Eric Robinson, a prominent Republican political committee chair, this month was under investigation for “potential election criminal misconduct.”
The revelation came through an executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis reassigning the case to State Attorney Andrew Warren. The order was signed on Sept. 22.
The matter moved from the 12th Judicial Circuit in Sarasota to the 13th Judicial Circuit in Tampa at the request of State Attorney Ed Brodsky, who utilizes Robinson’s services as his campaign treasurer. The order also states the State Attorney’s Office employs Robinson in a professional capacity.
The Governor’s order allows any case the comes from an investigation to move ahead in the 12th Circuit rather than the one where Robinson lives.
For his part, Robinson said he has no idea what prompted any criminal investigation.
“I don’t know what it’s about,” he said. “But I’m pretty sure it’s about politics and character assassination. Of that, I’m pretty sure.”
Robinson, one of the most politically connected operatives in Florida, recently lost a reelection bid for Sarasota School Board. He will continue to hold that public office until his opponent Tom Edwards gets sworn in this November. Robinson spent $222,195 during the School Board race to Edwards’ $32,109.
But Robinson’s political work extends across Florida. He’s chairperson for at least 26 active political committees in the state of Florida and treasurer for many more. That’s in addition to being a sought after campaign treasurer for Republican candidates around the state.
In the past few years, he has been in private practice with Joe Gruters, Republican Party of Florida chair, at the Venice-based accounting firm Robinson, Gruters & Roberts CPA.
Robinson’s political treasury work has made him a frequent target of administrative complaints, most of which through the years have been dismissed. Most recently, the Florida Ethics Commission concluded days after the August primary that the Making a Better Tomorrow committee chaired by Robinson had not violated the law despite a complaint and a finding of probable cause to investigate it.
The complaint alleged Sarasota City Commission candidate Martin Hyde funneled money through the committee to the Republican Party of Sarasota to fund a mailer, running around a prohibition of nonpartisan candidates seeking help from political parties.
Robinson said he gets attacked for most of the political committees with which he is involved in part because his name appears prominently on records.
“People have filed complaints and every one of them has been tossed out,” he said.
Admittedly, most of those are administrative, handled by elections or ethics officials. “Now somebody is trying to use criminal sanctions against me,” he said.
Calls to Brodsky’s office and an email to Warren’s office were not immediately returned late Monday afternoon.
The issue immediately became a matter in the State Attorney’s race. Betsy Young, Brodsky’s Democratic opponent, called on the State Attorney to fire Robinson.
“This is the swamp that people are so tired of dealing with,” Young said. “Right now, Ed Brodsky’s campaign treasurer is under investigation for criminal misconduct. If Ed wants us to believe that he isn’t breaking the law himself, he should immediately remove Robinson as campaign treasurer, make public all documents related to his employment with the State Attorney’s Office, and disclose exactly what crimes Eric Robinson is being investigated for.”
“People have a right to know if Eric Robinson is illegally tipping the scales for Ed Brodsky. We deserve to know what criminal allegations Robinson faces and whether they relate to his work on the Brodsky campaign, the State Attorney’s office, or both.”
A release from the Brodksy committee made reference to the Hyde race, but also to “more recent misconduct relating to Brodsky’s campaign.” The campaign…
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