Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer’s PAC gifts campaign cash to developer-friendly Republicans running for Orange County Commission

With several contentious races on the ballot for Orange County voters this year, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, the region’s most high-profile Democrat, appears to be throwing financial support behind two Republicans gunning for local office, including a challenger to an incumbent Democrat.

Earlier this year, Dyer publicly came out in support of developer Steve Leary, a Republican and former Winter Park mayor who’s vying for the open District 5 seat on the Orange County Commission that will soon be vacated by term-limited Commissioner Emily Bonilla. Facing off against Leary for the seat is Dr. Kelly Semrad, a hospitality and tourism studies professor at the University of Central Florida, an environmental activist and a Democrat.

Dyer has publicly endorsed Leary — whom he has described as a “thoughtful” and an “effective leader” — and appears in Leary’s campaign materials. He’s also donated several thousands of dollars to Leary’s political action committee.

Outside of the very public eye, however, newly posted campaign finance records indicate Dyer also appears to be working with Republicans to boot from office incumbent Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson, who is being challenged by anti-abortion Republican Austin Arthur from the right. Arthur, like Leary, has gained the backing of powerful players in the developer, hospitality and tourism industries that could benefit from gaining new allies on the County Commission.

Rachael Kobb, a political strategist and former campaign manager for Dyer, told Orlando Weekly that Dyer has only endorsed Leary. She didn’t mention Arthur, who has alleged a “barrage of misinformation” from his opposition. Campaign finance records, however, seem to offer a different tale.

Records through the state Division of Elections office show the Orlando PAC, a political committee affiliated with Dyer, contributed $10,000 on Oct. 24 to Florida Right Solutions, a political committee controlled by longtime GOP consultant Marc Reichelderfer.

While it’s unclear what exactly the money was for (Kobb didn’t respond to a request for an explanation), records show a separate but similarly named political committee, Central Florida Solutions — run by GOP consultant David Johnson — contributed $10,000 to Citizens for Common Sense Solutions, a committee affiliated with Orange County Commission candidate Austin Arthur, on the same day.

While Arthur’s name doesn’t appear on any of the public documents associated with Citizens for Common Sense Solutions, the committee is chaired by Jose Virella, a videographer hired to do work for Arthur’s campaign. It has also made monthly payments to Arthur’s campaign manager, Tracy Main, since last August.

Johnson and Reichelderfer, the GOP consultants, have worked together in the past. Neither responded to requests for comment.

Arthur, a marketing executive and gym owner from Winter Garden, is a Republican with documented anti-abortion views who is challenging incumbent Nicole Wilson, a Democrat from Windermere, for her nonpartisan District 1 Orange County Commission seat. Wilson, an environmental lawyer who’s made enemies within developer circles for her “smart growth” approach to new development, beat Arthur in the Aug. 20 primary election by literally just a couple of votes, sending the pair to a rematch on Nov. 5. Although the race is officially nonpartisan, the district leans slightly Republican — and one candidate is a Democrat, while the other is a Republican.

Arthur, who publicly touts a “slow the growth” and balancing-act approach to development himself, has nonetheless received significant financial backing from developers over the course of his campaign, and has out-raised Wilson more than 4-to-1.

But Dyer, who’s held on to his position as mayor since 2003, isn’t the only mayor to see Arthur as a potential ally. According to his campaign website, Arthur has also been endorsed by at least six other local mayors — in Ocoee, Oakland, Apopka, Edgewood, Windermere and Winter Garden — as well as other local elected officials, like Moms for Liberty-affiliated Orange County School Board member Alicia Farrant. Unlike Dyer, however, these other mayors that have publicly and proudly endorsed Arthur are Republicans.

Arthur did not respond to an email from Orlando Weekly asking after Dyer’s support for his campaign, but proudly touted the endorsements from other mayors in an interview with Orlando Weekly last month, calling out Wilson for what he described as a “failure of leadership.”

“The reason why it’s so important to get these partnerships in place is because that’s how you build infrastructure,” Arthur argued. “You need the partnership and the buy-in of these municipalities in order to get these projects done and executed quickly.”

Arthur was more cagey when asked about his personal views on the issue of abortion rights. Arthur sees it as a federal or state government issue, even though such views can be pertinent to local governance — for instance, through zoning laws that can hinder the ability of abortion clinics to open and/or operate in a municipality.

Public records obtained by Orlando Weekly show Arthur was invited by the Governor’s Office to the bill signing for Florida’s 15-week abortion ban bill in 2022, although Arthur denies having any sort of established relationship with Gov. Ron DeSantis personally.

Arthur also sits on the board of Life’s Choices Clinic, a religiously affiliated nonprofit “pregnancy resource center” in Eustis that is anti-abortion. On its website, Life’s Choices for instance touts misleading information on “abortion pill reversal” — a concept that is not supported by science. At the bottom of their webpage, the center acknowledges, “Because we are pro-woman and a non-profit, we do not provide or refer for abortion services.”

It’s unclear why Dyer, who has described himself in the past as “100% pro-choice,” would throw money at Arthur’s campaign. Wilson, however, has some ideas. While previously unaware of the recent contribution from Dyer’s PAC, Wilson admitted she and Dyer haven’t seen eye-to-eye on certain issues, like her opposition to a proposed toll road through environmentally sensitive land and her recent opposition to a massive annexation plan that Dyer and city officials supported.

Wilson opposed the annexation in her capacity as an elected county commissioner, while Semrad — the District 5 candidate facing off against Dyer’s preferred candidate, Leary — opposed it in her role as an activist with the group Save Orange County.

The controversial plan proposed to annex more than 52,000 acres of Deseret Ranch land in unincorporated Orange County to the city. Wilson, concerned about sprawl, opposed the plan on the grounds that the city’s environmental protections are weaker than the county’s. Critics of the proposal described it as a “massive land grab” supported by developers with cozy relationships to the city.

The annexation plan involves property owned by the Mormon church, and has since been derailed and reworked through an agreement reached between city and county leaders, according to the Orlando Sentinel, but Wilson named it as an issue Dyer could be bitter about. She says she also advocated for withholding the highly-sought-after tourist development tax funds for city venues if the city continued to annex sensitive environmental areas of unincorporated Orange County, and was unimpressed with a city-endorsed annexation proposal from mega-developer Tavistock that had received Dyer’s blessing.

“After Split Oak, the TDT grab, and the blind devotion to Deseret and Tavistock, I would say I am guarded with City officials and will continue to work for the people of Orange County, not deep-pocketed special interests,” Wilson told Orlando Weekly over email, in response to the Dyer-linked PAC’s donor activity. “I’m not shocked to hear about this, but I am disappointed.”

The annexation issue is on the ballot this year in more ways than one. Unlike Arthur, Wilson is supportive of a proposed charter amendment on the Orange County ballot this year (Amendment 10) that would require a majority-plus-one of Orange County commissioners to approve voluntary municipal annexations. Currently, the county doesn’t have that kind of authority.

Supporters, like Wilson, describe it as a protective measure to help save rural lands from suburban sprawl and land-hungry developers. Arthur, however, has framed it as a waste of time. “Like many amendments pushed by Nicole Wilson — such as the Rights to Clean Water and rent control — this will result in burdening taxpayers with costly litigation and will be overturned,” Arthur told Seeking Rents, a Substack publication published by investigative reporter Jason Garcia.

But he might have more skin in the game than he lets on. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Arthur has received the backing (and campaign cash) of many developer interests that largely oppose the measure.

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This article appears in Oct 23-29, 2024.