The Fine Print

Rothstein, lawyers, insurance: Breaking down the millions spent in Thrasher election

More than four months after a nasty primary election featuring John Thrasher, the IRS reports are finally spilling into the light about who and how much was spent trying to both elect and defeat Thrasher.

Of course it has already been reported that the Florida Justice Association was a key player in trying to defeat Thrasher, the former House Speaker who was seeking the Northeast Florida State Senate seat held by the late Jim King.

But it's also illuminating studying the reports filed by these 527s to see who else had a hand in the race, including the law firm of Scott Rothstein, who pled guilty this past week to running a vast investment scheme, and many of the major players at the Capitol including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Philip Morris USA, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and those involved in insurance, gambling and health care.

A quick look at some of the highlights:

The Committee for Responsible Representation reported raising a total of nearly $700,000 and spending money on such efforts as this website and ads that highlight the  "The Real John Thrasher." The group also donated $17,540 to "Don't Bank on Sink" after the primary election.

Every dime contributed to this committee came from another outfit called the Freedom First Committee Inc., which reported collecting $1.2 million and spending $1.18 million.

Its long list of contributors include:

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida: $105,000

Florida Medical Association PAC: $50,000

Florida Chamber of Commerce Leadership CCE: $50,000

Philip Morris USA: $50,000

Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler: $25,000

The Petway Companies: $100,000

U.S. Sugar Corporation: $40,000

Dosal Tobacco: $10,000

Florida Optometric CCE: $20,000

And the groups that went after Thrasher?

All the main ones were linked to the Florida Justice Association.

Stop Tax Waste Inc., which attacked Thrasher over a subsidy for Dolphins Stadium and redecorating the Florida House, reported raising $1.07 million last year.

The largest contributor to Stop Tax Waste Inc. was Conservative Citizens for Justice, which was headed up by Scott Carruthers and was dissolved in December. Conservative Citizens donated $881,697 to Stop Tax Waste.

Stop Tax Waste's other large contributors were:

Florida Consumer Alliance: $166,159

Florida Justice PAC: $29,500

Conservative Citizens for Justice reported collecting $1.25 million. Their IRS reports show a long list of contributions from law firms across the state of Florida.

Among those contributing were numerous attorneys from the powerhouse Morgan & Morgan law firm who together donated more than $37,000 to this organization.

Another contributor to this group? The law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, which donated $40,000 back in early August.

As noted most of the money raised by Conservative Citizens went to Stop Tax Waste, but the organization also shifted $80,000 to Families for New Leadership, which distributed fliers that showed Dan Quiggle, one of Thrasher's opponents in the primary, with the late Ronald Reagan.

Is the state staying out of a big campaign finance mess?

More than five months ago, well-known elections law attorney Mark Herron wrote a letter to the state Division of Elections requesting an official opinion from them.

Herron wanted additional guidance in the wake of the May court ruling by a federal judge that struck down the Florida law that required 527 organizations, also known as electioneering communication organizations, to register with the state and report their finances.

Herron's 5-page letter had several points, but it revolves primarily around this: Can candidates still coordinate with 527 organizations, and if they do, is it considered a contribution to a candidate's campaign if the 527 organization runs an ad that either attacks or supports a candidate in such a way that it is the "functional equivalent of express advocacy," which is a new definition cited recently in federal court decisions. He asked the division to answer his question so he could know what to do in the future.

Now this may all sound like fine-tuned legalese but this is actually a big deal. Just ask the husband of Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

Bill McBride, the attorney who challenged Jeb Bush in the 2002 election, got a lot of help from a political committee set up by the Florida Education Association. The committee took out nearly $2 million worth of ads that never said "vote for" Bill McBride, but the ads amounted to a testimonial about McBride. The ads were viewed as key to helping propel the unknown McBride past Janet Reno in the 2002 Democratic primary for governor.

McBride, however, got hit with a whopper of an election law complaint. Since the FEA and McBride used the same media consultant, it was alleged the campaign and the FEA "coordinated" the ads, therefore making it an illegal contribution. The Florida Elections Commission found probable cause that the ads broke the law which could have put McBride on the hook for three times the amount of the "illegal contribution" or about $5.6 million.

