Elections complaint filed against Goston

A Gainesville resident has made a formal complaint to the Florida Elections Commission against former City Commissioner and state Senate candidate Charles Goston, claiming he violated campaign finance laws.

According to the complaint sent Tuesday, Sam Collins questions whether Goston ever published a pair of advertisements that Goston claimed to have paid for with campaign donations — essentially spending money to benefit his own company — during his Senate run.

“Dark money is not illegal,” Goston said in the voicemail. ”... It’s still America. You can do what you want to do.”

Adav Noti, a senior director and attorney with the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C., begs to differ.

Noti, who previously worked for the Federal Election Commission, said laws are set up to prevent shell organizations from hiding campaign contributions. He said it’s a trend that has increasingly been investigated by the Department of Justice. “That’s exactly the sort of activity that campaign disclosure laws are intended to prevent,” he said.

Read the full article