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THE RPOF LAVENDER POLITICAL OPERATOR ANTHONY PEDICINI
I am Jon Susce the Publisher of Sarasota Phoenix Media Inc. We are currently being sued by political operative Anthony Pedicini, who the Florida Trident states, "regularly employ deception, such as false allegations or fake support from ideological enemies, to mislead voters". Pedicini is using the legal system with "lawfare" tactics to damage or delegitimize Jon Susce and the Sarasota Phoenix. In using lawfare tactics, Pedicini has access to the $ millions from Pedicini's dark and dirty PACs and LLCs funneled in and from the Florida Republican establishment centered in Tallahassee. Mr. Susce and the Sarasota Phoenix need funds to continue to take on the likes of Pedicini and this lawfare lawsuit. Fundraiser for Jon Susce by Concerned Citizen : Support Local News against "Lawfavre"
DID THE EMPIRE STRIKE BACK?
DID DeSANTIS CAMP TARGETS GRUTERS IN LATEST SMEAR OFFENSIVE?
In a galaxy not so far away, the political saga of Florida’s Republican establishment elite continues to unfold with all the drama of a Star Wars sequel. On April 1, 2025, the Daily Mail dropped a report exposing State Senator Joe Gruters’ eyebrow-raising social media habits.
The Daily Mail piece leans heavily on Gruters’ Instagram follows—60 OnlyFans models, 20 gambling accounts, and a sprinkle of “male grooming” profiles—contrasting them with his wholesome family posts, like a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot photo with wife Sydney and their three kids. Gruters’ response was a cringe-worthy sidestep: admitting to following “questionable” accounts but claiming he doesn’t “personally know” them, promising a cleanup of his 6,477-follower list (Daily Mail, April 1, 2025 . Married GOP official's cringe response after being busted for following 60 OnlyFans models and dating accounts | Daily Mail Online
But as the dust settles, whispers from the Sarasota Phoenix’s sources suggest this wasn’t a random hit. This was a calculated strike from the DeSantis camp—an Empire Strikes Back moment aimed at kneecapping Gruters’ bold dare to Governor Ron DeSantis to appoint him as Florida’s next CFO, defying Donald Trump’s apparent preference.
Governor Ronald Desantis with his possible future employer of governors gone irrelevant, Personal Injury Attorney for all of the people, John "Jabba" Morgan & Morgan
The timing is too perfect to be coincidence. On March 30, the Sarasota Phoenix reported Gruters’ audacious challenge: a direct call to DeSantis to pick him over the Governor's preferred choice, Blaise Ingoglia, effectively throwing down a gauntlet in the ongoing power struggle within Florida’s GOP. GRUTERS DARES DeSANTIS NOT TO SELECT HIM CFO AND DEFY T...
Now, mere days later, a UK publication—far removed from the Sunshine State’s political orbit—conveniently unearths Gruters’ digital dalliances. Sources close to the situation allege this is no accident but a deliberate leak from DeSantis’ loyalists, a retaliatory salvo to tarnish Gruters’ image and weaken his leverage. Like Darth Vader unleashing the Imperial fleet, the DeSantis machine appears to have weaponized the woke, libertine foreign press corps to remind Gruters who holds the upper hand.
State Senator Joe Gruters getting Trump and Susie Wiles endorsement for Florida CFO position
This isn’t the first time the DeSantis camp has turned its blasters on Gruters. Rewind to 2021, when Florida Politics reported on a sexual harassment probe launched against Gruters, then the Florida GOP Chairman. The allegations? That Gruters, in a Kevin Spacey-esque twist, had preyed on young male interns in a closeted scandal fit for a House of Cards subplot.
An independent investigation by the Republican Party of Florida ultimately cleared him, finding no accuser with firsthand knowledge willing to come forward. Gruters dismissed it as a baseless smear at the time, but the parallels to today’s attack are striking: a sudden, salacious accusation timed to disrupt his political ascent, only to fizzle under scrutiny. Florida GOP Chairman Joe Gruters cleared after probe into alleged sexual harassment
It’s a weak defense, and the DeSantis camp likely knew it would stick in the public’s craw, especially as Gruters angles for a high-profile state-wide role.
What’s curious is the tactic’s déjà vu vibe. The 2021 assault painted Gruters as a predatory hypocrite; this time, he’s a leering one. Both moves suggest a playbook: hit Gruters with scandal to erode his credibility when he dares to step out of line. Back then, it was to neutralize his influence as party chair amid tensions over a Trump rally DeSantis wanted postponed.
Now, it is to undercut his CFO gambit, a move that pits the Yale and Harvard educated governor against Trump’s orbit, putting an early, high-profile test on DeSantis’ loyalty to President Trump. DeSantis still fancies himself as the premier Sith Lord in Florida and the Empire’s message is clear: defy us, and we’ll bury you in the Hoth snow of public shame.
But will it work? Gruters has weathered storms before, emerging from the 2021 probe with his position intact. The OnlyFans flap, while embarrassing, lacks the legal bite of past allegations—no interns are pressing charges, just algorithms feeding bikini pics. DeSantis’ camp might hope to force Gruters into retreat, but if he doubles down, this could backfire, rallying his base against what some on X are already calling a “pathetic hit job” from a governor nursing 2024 wounds. Like the Rebel Alliance, Gruters might yet find strength in defiance.
Salacious B Crumb Desantis, Jabba The Hut's cackling pet
What's clear for DeSantis and the Queen of Naboo, er Casey DeSantis, is that if they lose this battle, then they better go play pickleball in Tallahassee for the next two years. The Governor's latest tirade - going after the GOP state legislature and former GOP pals like newly elected Congressman, Randy Fine, who DeSantis now calls a "Squish" - suggests that the Yale Bulldog is on the verge of breaking and transitioning to a Kowackian Monkey-Lizard, Jabba the Hutt's cackling, powerless pet.
For now, the Sarasota Phoenix watches as this intergalactic feud escalates. Will Gruters strike back, or will the DeSantis Empire crush another rival? In Florida’s GOP, the force remains restless—and the next chapter is anyone’s guess.