The legal battle over the ads dragged onto 2005 when the Elections Commission and McBride quietly reached a settlement and the charges were dropped. But by that point in time the law had been changed to allow electioneering communication organizations and to state that ads that the groups run are not campaign contributions even if they mention a candidate.

That's the part of the law, however, that got wiped out by the federal judge ruling.

When asked about why the Division of Elections has not yet responded to Herron's request, Secretary of State Kurt Browning said he didn't know. He said he usually doesn't see an opinion until it reaches his desk and that he usually only has informal discussions with the department's legal counsel about them.

"Honestly I don't know where the opinion is in the process right now,'' said Browning.

Legislators have discussed coming up with a plan to re-regulate 527 organizations, but if they don't then this remains one big looming question heading into the 2010 election season.

Here's a copy of Herron's letter: Download Request for Advisory Opinion (1)

Grand jury report prompts Senate President to open up budget process

Senate President Jeff Atwater, responding in part to a critical grand jury report that blasted how state legislators craft the annual state budget, said on Wednesday that within the next two weeks he will institute additional changes to the budget process for the 2010 session to make it more “transparent.”

While the changes have not been finalized, Atwater said they could include creating timelines for when information will be made public and putting in guidelines for discussions between the Senate President and the House Speaker. “You are going to see things exposed a little longer,’’ said Atwater.

Atwater added that he also may be willing to open up meetings where legislative leaders reach an agreement on allocations, or the actual amounts of money set aside for each area of the budget. These changes, however, would only apply to the Senate this year and would need to be formally added to the Senate rules in order to become permanent.

 

Last year a Leon County grand jury indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom for steering money to a project that was sought by a Panhandle developer and political supporter. The grand jury in its report also criticized the secretive nature of how legislators have shaped the annual spending plan. That prompted lawmakers in 2009 to hand out and then discuss the lengthy provisions that appear both in the actual budget itself and in the so-called conforming bills that accompany the budget.

 

 Atwater conceded that the grand jury report has prompted the changes.

 

"I think their feedback was valuable to us to say, 'This is the people's budget,' why shouldn't we go an extra mile to make sure they see it,'' said Atwater.

 

House inks $105k contract to study managed care in Florida

Here's an item provided courtesy of independent journalist Christine Jordan Sexton:

A consulting group that lists WellCare Health Plans in Tampa as one of its clients has signed a $105,000 contract with the Florida House to conduct a study on Florida’s managed care delivery system including its penetration in the market and whether providers participate in the system.

House Speaker Larry Cretul signed a $105,000 contract with The Pacific Health Policy Group to analyze Florida’s Medicaid managed care program and produce an overview of the current program, including a financial overview and a study of the care, monitoring and oversight.  The report is due by Feb. 5.

According to its website Pacific Health Policy Group has worked with the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and Arizona Long Term Care System as clients. Arizona has implemented a large scale mandatory managed care program for the general Medicaid population as well as a managed long term care system for the aged, physically and developmentally disabled populations.

The Pacific Health Policy Group also also lists WellCare Health Plans as a client. The WellCare group of companies, Staywell  and  Healthease, are the largest Medicaid HMOs in the state.

The fate of the Medicaid program has been a source of discussion among legislators in the last few weeks with some lawmakers suggesting that one to save the state money would be to shift more patients from the traditional fee-for-service system into managed care organizations.

House Democrats appear ready to ratchet it up a notch

It's not been a big secret that Democrats and Republicans don't get along well in the Florida House.

But the prospect of a tough budget year - as well as the prospect of an angry electorate in the 2010 election cycle - has prompted the Democrats to take an even harder line during the upcoming session.

That tension has already spilled out in the last few days with Democrats taking shots at the Republicans during some of the budget hearings.

And it could get even worse. Some Democrats have decided that it makes little sense to cooperate with Republicans since they believe many of their ideas - and their bills - won't get much of a hearing from the majority party. And it's not like Republicans can use the budget as a way to create leverage since legislative leaders have all but made it clear that legislators will be cutting it.

Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West and a veteran legislator who once served in the House when Democrats were in the majority, said this week he is advising fellow Democrats to think about whether or not they want to file certain bills.

Why? Because House rules make it clear that a member can't offer an amendment on the House floor if there is a stand-alone bill on the same subject that has failed to pass through a single committee.

