It seems that Christian Ulvert has made enemies of folks with money to spend.  

Here is the link to Citizens For Ethical and Effective Leadership a website created by the same PAC that sent the above mailer to the residents of Miami Shores.

Shortly after I posted a link to this site on the Miami Shores Community  Facebook page, a fellow resident raised questions about one of the claims made on the website that Ulvert had been involved with the owners of Greyhound racing in an effort to vote down an amendment to the state constitution last year.  Ulvert responded by claiming that the above website was being financed by a secret PAC.

In what clearly appeared to be an effort to evade and ignore the question, Ulvert's response didn't include any references as to whether, as the website alleges, he was affiliated with "dog racing and gaming interests," who were opposed to last year's Amendment 13, that was put forward to shut down dog racing in Florida.

If you're too lazy to do so, here is the relevant information. The ECO has, since November 2008 until now collected $2,088,925.00, and spent $2,102,263.20.

It's only expenditure this year was on January 31, 2019, and was for $53,728.40, which it is reasonable to assume, since the record shows that the PAC ran out of money after this transfer, that this money is what was used to finance this effort against Ulvert.

PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES

The fun thing about what seems to be happening now is that as pressure begins to mount against Ulvert and his campaign, information that surfaces about his past activities as a political op are going to continue to trigger a flurry of charges and counter-charges presented by him and his supporters that will not be intended to set the records straight, but rather be designed to muddy the waters and to engage in misdirection.

For instance, after I posted my Monday story and the information on the Miami Shores Community Facebook page, a resident posted a copy of page 1 of a Revocation Letter dated March 1, 2019, from the Florida Division Of Elections shutting down the above named PAC, which triggered a number of responses based on little if any factual information.

For those who would seize on the fact that this PAC was shut down by the Florida Division Of Elections is evidence of evil doing on the part of the person who operated the ECO, be advised that this information doesn't mean as much as some people would like to believe because, first the money used to finance the attack efforts against Ulvert were transferred before this occurred, and secondly because the Florida Division of Elections closes down a lot of ECO's and PAC when they run out of money, or the campaign they were created to support ends..

Take a look at the letter that Christian Ulvert received when he was the Chairman of Floridians For Accountability and Justice, which is below the letter that was posted about the above ECO on the Miami Shores Facebook page.

The allegation is factually correct as far as it goes.

Ulvert was involved with the Havenick family who owns the Flagler Dog Track and Casino, and the Fort Meyers Dog Track and Casino, both of which are members of the Florida Greyhound Association that opposed both Amendment 3 and Amendment 13, the state-wide initiative that was on the ballot last year.

Amendment 3 was an initiative to limit casino gambling by making it a requirement that "citizen-initiated ballot measures," were the only way that any future casino gambling in Florida could occur.

All of the pro-gambling interests in the state were opposed to this amendment including the Flagler and Naples-Fort Myers Dog Track and Casino, that are owned by the Havenick family.

They even created a PAC, and Christian Ulvert was the Registered Agent for that PAC.

That PAC raised and spent $1,707,682.00.

The Florida Greyhound Association of which both Flagler and Naples-Fort Myers dog tracks were members of, aggressively opposed Amendment 13, which was an effort to abolish dog racing in Florida.  

In a long and detailed legal explanation of the issue prepared by the Florida Bar, here is a small portion that described the Greyhound Association's role in the effort to challenge Amendment 13.

I could not find any documentation that revealed that either the Flagler or Naples-Fort Myers tracks engaged in a separate campaign against Amendment 13, but clearly as members of the Greyhound Racing Association they were involved.

One reason for why the Flagler Dog Track might have been less involved than the Naples-Fort Myers Track was because they had earlier decided to try and separate themselves from dog racing in order to replace it with Jai-Lai, and in July of 2017 - a year before Amendment 13 - they had won a legal dispute with Florida regulators to do so.  You can read about it here: July 20, 2017, Miami Herald.

The Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Racing and Poker on the other hand has chosen, unlike some of the other dog tracks that decided to immediately shut down, to keep dog racing going to 2020.

Here is a portion of an article from the November 7, 2018, Naples Daily News, that explains that.

I highlighted the portion that identified Izzy Havenick, a senior member of the Havenick family that owns both the Flagler and Naples-Fort Myers Tracks, because he is the same Isidore Havenick, along with Barbara Havenick, who donated $1500 to Ulvert's campaign.

So, was Ulvert, "a paid spokesperson for dog racing and gaming interests (Flagler Dog Track)?

Absolutely!

As a press secretary for the pro-slots political committee, did he stand on behalf of dog racing companies in opposition to groups such as Grey2K USA and the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida?

Yes and maybe.

Yes, he stood with the pro-slots political committee - he was their Registered Agent.  

I've found no direct evidence however, that he personally took part in any of the activities against Amendment 13, although both Flagler and Naples-Fort Myers Tracks did so through their membership in the Greyhound Racing Association.

I doubt at this point whether we'd ever be able to find out definitively as to what his role, if any, was regarding activities against Amendment 13, but what we do know for sure is that in his campaign for Miami Shores Village Council he has taken money from 2 of the owners of the Naples-Fort Myers Dog Track that is still in operation, and for those opposed to dog racing that might be enough to support the claim that Ulvert is guilty by association.

While there might be some wiggle room on this allegation, the website against Ulvert also had several other allegations, and they too should be of concern to folks.

Over the years I've spent considerable time going through the financial information in dozens of these ECO's and PAC's and you'll find that it is almost impossible to find one that doesn't have a string of letters from the Florida Division Of Elections over one violation or another, and while it doesn't speak well for any of the organizations that does, the folks who put together these ECO's and PAC's often run out of time, money and energy to clean up the paperwork mess that they created in spending other people money for or against a candidate or an issue and just walk away at the end of the fight, as obviously both Ulvert and Citizens For Ethical And Effective Leadership did.

THE ALLEGATION THAT ULVERT SUPPORTED DOG RACING

I chose to run down the allegation about the mistreatment of dogs, not because it was the only allegation made against Ulvert, but because it was the one raised by a fellow resident, and the one that Ulvert refused to address directly,  Here it is again.

Ulvert's response was in fact no response, because the allegation was not whether he, "has any issues with dogs." but whether he was affiliated with the dog tracks who were opposed to the effort to shut them down.

Ulvert ignored the real allegation and chose to misdirect by claiming   that the attacks were "being funded by ba secret PAC," and that he had 2 Maltese pups, although it took about a minute and a half of internet searching to turn up the information on this ECO, which you can go and look at yourself, by clicking HERE.

I've not had the opportunity to look at the allegations against Floridians For Affordable Reliable Energy, other than to visit their website where Ulvert is indeed included as their press spokesman, but I suspect this warrants further review.

The claim about Ulvert's involvement in the strong mayor campaign waged by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was in fact true, and the Miami Herald's reporting on Ulvert's involvement and refusal to respond to questions was part of my original post about why I opposed Ulvert's campaign for Village Council.

As for his defense that he is not in favor of dog racing,  Ulvert's claim that he is a dog owner with, "2 beautiful Maltese pups," is not only inmaterial, but it's indicative of the kind of misdirection and irrelevant bullshit that we can expect from him as the campaign and the revelations against him continue.

It's Miami Shores, Bitches!