Democratic Candidates Being Attacked by Republican-Linked Liberal Named Group

People living in Delray might have received a mailer about Democrat Sen. Maria Sachs contributing to George W. Bush "more than once" and being in cahoots with Katherine Harris in disenfranchising voters.

The mailers, from a group called Progressives, are intended to sound as if a liberal organization is warning people not to vote for Sachs by tying her to W. and other assorted characters from the right's rogues gallery. Only problem is, Progressives is actually a Republican-linked group.

Ah, GOPers, is there nothing dirty, shady and downright dickish you won't do to win elections?

According to Sachs's campaign, she has never written a single check to George W. Bush.

Progressives, as it turns out, is chaired by one William S. Jones, who is also happens to chair the Liberty Foundation of Florida, which is a group that has happened to have raised a little over $2 million between May 24 and August 9. And most those donations happen to come from the Florida Conservative Majority Committee.

Coincidence?

Yes! Except that, no.

The Florida Conservative Majority is spearheaded by Republican Senate President Don Gaetz, Republican Majority Leader Andy Gardiner and Republican State Senator Joe Negron.

The group lists its mailing address as a law firm and lobbyists run by Tallahassee-based attorney Richard Coates, who is also the general counsel for the Republican Party of Florida.

According to the Division of Elections, the Republican Party of Florida has contributed $1,650,050.00 to the Florida Conservative Majority this year.

So, basically, after connecting the dots and following the money, it's pretty darn obvious that Progressives is pretty much a Republican run group going around sending attack mailers under a Democratic sounding name.

And Sachs, who is in a tight race against Republican Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale, is not the only one to have gotten slammed by the so-called "Progressives" group.

Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, was attacked in a mailer for voting in 2008 for a National Rifle Association-backed bill allowing employees to keep guns in their cars as they went to work. 

Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno is being attacked in another mailer for voting to raise the county's gas tax.

Progressives was formed late last month, according to records, and is an "electioneering communications organization," which pretty much means they can raise as much money as it wants to apparently continue doing underhanded crap like this.