Trial Begins For Ex-Florida Senator Frank Artiles Facing Charges in 2020 'Ghost Candidate' and Dark Money Plot

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The long-awaited trial of former Florida state senator Frank Artiles began last week, with prosecutors accusing him of orchestrating an elaborate election scheme involving "ghost candidates" to sway the outcome of a 2020 Senate race.

 Artiles is accused of paying a friend, Alexis Rodriguez, to run as a no-party candidate in Miami-Dade’s 2020 Senate District 37 race. 

The plan, prosecutors argue, was designed to confuse voters and siphon support away from Democratic incumbent José Javier Rodríguez by exploiting the shared last name. Rodríguez ultimately lost the seat to Republican Ileana Garcia by just 32 votes. If convicted, Artiles could face up to 20 years in prison.

The scandal broke in 2021, but leaked documents in 2022 revealed the alleged involvement of Florida Power & Light (FPL), the state’s largest utility. Investigative reporting by the Miami Herald and other news outlets uncovered how FPL funneled money through dark money PACs and nonprofits to support ‘ghost candidate’ schemes in at least three important state senate races. Former FPL CEO Eric Silagy stepped down in early 2023, and FPL’s parent company, Nextera, denies all wrongdoing. Meanwhile, a pending shareholder lawsuit has raised critical questions about corporate influence in our elections.

We invite you to revisit the past reporting of the Miami Herald and other investigative outlets below. These reports were crucial in exposing the depth of this scandal. These articles highlight the covert schemes and corporate manipulation threatening our electoral integrity, providing context for the trial's ongoing developments. 

‘Make his life a living hell.’ The FPL-financed plot to torpedo a Miami lawmaker

Published by The Miami Herald on September 9, 2022, this reporting reveals the involvement of Florida Power & Light (FPL) in an elaborate dark money scheme to unseat state senator José Javier Rodríguez in the 2020 election. FPL used a network of nonprofits and political operatives to secretly finance and orchestrate the campaign that led to Rodríguez's defeat, with a particular focus on suppressing his support for clean energy policies.

Key Points:

  • FPL CEO Eric Silagy directed his team to target Rodríguez, instructing them to “make his life a living hell” after Rodríguez filed a bill threatening FPL’s hold on Florida’s solar energy market.

  • FPL and its political consultants devised a plan to fund a no-party "ghost candidate" named Alex Rodriguez, whose candidacy siphoned 6,300 votes away from Senator José Javier Rodríguez, contributing to his defeat by just 32 votes in favor of Republican Ileana Garcia.

  • This effort was part of a broader plot in which FPL used shadowy nonprofits to channel millions into state Senate races to defeat Democratic candidates, hiding their involvement behind layers of organizations like Grow United.

Florida "Ghost Candidates" Scandal Puts the Entire Utility Sector on Trial

This article, originally reported by the Floodlight journalism team, now published again in Mother Jones, exposes a web of political corruption in Florida, involving election interference, dark money, and monopolistic control by the utility sector, particularly Florida Power & Light (FPL).

Key Points:

  • The scandal revolves around "ghost candidates," political newcomers with no real intention of winning, introduced to siphon votes from legitimate contenders. These candidates were funded through covert dark money campaigns, intended to swing close elections in favor of Republican candidates.

  • A central figure in this scheme is Frank Artiles, a former Florida state senator, accused of orchestrating ghost campaigns, including one in Miami-Dade's District 37 Senate race. He allegedly recruited Alex Rodriguez, a ghost candidate, who ran against Democratic incumbent José Javier Rodriguez, effectively splitting the vote and leading to a narrow win for Republican Ileana García.

  • The ghost candidate scheme was backed by FPL, part of the utility conglomerate NextEra Energy. Leaked documents reveal FPL’s involvement in media manipulation, campaign financing, and undermining environmental policies, particularly rooftop solar initiatives.

Responding to dark money controversy, NextEra did internal investigation into FPL

Published by The Miami Herald on January 30, 2022, this reporting discusses revelations about Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) involvement in a dark money scheme linked to ghost candidates in the 2020 Florida Senate elections. These revelations prompted an internal investigation by FPL’s parent company, NextEra Energy, though the company denied any wrongdoing.

Key Points:

  • FPL was scrutinized for its connections to two political nonprofit committees, "Grow United" and "Let's Preserve the American Dream," which were involved in funding ghost candidates in the 2020 election. These candidates were designed to siphon votes from Democrats.

  • NextEra Energy conducted an internal investigation into FPL's involvement and CEO James Robo stated that there was “no evidence... of illegality or wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees.”

  • Despite the investigation, internal documents revealed that FPL CEO Eric Silagy used a pseudonym, “Theodore Hayes,” to coordinate with consultants about these efforts. It was found that FPL contributed to campaigns through opaque nonprofits.

Key Quotations:

  1. "NextEra Energy CEO James Robo responded... saying there was 'no evidence... of illegality or wrongdoing on the part of FPL or any of its employees.'"

  2. "Court documents... showed that Let's Preserve the American Dream paid former state Sen. Frank Artiles $125,000 for 'research' and paid Grow United $1.15 million."

Sources:

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