WFTV 9 Investigates
political donations coming from Step Up For Students address hundreds of
millions of dollars coming from Step up for Students addresses.
John Kirtley, a
successful venture capitalist, said Step Up didn't contribute any money to
political committees or candidates. He said he did and just used the Step Up
address because he's also the chairman of the board for the organization.
Doug Tuthill,
president of Step Up, said, “One of the primary reasons we've been so
successful, we spend about $1 million every other cycle in local political
races, which in Florida is a lot of money."
9 Investigates sat
down with Tuthill to find out if the organization is trying to buy politicians.
When 9 Investigates
followed the money, we uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in
contributions coming from Step Up's addresses over the past decade.
A controversial
Florida program that receives hundreds of millions in tax dollars to send poor
kids to private schools has ties to big money being used to influence state
legislators.
9 Investigates
uncovered a revealing video where the president of the organization unveiled
his political strategy, and we discovered that hundreds of thousands of dollars
in political contributions are coming from the organization's address, even
though it’s not allowed to make political contributions.
Step Up For Students
received $286 million this year alone
Step up for students
president on YouTube