Why Did Gillum’s Campaign Share a Building with a Taxpayer-Funded Solar Project and His Consulting Firm?

TALLAHASSEE, FL- Andrew Gillum recently moved his campaign headquarters, and as reported by the Tallahassee Democrat, Gillum has yet to pay rent for the new space. Perhaps Gillum is getting another sweetheart deal in Tallahassee, but as with most stories about Andrew Gillum, it gets worse.

As noted in the Democrat story, Gillum’s campaign was previously located at 1550 Melvin St. in Tallahassee, the same address shared by three other entities with questionable ties to Gillum: P&P Communications, People for the American Way Foundation, and Solar Distributors of America.

Why was a company who is a direct beneficiary of millions of taxpayer dollars registered at the same address as Gillum’s other interests?

• In 2011, as a Tallahassee City Commissioner, Andrew Gillum voted to give $5.4 million in taxpayer money to Sunnyland Solar for a solar farm project that failed shortly afterwards. That solar farm project is now a direct target of the FBI’s investigation into corruption in Tallahassee’s city government.
• A company called Solar Distributors of America partnered with Sunnyland Solar and was the purchasing entity for the property that the solar resided on. Solar Distributors of America is registered at 1550 Melvin St. in Tallahassee. At the time, 1550 Melvin Street was also the address of the following:

• • Andrew Gillum’s campaign headquarters
  • P&P Communications
  • People for the American Way Foundation

Why did Gillum’s alleged PR firm receive rent money from his campaign? How is this not a violation?

• After leaving his job with the People for the American Way Foundation ahead of his run for Florida governor, Mayor Andrew Gillum joined P&P Communications, a PR Firm in Tallahassee founded by longtime Gillum supporter Sharon Lettman-Hicks.
• P&P Communications was located in the same building, owned by Lettman-Hicks, as the People for the American Way Foundation.
• As noted by the Tallahassee Democrat: “The building was home to the PFAW Foundation for years until its lease expired in February 2017, just as Gillum was about to launch his gubernatorial campaign. After PFAW moved out, Gillum’s campaign moved in the following month, Lettman-Hicks said.”
• Gillum’s campaign paid P&P rent, from which Gillum takes an over $70,000 a year salary from.
• P&P, an alleged PR Firm, has no listed clients, no website, and virtually no trace of existence other than its registration.

The people of Florida deserve answers:

• Why would a company who is a direct beneficiary of millions of taxpayer dollars be registered at the same address as Gillum’s other interests?
• After voting to allocate over $5 million in taxpayer money, and the project collapsed, where did that money go? And why was one of the companies with ties to the project located at his campaign HQ?
• What does P&P Communications do? If they truly are a PR Firm, where is their website? Who are their clients? Why were they receiving rent money from his campaign? How is this not a violation?

SOURCES

• City Commission Meeting Summary, TalGov.com, p. 30

• Solar Distributors of America, Business Entity Registration, Florida Division of Corporations

• Andrew Gillum 2017 Personal Financial Disclosure

• Jeffrey Schweers, “‘Setup for failure’: How fortunes dimmed for Sunnyland, a company under FBI scrutiny (UPDATE),”Tallahassee Democrat, 6/27/2017

• Jeff Burlew and Jeffrey Schweers, “Andrew Gillum’s other job: P&P Communications shares building with campaign HQ,”Tallahassee Democrat, 8/1/2018

• “Mayor Andrew Gillum Paid by PR Firm with No Website, Will Not Identify Clients,” Tallahassee Reports, 7/30/2018

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo is by rawpixel on Unsplash.

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