GOP, Dems already taking aim at Beruff

Carlos Beruff, a wealthy land developer from Manatee County, still hasn't said if he intends to run for the Senate, but potential GOP rivals and Democrats are already taking aim at him.

Beruff confirmed last month he is considering running for the Senate. Earlier this week, a media consultant who has spoken to Beruff about the race, told the Associated Press she believes Beruff is likely to get into the contest, though Beruff has not confirmed it.

Though not in the race, potential rivals on the Demo

cratic and Republican sides aren't wasting any time attacking Beruff.

One GOP camp has already begun anonymously circulating previously reported stories to reporters about Beruff's tenure at Medallion Home.

Manatee-County based Medallion Home, which Beruff founded in 1984, was found to have been among companies that used tainted drywall from a Chinese company to build homes during the mid-2000s. More than 7,000 homes in the United States have been reported to have the drywall, which studies have shown emit sulfur gas that can corrode electrical wiring and trigger respiratory irritation.

Medallion Home was found to have built at least a half-dozen homes with the drywall. The company was part of a class-action lawsuit resolved in 2012 with the supplier of the drywall and companies using it ordered to remediate the damage.

"Sounds like the professional politicians are mighty scared of an outsider candidate," said Joanna Burgos, a media consultant who has been in conversation with Beruff about running. "They are doing the Washington thing of throwing mud, and as usual, have confused their facts."

If he gets in the race, Beruff would join a GOP field that already includes Reps Ron DeSantis and David Jolly, as well as Florida Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and businessman Todd Wilcox.

Reps.Patrick Murphy and Alan Grayson are running on the Democratic side.

That line of attack comes just days after the DeSantis camp publicly blasted Beruff as a "Charlie Crist Republican," because Beruff was a campaign donor to the former governor who switched his party registration from Republican to Independent in 2010, then later switched to being a Democrat to run for governor in 2014.

Democrats are also getting into the act. They are trying to make a pre-emptive strike to block Beruff from pitching himself as an outsider like Gov. Rick Scott and Donald Trump have done successfully. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee put out a statement trying to label Beruff a longtime political insider.

"Beruff may try to frame himself as the outsider, but don't be fooled -- he is a longtime Republican insider with a collection of influential political appointments and a long history of trading money for influence," the DSCC press release states.

They point out Beruff's appointments to influential boards and commissions, as the board of trustees at State College of Florida and board at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, and his history of being a longtime GOP donor.

Beruff and his wife, Janelle, have donated more than $600,000 to state and federal political campaigns since 2002. The couple has donated more than $200,000 to federal campaigns including $5,000 to Right to Rise, a political committee backing former Gov. Jeb Bush's campaign for the White House.

Beruff also hosted fundraisers for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, and supported Reps.Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, and Carlos Curbelo, R-Miami, in re-election campaigns. Beruff gave another $363,000 to state campaigns through himself and a half-dozen businesses he runs in Bradenton.

Beruff's donations have also gone to at least one Democrat. In 2006, after Buchanan won a bitter GOP primary, Beruff wrote two checks totalling $4,200 to Buchanan's opponent, Sarasota Democrat Christine Jennings, just before the general election.

If Beruff gets in the race, key Manatee County Republicans who know the 58-year-old developer say they expect he'll do it within the next 15 days.

This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "GOP, Dems already taking aim at Beruff ."