Jeff Greene, Thomas Buhr cut big checks for Nikki Fried

Correction: A previous version of this post stated a different Jeff Greene donated to a Nikki Fried-led political committee.

A couple of major donors put their financial weight behind Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried for Governor.

Donation reports for Fried’s political committee, Florida Consumers First, shows writer Thomas Buhr donated $25,000. Jeff Greene also sent $10,000 through his company, Jeff Greene & Associates.

The two donations made up more than half of the $55,380 raised by the political committee over the first 16 days of June.

Fried was elected Agriculture Commissioner in 2018. She ultimately became the only Democrat to win state office that year — and by a historically close margin.

Buhr chipped in the largest donation this month to the campaign. A conservationist based in Luzurne, Michigan, this isn’t his first entry into Florida politics. The founder of Anglers of the Au Sable supported the successful campaign in 1994 for the Save Our Sea Life constitutional amendment that made 500-foot gillnets illegal.

He has since produced a number of written academic and commercial works and served as editor of Anglers from 2004 through 2013. His official bio says he splits his time these days between Michigan and Florida’s Treasure Coast.

Those were the only five-figure checks to land in Fried’s committee coffers so far. Like the committees for the other candidates for Governor, Florida Consumers First is reporting donations through the month.

The committee also ramped up its spending in early June, dropping $46,233 on fees for Kevin Cate Communications in Tallahassee and $42,613 on polling with Washington-based HIT Strategies.