Man behind ‘ghost’ candidate cash also led dark-money group supporting Florida’s big utility companies

The same man who led a dark-money group supporting spoiler “ghost” candidates in key state Senate races last year also led another dark-money group that helped the electric-utility industry combat an effort to open up competition in Florida’s retail energy market.

Tax records show that the second dark-money organization distributed more than $10 million in 2019 to groups fighting a proposed constitutional amendment that would have broken up regional electricity monopolies — an idea that was fiercely opposed by the state’s existing utility companies.