Endorsed by the Winter Park chamber PAC, Justin Vermuth builds campaign chest
Incumbent Kris Cruzada said he is relying on mostly smaller donations from residents
Feb. 14, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Justin Vermuth, who is challenging Kris Cruzada for Seat 3 on the City Commission, is leading the fundraising contest so far, bolstered by at least $10,000 in contributions from companies related to the Holler family and the attorney for the prominent landowners and car dealers.
Vermuth, who was endorsed this week by the political action committee affiliated with the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, reported $24,515 in contributions through Feb. 4 while Cruzada, the incumbent, raised $16,400 ahead of the March 11 election.
The bulk of Vermuth’s money, or $20,000, came in $1,000 donations — the maximum allowed per donor per campaign cycle.
For example, a total of $10,000 comes from companies associated with the Holler family such as Holler Hyundai, Holler Honda, Classic Mazda, Audi North Orlando, Classic Honda and Driver’s Mart Sanford. They gave $1,000 each.
So did Frank Hamner, the longtime attorney for the Holler family. Hamner, who serves as spokesman for the family, did not return a phone call or email seeking comment.
Asked about his relationship with the Holler family and how he met them, Vermuth said via email that he’s proud “to have support from residents, small businesses, and community leaders across Winter Park.”
“We’re building a broad coalition of supporters, many of whom have chosen to donate to my campaign,” he said. “I’m also proud to have an outstanding campaign team for advertising and polling.”
He declined to share the results of his polling so far.
Bundled contributions from companies related to the Holler family will seem a familiar strategy to those who follow Winter Park politics. Last year the family’s companies contributed in a similar way to Craig Russell, who won Seat 2 over Jason Johnson, by 34 votes.
The Hollers, along with landowner Mary Demetree, sued the city of Winter Park alleging that a series of development rules known as the Orange Avenue Overlay, where the family owns property, were improperly overturned in 2020. The new rules still stand.
Last year the City Commission, including Cruzada, approved the Holler’s proposal for a portion of its property at Fairbanks Avenue and Denning Drive that involved providing a piece of land to the city to widen the road and make improvements at the busy intersection.
Another similarity to last year’s election cycle: Vermuth, like Russell, has the support of Winter PAC, the political action committee affiliated with the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. The PAC has raised more than $85,000 since the start of last year’s campaigns and spent more than $40,000.
It’s most recent expenditure on Feb. 10 is listed as nearly $8,000 for mailers related to a candidate paid to MDW Communications, which shares the same Lake Worth address as a political consulting firm called Claughton Consulting. Vermuth’s campaign has paid more than $11,000 to Claughton Consulting for polling, palm cards, e-mail services and yard signs, according to financial reports.
“The Winter PAC board of directors voted to endorse Vermuth because they believe he will bring a needed perspective shift in leadership, and he has personal experience with issues families in our community are facing,” read a press release from the PAC released this week.
Cruzada said he was approached with a potential contribution from the chamber PAC before Vermuth entered the race in mid January, but declined because he said he felt more comfortable taking contributions from individuals.
A chamber spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a question from the Voice about whether Cruzada was offered the group’s support.
“I think I have a record that shows I have worked with the Winter Park chamber,” Cruzada said, noting that he helped the group lobby for arts dollars in Tallahassee and also supported changes to the city’s parking code pushed by the chamber to reduce the amount of parking spaces developers must build in certain instances. “I was more about individual donations versus, say, a PAC … My supporters who walked neighborhoods and campaigned for me, I didn’t want to leave them behind at all. They are very well informed voters and participants in Winter Park policy.”
Less than half of Cruzada’s $16,000 campaign fund — about $6,000 has come in the form of $1,000 checks. His top donors include two former mayors — Phil Anderson and David Strong and Sally Flynn, a local resident and an organizer and volunteer for his campaign. (Full disclosure: Strong and Flynn are key supporters of the nonprofit Voice, which is solely supported by community contributions. See our editorial policy here.)
Most of Cruzada’s contributions come in the form of smaller-dollar amounts from more than 45 individuals, mostly Winter Park residents.
Vermuth’s other contributors included $3,000 from Seth Heller and his financial services companies in South Florida. Jason Gamel, president of the American Resort Development Association, also gave $1,000.
Vermuth serves as a senior vice president and chief lobbyist for the association that represents timeshare companies across the nation.
Two lobbyists from the firm The Southern Group — Kelly Cohen and Kaley Slattery — gave a combined $300. The firm represents a list of influential clients from Walt Disney World to Tavistock Development Company, which is seeking to develop large tracts of land in east Orange County.
About 20 Winter Park residents contributed to Vermuth’s campaign, including former Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel and chamber officer Carroll Goggin, according to the reports.
Update: This story was updated to include comments from Vermuth.
