FPL is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, one of the nation’s largest utility conglomerates in terms of homes and businesses served. And although its parent is a major producer of renewable energy, FPL is among Florida’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitters. The leaked documents, in any case, showed that FPL was enmeshed in a covert campaign of media manipulation, surveillance and what one federal securities lawsuit calls electoral “dirty tricks,” all in the name of maximizing profits.
Investigations by Floodlight and other Florida news outlets would reveal that the ghost candidates were bankrolled with some $730,000 in dark money, $100,000 of which was channeled through a prominent Republican operative into a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that Artiles controlled. (Artiles’s attorney, Frank Quintero, disputes that any of that money ever made it to ghost candidate Rodriguez: “The prosecutor can say whatever the f— he wants, but the reality is different than what he wants it to be.”) The remaining $630,000 made its way through a daisy chain of opaque nonprofits partially overseen by the CEO of Matrix, which was then working for FPL.
From the utility’s perspective, expanding the state Senate’s Republican majority — by whatever means — would help fulfill its legislative priorities. Those priorities included escaping liability for damages related to power outages in the wake of Hurricane Irma; ousting J.R. Kelly, the state’s long-serving (unsympathetic) consumer utility watchdog; and winning approval from the Senate-confirmed Public Service Commission for Florida’s largest-ever hike in electricity rates.
The defeat of Sen. Rodriguez had the added benefit of kneecapping one of the state’s most prominent backers of rooftop solar, which reduces carbon emissions and lowers utility bills — and against which FPL had waged a decade-long counterinsurgency campaign.
this is a slap on the wrist considering what happened here; the company should pay a huge fine and every person involved should get at least a decade in jail. The consequences of this scheme are ridiculously high, and the punishment needs to reflect that.
Not to mention this is one scheme that was found out, due to the brazenness of the actors, it’s hard to tell hole many more other similar tricks are playing out right now across the country
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[Utility dark money trail exposed:](https://floodlightnews.org/florida-ghost-candidates-scandal-puts-the-entire-utility-sector-on-trial/)
FPL is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, one of the nation’s largest utility conglomerates in terms of homes and businesses served. And although its parent is a major producer of renewable energy, FPL is among Florida’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitters. The leaked documents, in any case, showed that FPL was enmeshed in a covert campaign of media manipulation, surveillance and what one federal securities lawsuit calls electoral “dirty tricks,” all in the name of maximizing profits.
Investigations by Floodlight and other Florida news outlets would reveal that the ghost candidates were bankrolled with some $730,000 in dark money, $100,000 of which was channeled through a prominent Republican operative into a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that Artiles controlled. (Artiles’s attorney, Frank Quintero, disputes that any of that money ever made it to ghost candidate Rodriguez: “The prosecutor can say whatever the f— he wants, but the reality is different than what he wants it to be.”) The remaining $630,000 made its way through a daisy chain of opaque nonprofits partially overseen by the CEO of Matrix, which was then working for FPL.
From the utility’s perspective, expanding the state Senate’s Republican majority — by whatever means — would help fulfill its legislative priorities. Those priorities included escaping liability for damages related to power outages in the wake of Hurricane Irma; ousting J.R. Kelly, the state’s long-serving (unsympathetic) consumer utility watchdog; and winning approval from the Senate-confirmed Public Service Commission for Florida’s largest-ever hike in electricity rates.
The defeat of Sen. Rodriguez had the added benefit of kneecapping one of the state’s most prominent backers of rooftop solar, which reduces carbon emissions and lowers utility bills — and against which FPL had waged a decade-long counterinsurgency campaign.
this is a slap on the wrist considering what happened here; the company should pay a huge fine and every person involved should get at least a decade in jail. The consequences of this scheme are ridiculously high, and the punishment needs to reflect that.
Not to mention this is one scheme that was found out, due to the brazenness of the actors, it’s hard to tell hole many more other similar tricks are playing out right now across the country