Tallahassee Democrat by Jeffrey Schweers

August 8, 2017

A Leon County grand jury has cleared Mayor Andrew Gillum in his office’s purchase of software used to send a handful of politically tinged emails to constituents, an issue that’s dogged his campaign for governor since it began.

The grand jury found that Gillum never personally used the software from NGP VAN, which provides technology to Democratic campaigns. It also found that Gillum’s chief of staff, not the mayor himself, directed payment of nearly $5,000 in city funds for the software from January 2016 to January 2017.

“We, the grand jury for Leon County, conclude that there is simply no evidence of official misconduct as defined by Florida statutes,” the panel said in its report, which was released Tuesday.

The grand jury’s 11-page report was good news for Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign, which has seen sluggish fundraising over the summer. After the grand jury issued its report, Gillum appeared in a Facebook video to say he and his staff had been cleared “of any wrongdoing.” [READ MORE]