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“Vermuth requested the Voice send him questions via email, but did not respond to the questions.”
That says a lot to me. He’s a virtual unknown and refuses to answer questions?
Vermuth came out of nowhere, pretty close to the deadline when Cruzada would not have had an opponent. I do not trust the Big Money behind Vermuth, and his big glossy mailers and unsolicited newsletters are full of generalizations, no specifics.
Anyway, I have already voted (by mail) — and it wasn’t for Vermuth.
Thanks for the detailed information. I personally don’t see any reason to change from Commissioner Cruzada. He does not always vote the way I see things but he sure is not a tool of the commercial interests either. I think I will send him a check again this time out as I did last time.
There money on both sides.
He probably did not respond to your questions Beth because your “reporting” is slanted.
He responded not long after the story was published and the story has now been updated. Thank you!
Again, the WP Voice is not an unbiased and certainly doesn’t present both sides of an election fully. I wish you wouldn’t hold yourself out as a voice of the city of Winter Park. You are far from it.
I know you will not add my comment to your list above.
Thank you for the feedback. I’m truly curious … what is the other side that isn’t being presented?
This is not a complicated scenario: Big corporate money and small village scale, what can be referenced simply as charm, are not compatible. Thank you WPV for highlighting the gravity of this financial tilt. I call it big developer desperation. Winter Park is not your sand box.
Chamber quote:
“The Winter PAC board of directors voted to endorse Vermuth because they believe he will bring a needed perspective shift in leadership, and he has personal experience with issues families in our community are facing,” read a press release from the PAC released this week.
I guess the PAC’s intended “perspective shift” is one in which auto dealerships receive much better representation on the WP commission since the Holler family’s $10 K in biz contributions dwarf all others. How would this help Winter Park residents? Are Holler car dealerships really getting short shrift? Maybe Vermuth can elucidate why the car dealerships’ or the Chamber PAC’s money deserves to play such as outsize role in this race.
How and why does the Chamber PAC leadership seem not know that Cruzada is also raising his children in Winter Park? Thus, Cruzada is as familiar as Vermuth with issues facing families in Winter Park.
Thank you, Cruzada, for not taking big special interest money and for keeping the focus on ordinary residents.
This is hysterical. One auto dealership was been authorized to be built in Winter Park in the last 6 years: McLaren. That’s right, the same people -Anderson, Sullivan and Weaver-who are behind Cruzada allowed a car dealership to be built right behind Orwin Manner. What’s a McLaren? Only a car that starts at $200,000. How does that help residents? So spare us the indignation about the Holler family who have lived here for generations.
Can we have Mr. Cruzada elucidate Sally Flynn’s role in his campaign and how she influences his votes? Can he elucidate why he voted to retain Weaver on the Commission when Weaver “stepped down?” Can Cruzada elucidate why his appointee on the Historic Preservation Board is on tape bragging that he “extorted” a company?
By the way, when will the Voice run a story about the Historic Preservation Board controversy? After the election is over?
RE: McClaren. A previous commission approved a hardware chain (Orchard Supply) to build a large building but with woefully insufficient parking per code. When the Orchard Supply hardware failed and went belly up, Winter Park now had an empty building with very little available parking on 17-92. Potential uses/occupants were few because that’s what happens when you allow users and buildings to skirt code parking requirements. (Yes, think Trader Joe’s). McClaren appeared and wanted the building and did not need much parking since the market for the ultra-luxury car is thin. Serious restrictions were imposed by the commission to approve the use by McClaren and yes it was very controversial. But these are the predictable jams with predictable results when buildings/uses are approved with really insufficient parking. And what happened a year or two later ? Our City changed the codes to require much less parking… all over the place. Certainly, this had to be in response to so many everyday residents complaining about the over supply of parking spots everywhere they go. I know it could not have been in response to developer demands.
Commission Kris Cruzada has done an excellent job representing Winter Park residents. He is wise, his judgement has proved sound. Commissioner Cruzada is always prepared and is well informed. Kris brings a rare perspective as he holds both a law degree and an accounting degree. His contribution to commission discussions is extremely valuable. Kris is For the People not just for the Big money people. Let’s keep with a great city leader and reelect Commissioner Kris Cruzada.
As usual, those who claim bias on the part of the media—WP Voice in this case—are at a loss to offer specific examples of the alleged bias. Thanks, Beth, for your informed reporting.
Looks like the chamber of commerce would like another representative on the commission. This makes complete sense since their main goal is to expand and support businesses and with two they are one away from having a lot more control over city policy. I just wish their candidate would specify the limitations of what he would support regarding development. It’s really too bad we don’t have a better chamber-residents relationship. As a non-business owner, I’ll never be part of that club! But they still do a lot of good work and I won’t take that from them.
I wish there was a reader reaction tool with these comments such that we could give thumbs up, down or “what?!??”