Outside committee activity · Punta Gorda City Council

Who paid for the postcard criticizing Gary Butler?

The mailed piece names C4 – Concerned Citizens 4 Commonsense Communities in its return address and paid-for statement. C4 is a political committee with its own financial disclosures. Its money is separate from the four candidates’ campaign accounts and from Friends of George Williamson.

Open C4's 2026 records

Postcard postmarked October 6, 2026 · Review draft prepared October 7, 2026

Postcard criticizing Gary Butler, with a website address and a small paid-for statement naming C4 — Photograph of the postcard supplied to Protect Local Power. See both sides and read the attribution.

What this piece establishes

A named payer, an identifiable target, an unresolved price

Reported on the piece

C4 is the payer named

The return address and fine print both name C4. Its statement says the advertisement is independent of any candidate, committee or party.

Visible in the message

The card criticizes Butler

It names and depicts Gary Butler and directs readers to a website making claims about him. This is a description of the card, not a legal classification of a particular expenditure.

Not established

Cost and other beneficiaries

A general printing, consulting or postage entry does not by itself establish the cost of this particular card, who bought its stamp, or that another candidate requested or approved it.

Follow the filed money · 2026

C4's official disclosure trail

These links lead to Florida Division of Elections records for C4 – Concerned Citizens 4 Commonsense Communities, account 89950. For the requested year-to-date view, use January 1, 2026 as the start date in the transaction searches and read the report periods in the activity index. The state may post later filings or amendments.

01 · Identify the committeeOfficial C4 committee profileRegistered name, officers and the state's links to finance activity.Open state record 02 · Read every report periodCampaign-finance activityThe index of treasurer reports; open each 2026 period for its contribution and expenditure detail. Check for amendments and waivers.Open report index 03 · Trace receiptsContribution searchChoose C4 as the receiving committee and enter dates from 01/01/2026 onward. Search results describe contributors to C4, not donors to a particular postcard.Search state records 04 · Trace disbursementsExpenditure searchChoose C4 as the spending committee and enter dates from 01/01/2026 onward. Compare vendor, date and filed purpose with any actual mailing.Search state records

Reading rule: C4's reported receipts and expenditures are committee totals. We do not assign an expense to this card, allocate a donor to the card, or credit its spending to a candidate without a document establishing that link. This draft does not present a C4 total because its itemized 2026 filings have not yet been independently reconciled for publication.

The physical evidence

Both sides of the postcard

The address panel shows C4 as the return addressee and an October 6 postmark. The printed paid-for statement also names C4 and states that the message is independent. The recipient label in the supplied photograph is obscured.

Front of postcard with a red prohibition symbol over Gary Butler's portrait and a paid-for statement naming C4 — Front: claims about Butler and the paid-for statement.

Address side of postcard with C4 return address, October 6 postmark and recipient area obscured — Address side: C4 return address and postmark.

Attribution and context

Endorsement is not approval of an ad

C4's own website lists Jeannine Polk and Janis Denton as endorsed Council candidates. That is context about the committee's public positions. The postcard does not say either candidate financed or approved it, and an endorsement does not establish coordination. The committee's filed spending remains in its own account.

Florida explains that an independently paid political advertisement must identify its payer and say it was made independently. Read the Division of Elections' explanation of advertising disclaimers. Protect Local Power has not independently established how this particular card was planned or paid for.

Source note: postcard photographs supplied to Protect Local Power; C4's own candidate page checked October 7, 2026. State record links are live and may show subsequent changes. Questions or corrections: jim@jimblue.com.