Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer dramatically ripped up his American Express card in August amid revelations that ousted House Speaker Ray Sansom had racked up more than $180,000 on the card he was given by the party.
Starting in January 2007 and up until this past summer the party had paid $3.6 million in credit card expenses. Well, the latest filing from the state party shows that the payments to AMEX did drop off sharply in the third quarter that ran from July 1 to Sept. 30.
Credit card payments went from $253,170 in the second quarter down to $74,841 in the third quarter.
State campaign finance records show that nearly a third of the credit card expenses - $22,500 - was a speaking fee paid by the party to a New York based speakers bureau. The bureau represents Bruce Jenner, the former Olympian who was the lead speaker at the party's Drive the Discussion event in August.
That said, there were also money spent on meals and travel that showed in the latest report including more than $1,100 paid to Gourmet 2 Order, a personal chef service based in Indialantic, nearly $3,800 paid to Captain Anderson's restaurant in Panama City for a fundraising dinner, $4,347 at Club at Hammock Beach in Palm Coast, nearly $6,500 on two trips to the Gasparilla Inn and Cottages in Boca Grande, more than $214 in supplies from Sportsman's Warehouse in Tallahassee, $1,000 for entertainment at The Comedy Zone in Tallahassee, as well as for time spent at The Breakers in West Palm Beach and The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
A few other tidbits from the third quarter campaign finance reports:
The Republican Party of Florida raised $3.7 million in cash compared to $2.2 million for the Florida Democratic Party.
Senate President Jeff Atwater has now raised more cash, $1.06 million, for his bid for chief financial officer than the three main contenders for Attorney General combined. (None of these totals include in-kind donations.)
State Sen. Dan Gelber currently leads in AG fundraising with more than $466,000 in donations, followed by State Sen. Dave Aronberg's $401,000. Republican Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp, who jumped into the race after the two Democrats, has raised slightly more $175,000.
Atwater's only opponent at this point, Rep. Pat Patterson, R-DeLand, has raised nearly $58.000.
On 3 Public Relations has already collected all the reports and put together a comprehensive report that you can look at. It shows for example that Rep. David Rivera, who is running for a state Senate seat against Rep. Anitere Flores, is the leading fundraiser among all legislative candidates.
Rivera, who is the budget chairman in the Florida House, has now hauled in more than $732,000 in cash contributions. Flories has raised nearly $320,000, which still puts her up among the top fundraisers right now in the Legislature.
G, great stuff! Just a note that the last link, comprehensive report, doesn't work.
Posted by: Nancy Imperiale | October 15, 2009 at 06:30 AM