Politico by Matt Dixon and Marc Caputo
September 4, 2018
TALLAHASSEE — The gubernatorial campaign of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum released receipts tied to trips that are part of a state ethics investigation, including a visit to New York City during which he was photographed with a person believed to be an undercover FBI agent.
The campaign wanted the document dump to end questions about the trips, including who funded them. But the new spending records offer little in the way of concrete evidence regarding who paid for key elements of the travel.
Gillum’s biggest political liability following his surprising Democratic primary win last week has been the ongoing FBI probe into the city’s taxpayer-funded Community Redevelopment Agency. Gillum, who as mayor chairs the CRA, has been accused of no wrongdoing and has stressed that he is not the target of an investigation.
But scrutiny has only increased since he became his party’s nominee for governor.
Gillum said that he would release receipts related to the two trips after he met with investigators with the Florida Commission on Ethics, which has been reviewing the trip.
Documents tied to the probe are not public, but Gillum’s campaign decided to release them Tuesday in what it says was a nod towards “transparency.”
