Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

Some Charlie Crist campaign money passed through PAC at Florida frat house

tampabay.com · 17h · first reportShare

On a busy Gainesville street — just a block from the University of Florida football stadium — stands the Delta Upsilon fraternity house, sturdy white columns framing its Greek letters over the doorway. It’s also listed in public records as the headquarters of a political committee supporting Charlie Crist for mayor of St. Petersburg. That committee is one of many Crist’s backers are using to take in and disburse money. Crist’s camp has not only raised a record $1.8 million in his bid for mayor, but has also moved contributions around in ways that create a long and winding trail that reaches all over the state. Even in this era of decreasing transparency, the methods stand out for their scale and complexity, which are more commonly used in big-money races for governor rather than municipal elections. More than $480,000 of the donations to Crist’s political committee, St. Pete Shines, has come from Florida political committees, records show. And about two-thirds of those PACs got most of