Tallahassee Insider Bill Helmich Alleged To Be Behind Racial Mailings

The St. Pete Times is reporting that Bill Helmich, a long-time lobbyist and consultant, is behind the Absentee Ballot Requests forms in the Senate District 8 race that have been decried as racist.  Speaking with the Times, Helmich acknowledged knowing Erin Di Cesare, but refused to confirm whether or not she was a client.

The Times is also reporting that a well-placed source has told them that Ms. Di Cesare is a "mole"---a Republican who registered as a Democrat to create a smokescreen.

Both Stan Jordan and John Thrasher, who will face fellow Republicans Art Graham and Dan Quiggle in the Sept 15 primary, have denied being behind the mailing, but Marc Caputo, the St. Pete Times reporter who uncovered the Helmich connection, says "the conventional wisdom is that their supporters would gain the most from the flier. Here's the logic: An experienced, well-funded Tallahassee hand would have the campaign know-how to use absentee ballot requests to saturate likely voters with direct mail."

Surprisingly, a poll commissioned by the Quiggle campaign shows him with an 8-point lead over Thrasher, with Jordan and Graham behind them.  Whether independent polls will be able to confirm that remains to be seen.

Tags: Art Graham, Bill Helmich, Conservative Voters Coalition, Dan Quiggle, Erin Di Cesare, Jim King, John Thrasher, Marc Caputo, Stan Jordan

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 29th, 2009 at 5:30 AM and is filed under Local Politics, State Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.