Torrens Back On Ballot As Candidates Battle For Attorney General

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Just in time for Tuesday’s Primary Election, a state appeals court has put Democratic state attorney general candidate Ryan Torrens back on the ballot.

The First District Court of Appeals made its decision Monday morning following Gov. Rick Scott’s ruling Friday to remove Torrens from the race.

Scott’s decision was based on Friday’s ruling by Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers who said Torrens should be removed from the ballot for “knowingly using illegal funds” to qualify for the Primary.

Gievers issued the ruling after Torrens’ opponent, state Rep. Sean Shaw, D-Tampa, filed suit.

Immediately after Scott’s announcement on Friday, Torrens’ attorney, Jared J. McCabe, appealed the decision, asking that Gievers’ decision to decertify Torrens as a candidate be put on hold during the appeals process.

The lawsuit centers around Torrens’ $7,738 qualifying fee to run for the state post.

When the June 22 deadline to qualify for the race approached, Torrens needed an additional $4,000 to get on the ballot. He made up the difference with a check signed by his wife, Francesca Yabraian. Unfortunately, Yabraian had already loaned her husband’s campaign 2,300 and the limit is $3,000.

Torrens explained to Gievers that it is a joint checking account belonging to both he and his wife. And candidates can loan an unlimited amount of money to their campaigns. His wife’s signature happened to be on the check because she’s the one who handles the family’s finances.

“And that’s the technicality I could have easily foreseen and fixed by just signing the check myself,” Torrens said.

Torrens said there was never any intent to circumvent state campaign finance laws. Florida law specifically allows candidates to loan unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns.

“That is precisely what I did in this instance,” said Torrens. “Today I’m kicking myself for that oversight, but that doesn’t change the essential bottom line fact that this was always my money, going to my campaign account in accordance with the law.”

But Gievers didn’t buy Torrens’ argument.

"Mr. Torrens could have done things correctly," Gievers concluded. "He clearly and convincingly chose not to, and he must be deemed removed from the ballot."

The attorney general is a statewide seat and Florida has 67 counties. Between early voting and mail-in ballots, thousands have of Democrats have already voted on their choice for attorney general with more expected to head to the polls Tuesday.

In Hillsborough County alone, 77,300 voters votes have cast ballots at early voting sites or voted by mail.

Ironically, Torrens’ Democratic opponents has had his own issues with campaign finance violations.

While a candidate for the Florida House District 61 seat, the Florida Elections Commission took Shaw to task for reporting a campaign contribution incorrectly, for failing to amend his campaign finance report after the discrepancy was discovered and for failing to update his campaign finance report. http://www.fec.state.fl.us/FEC...

“No court should ever intervene in the exercise of our democracy, especially at the last minute,” said Torrens. “Mr. Shaw seized upon a technicality and is using it to invalidate the votes of tens of thousands of Floridians who have already cast their ballots for me.

Torrens is founder of the Torrens Law Group in Tampa, which specializes in consumer law and foreclosure defense.

He made headlines earlier this year by defending a number of homeowners in Hillsborough County who were facing foreclosure of their homes because they allegedly owed fees to their homeowners associations.

One Sun City Center resident faced losing his home because his association fees accidentally went into another account managed by the association.

And a Riverview family’s home was sold at a public auction for pennies on the dollar because their homeowners association claimed they paid their homeowners fees late.

The ease in which homeowners associations could take properties prompted several bills be presented to the state Legislature to put the reins on homeowners associations, but none of them made it out of committee.
This prompted Torrens to start his grassroots campaign for attorney general despite the fact that he has no political experience.

Since then, Torrens has vowed to take on other big business on behalf of consumers including TECO for its Big Big Power Plant runoff and sugar companies accused of contaminating Lake Okeechobee.

“Our political system has become corrupted by big corporate interests and their establishment candidates, and I am proud to be the candidate in this race with the nerve to take on those powerful interests.” said Torrens.

A an attorney specializing in consumer insurance advocacy, Shaw was elected to the House in 2016. He's running on a platform that includes banning assault rifles, cracking down on human traffic and online sexual predators and Medicaid fraud.

The winner of the Democratic nomination will face the winner of the Republican Primary in the Nov. 6 General Election. Running on the Republican side is former Tampa circuit court judge Ashley Moody and Pensacola state Rep. Frank White.

Image via Shutterstock

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