State Attorney Ed Brodsky’s campaign treasurer under criminal investigation
Eric Robinson, the re-election campaign treasurer for State Attorney Ed Brodsky, is under criminal investigation for “potential election criminal misconduct,” according to an order from Gov. Ron DeSantis assigning the investigation to another state attorney.
Robinson, a Venice-based CPA and member of the Sarasota County School Board, has acted as campaign treasurer for Brodsky and many other local Republicans over the years.
Brodsky’s Democratic challenger, Betsy Young, said Brodsky should fire Robinson from his campaign.
“I am not the elected state attorney right now but if my treasurer were under investigation right now, he wouldn’t be my treasurer anymore,” Young said. “If my campaign manager were under investigation, he wouldn’t be my campaign manager anymore.”
Brodsky said the accusations against Robinson are “merely allegations” and there has not been any finding of wrong-doing. The allegations were made in a letter sent to Brodsky’s office by a local resident.
After notifying the governor’s office of the conflict with handling the case, DeSantis reassigned the investigation to the 13th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office in Hillsborough County, in an order dated Sept. 22.
“This letter that was received does not involve my campaign or my relationship with Mr. Robinson and deals with matters completely unrelated,” Brodsky said. “Prior to my receipt of the letter, no law enforcement has previously investigated these allegations. So there has been no finding that Mr, Robinson has done any wrongdoing.”
Robinson said he had not been contacted by investigators and had only heard rumors.
“As far as I am concerned, this is just character assassination. This is just disgusting. This is politics at its worst,” Robinson said.
He believes that the complaint is a political hit job by Tom Edwards, who ousted Robinson from the Sarasota school board in the Aug. 18 primary election. Robinson said he has not seen the allegations against him.
“Every complaint that has been filed against in the past has been dismissed,” Robinson said.
Robinson also added he was confident that any investigation would be short and that the state attorney’s office would decline to prosecute.
Meanwhile, Young called on Brodsky to make public the allegations against Robinson.
“Its a transparency and accountability issue,” she said.
Brodsky responded to Young’s demand, saying, “Once again, my opponent is very quick to express or share her opinion on a subject that she knows absolutely nothing about.”
Young initially took issue with a section in DeSantis’ order that a conflict existed because the “state attorney’s office employs Eric Robinson in a professional capacity.”
Brodsky told the Bradenton Herald that the order was incorrect in saying that and that his office had contacted the governor’s office for clarification
DeSantis’ Press Secretary Cody McCloud confirmed this on Thursday.
Voters in the three-county 12th Judicial District will decide the race between Brodsky and Young in the Nov. 3 general election.