"If the bill is not going to be heard in committee, we'll at least get a chance to have it heard on the floor," said Saunders in explaining his strategy.

On Thursday, Democrats threw down another salvo. House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston and Saunders sent a letter to House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, telling him that the current process outlined to deal with the budget is "fundamentally flawed." Democrats are referring to a decision by the House to ask members to list their top priorities - and their lowest priorities - as a prelude to possible budget cuts.

The letter states that Democrats "cannot participate in a futile exercise of identifying cuts" and suggested instead that the House have joint meetings between both its budget panel and the Finance and Tax Council for a more "productive" dialogue about the budget process.

So what does that mean? It means that Democrats won't be filling out forms that show what programs they like, and what programs they think could be cut. That means the only cuts that will get discussed are those proposed by Republicans.

You can expect the Republicans to criticize Democrats as obstructionists and unwilling to work together to find a solution to the state's fiscal woes. For now, consider this just Act 1.

(UPDATE -- Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami and chairman of the House budget panel, delivered his own letter to Democrats on Thursday afternoon where he blasted what he called their "obsession with raising taxes on Floridians during these tough economic times." He criticized them for refusing to engage in the budget exercise, calling it an "abdication of responsibility.")

Tell the truth in the Legislature? Not this year, maybe not ever

State Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, is giving up.

For the last several years Villalobos has tried to push a bill through the Florida Legislature that would have required those who appear before legislative committees to swear to tell the truth.

The legislation was an outgrowth of the contentious 2003 series of special sessions on medical malpractice where the Florida Senate eventually decided to place several officials - including the head of the state's main malpractice insurer - under oath. Villalobos concluded that the testimony before legislators would change dramatically if everyone who testifies would be put on notice that they could be charged with a crime if they lie. His bill was primarily directed at lobbyists since it exempted legislators from the requirement.

But Villalobos legislation has constantly gotten bogged down. Last year House leaders refused to move his bill beyond one committee.

So Villalobos has decided he won't file the bill again during his final session.

"I've never gotten traction,'' said Villalobos.

Villalobos said his inability to get the legislation seriously considered sends a message that lying in the halls of the Florida Legislature is no big deal.

"It says people can go to the Capitol and lie and nothing will happen to them,'' said Villalobos.

Alexander: "Until they run over me in the street."

Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales and Senate budget chief, is confronting yet another dismal budget year that will likely translate into additional budget cuts, maybe layoffs, or even substantial changes to the Medicaid program.

But Alexander - who already has a history of clashing with Gov. Charlie Crist - reiterated again last week that he will still find time during the 2010 session to push another version of his state contracting bill that Crist vetoed last year.

Alexander said he will push to have more legislative oversight of state contracts "until they run over me in the street." His bill last year was opposed by Associated Industries of Florida which said it went too far, although AIF President and CEO Barney Bishop said recently that his group is willing to work with Alexander on a less onerous version.

Another key item that Alexander said could make a return is legislation that would assert more centralized control over the creation of a new accounting system for the state. State officials still desire a payroll ledger system that would enable the state to have a better idea on spending that goes across state government. But Alexander says he is convinced that the state will repeat the failure of Project ASPIRE - where the state spent nearly $100 million - unless there is one person or entity that can decide the best way to set up the new system.

Last year's version of the legislation granted more power to the office of chief financial officer, the post that Senate President Jeff Atwater is now seeking.

Thrasher backs recreation of leadership funds

The Republican Party of Florida late Monday night posted its haul for the fourth quarter of 2009 and the $4.28 million included the names of many familiar donors, including a $500,000 contribution from The Villages, $150,000 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, $210,000 from Progress Energy, as well as a $250,000 check from Rooney Holdings.

One persistent criticism of Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer was that he was not doing enough to raise money and that most of the donations in fact due to the work of others, including the next two legislative leaders, Sen. Mike Haridopolos and Rep. Dean Cannon. (Greer for his part steadfastly denied the allegation.)

One of the candidates vying to succeed Greer says he will back legislative efforts to recreate so-called leadership funds in order to help Floridians track which donations in fact are due to the efforts of top legislators. Leadership funds were banned more than 20 years ago amid allegations that donors were buying influence in the Legislature. The money in the funds were controlled by legislative leaders and were generally used to help with the campaigns of incumbent legislators.

