota County Board of Commissioners, Teresa Mast and Neil Rainford. The guide was produced for 6 Florida counties. What is the connection? Most of the candidates endorsed AND the PAC itself have financial ties to Tampa political consultant Anthony Pedicini and his company Simwins. In 2020 this “MAGA” PAC paid Simwins $368k and in 2022, $456k.  

Election integrity is a top priority for Manatee County Republicans and in our opinion the unscrupulous tactics used in these mailers, websites, and texts to influence voters  constitutes election interference, if not outright fraud.  

Please spread the word through social media and word of mouth that this guide is a deceptive campaign ad piece and not what it appears to be.   

Respectfully, 

• Nathan Knight, Vice Chair, Manatee County Republican Executive Committee 

• Sandy Freas, Secretary, Manatee County Republican Executive Committee

• Mike Keegan, Treasurer, Manatee County Republican Executive Committee

• Marnie Matarese, Former Secretary, , Manatee County Republican Executive Committee

• Bruce J. Stamm

• Jacki Heisse, Candidate: GOP State Committeewoman

• Sandi Piper, Candidate: GOP State Committeewoman

• Trent Wayman, Candidate: GOP State Committeeman

• Eddie Speir, Candidate for Florida Congressional District 16

• Richard Green, Candidate: Florida House, District 72

• Richard Tatum, Candidate: Florida House, District 72

• Scott Farrington, Candidate: Manatee County Supervisor of Elections

• George Kruse, Candidate: Manatee Co. BOCC, District 7 

• Tal Siddique, Candidate: Manatee Co. BOCC, District 3

• Carol Felts, Candidate: Manatee Co. BOCC District 1 

• Bob McCann, Candidate: Manatee Co. BOCC District 5 

• Mark Stanoch, Candidate: School Board, District 1

• PerriAnn Parkman, Candidate: School Board, District

---