Drew Wilson
A committee chaired by House Speaker Jose Oliva has sent another $180,000 to a group working to oust Republican Rep. Daniel Perez, who is in line to become House Speaker in 2024.
New finance reports show Oliva’s committee, Conservative Principles for Florida, cut the six-figure check to Citizens for Ethical and Effective Leadership on July 20. Oliva has sent $580,000 to the committee to date.
Citizens for Ethical and Effective Leadership has been releasing attack ads hammering Perez in his reelection campaign for House District 116, sending mailers and posting ads on social media calling him soft on Cuba — a serious infraction among the district’s conservative electorate.
The committee’s homepage currently features an ad asking voters to “reject lying representative Danny Perez in August 2020” and photos of mailers describing his primary challenger as a “true Republican.”
Citizens for Ethical & Effective Leadership’s finance report lists Oliva’s contribution as its only income for the week of July 18-24. It also shows $188,000 in spending, nearly all of it for media buys through Miami-based DRC Consulting.
It is unusual for an exiting lawmaker to devote substantial resources to getting a member of his own party out of office.
Oliva, for his part, has maintained the contributions were for the committee to go after Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Alex Penelas, not Perez. Still, he declined to answer direct questions as to whether he backs the attacks on Perez and has taken blame from Republicans who back Perez.
The infusion comes a couple weeks before Perez faces challenger Gabriel Garcia in the Republican primary for HD 116, which covers part of Miami-Dade County.
Garcia been trying to position himself as the more conservative candidate in the race in an attempt to kneecap Perez — his campaign page pitches him as an avid supporter of President Donald Trump, anti-abortion, pro-2nd Amendment, and a hard-liner on U.S.-Cuba relations. He has also accused Perez as someone who doesn’t espouse Republican values.