Sen. John Thrasher, who also heads the Senate Ethics and Elections committee, said on Monday that "it's all about transparency" and that Florida law should allow for the recreation of leadership funds - as well as requiring independent political organizations, also called 527s, to identify donors.

"If there are going to be those kinds of funds, if there are going to be those kind of allotments later on, then everybody ought to understand who gave it,'' said Thrasher. "I think we ought to have real time disclosure and real time who gave it. How much they gave and all that, I could care less, but I do think people ought to know when and how much they gave."

Haridopolos said on Monday that even though Greer has stepped down from his post he still wants to push for the recreation of leadership funds. He said that anywhere from $10 million to $13 million will be raised to help Republican Senate candidates during the 2010 cycle and that prior to Greer's announcement that some contributors were anxious about how their donations would be spent.

"I think the way you gain trust as you move forward is you open up our books to contributors, taxpayers, whoever,'' said Haridopolos.

Crist, Sansom and that $6 million mystery

As the ongoing legal drama over the fate of former House Speaker Ray Sansom moves forward, there remains one key unanswered question.

Why did Gov. Charlie Crist decide against vetoing the $6 million budget item that is now at the center of the charges against Sansom?

Sansom, R-Destin, was charged this past week with grand theft and conspiracy to commit grand theft. The two new charges stem from the same allegation that Sansom tucked money into the 2007 state budget by claiming it was a building to help out Northwest Florida State College when in fact it was money for an airport hangar wanted by a Panhandle developer and contributor.

In 2007, Crist vetoed more than $450 million in items included in that year's state budget. Internal budget documents from the governor's office show that Crist used his veto pen to eliminate spending items being sought by some of the Legislature's top leaders at the time including both then-House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt. Read more about the veto mystery here at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Here's the internal budget documents that show that the governor's staff clearly identified the $6 million budget item for the college as questionable. The document also show that the governor's office had linked Sansom's name to $75 million worth of budget items for that year.

Download Ray Sansom Member Issues 2007

Crist wound up slashing $35.2 million worth of projects that Sansom's name was linked to, although two of the projects were for Valencia Community College and one was for Florida A&M University. Interestingly enough, all three of these projects were also being sought by then-Sen. Dan Webster, the Orlando Republican who endorsed Tom Gallagher over Crist in the 2006 Republican primary for governor.

Governor's office budget documents from 2007 also show the following:

Sen. Jeff Atwater, the North Palm Beach Republican already in line to become Senate President, was linked to $33.1 million worth of budget requests reviewed by Crist's office. Crist vetoed 17 separate items totaling $11.06 million including money for an emergency operations center that Crist's budget staff said circumvented the existing budget process. The $6 million appropriation that Sansom wanted for the Destin Airport was flagged by the governor's budget office for not being on any list and that the "college did not request the project."

Download Jeff Atwater Member Issues 2007

Then Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, was linked to $120.69 million worth of projects back in 2007 with the largest bulk of the money going to Florida Atlantic University. Crist vetoed $31.5 million worth of items linked to Pruitt including $14 million that Senate staff told the governor's office that Sen. Carey Baker also wanted for a performing arts center at Lake-Sumter Community College.

Download Ken Pruitt Member Issues 2007

As previously reported the governor's budget office also had a long list of budget items linked to Rubio.

Rubio's name was associated with $98.8 million worth of budget projects, including $80 million for a genetics research institute being established at the University of Miami. Crist wound up slashing $3.02 million sought by the Miami Republican including $2.5 million for a cancer center at UM and $300,000 that would have been used to buy television time to highlight Florida golf courses on the Golf Channel.

Download Marco Rubio Member Issues 2007.

The Rod Smith Facebook mystery

Rod Smith has some well-known political types who are listed as friends on his Facebook account.

But there's just one problem: The former state senator and one-time for governor says it's not him.

And just as importantly, the Alachua County Democrat says he's not jumping into a political contest, such as Attorney General right now.

"I do not know anything about it, I do not have my own Facebook account,'' said Smith this morning from his house.

The Rod Smith - complete with a picture of the former prosecutor - on Facebook not only has friends such as State Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, but this Smith is also a member of the We Need Rod Smith for Public Office group.

Smith said that right now he has no plans to run for office, although he was quick to add "I never said yes and I have never said no."