The Fine Print

Charlie past $1 million mark, while big boost from NE Fla pushes Scott over $25 mil

Gov. Rick Scott's sizable fundraising haul since Charlie Crist entered the governor's race continues to mount.

Scott's fundraising committee Let's Get to Work has updated its numbers again this week and the total for the month of November now stands at nearly $5.84 million. That pushes the total raised by the committee since the summer of 2011 to $25.1 million. This is the magic mark for Scott who predicted he would spend that much money to define his opponent in early 2014.

The latest push came courtesy of contributions given last week from many of the big political names and companies tied to Jacksonville and Northeast Florida. (Or what could also be known as Adam Hollingsworth territory, Scott's chief of staff who is a former CSX executive and worked as chief of staff to then-Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton.)

Florida Blue, one of the state's largest health insurers, and several of its affiliates kicked in $187,500 last week, while well-known Jacksonville businessman Tom Petway donated $50,000. Steve Halverson, CEO of The Haskell Company gave $15,000, former Jacksonville mayor John Delaney contributed $750 and the firm of Wiles Boselli contributed $2,500. Susie Wiles was Scott's campaign manager in 2010.

Democrat Crist also posted new numbers this week. His political committee - Charlie Crist for Florida - has moved past the $1 million mark since entering the race at the start of the month. His new total stands at $1.28 million.

Crist has 45 contributors so far, including the Institute of Cardiovascular Excellence of Ocala, which gave the former governor a $100,000 check on Saturday. Crist also received a $15,000 check from Daryl Parks, who is the law partner of Benjamin Crump. Crump has been representing the parents of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense, was acquitted of second-degree murder charges filed against him.

Another donor to Crist is Democratic mega-donor Barbara Stiefel, who gave $100,000. According to the Tampa Bay Times she is a retiree from Coral Gables who gave large sums last year to "super PACs" that were backing President Barack Obama.

Sugar not sweet on Charlie Crist?

Gov. Rick Scott continues to pile up the money for his political committee Let's Get to Work especially with former Gov. Charlie Crist now jumping into the mix.

Since Scott reactivated his 527 committee in the summer of 2011 it has raised $24.5 million. The vast bulk of that total has come in the last 11 months - some $19.3 million since the start of the year. It means that a year out from the election Scott in many ways has nearly achieved his goal of having $25 million to define his opponent by early 2014.

Much of the money has come from individuals and corporations that rely heavily on what actions are taken by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature and Scott.

That includes gambling companies, health insurance companies and health care executives, utilities, business groups, and Florida agricultural interests such as Florida Crystals.

In fact, Florida Crystals gave a $500,000 check for Let's Get to Work on Nov. 8 - or four days after Crist made his bid for governor official. It stands as one of the largest single contributions to Let's Get to Work in the last two years. (The largest amount remains $1 million from Coral Gables health care executive Mike Fernandez.)

Florida Crystals has now contributed $650,000 to Let's Get to Work in 2013. Rival company U.S. Sugar _ and through one of its affiliates _ has put in $330,000 this year.

But what is slightly curious about the Florida Crystals donation is that it was given on Nov. 8 - yet it and a handful of other donations were not included in the list placed on the Let's Get to Work website until recently. Florida Crystals, as many may recall, had a contentious history with Crist and staunchly opposed his plans to purchase land that was owned by U.S. Sugar.

So that means that the amount raised by Scott's political committee since Crist made it official and filed his paperwork now stands at $5.2 million.

Crist, through his fundraising vehicle, has piled up $913,500 since he jumped into the race earlier this month. Crist has not reported donations to his main election account since that report is not required to be filed with the state until next month.

The signs that John Thrasher won't be Florida's next LG

For weeks there have been on-again, off-again rumors that State Sen. John Thrasher was the heir apparent to the spot of lieutenant governor.

Thrasher's name, which first bubbled up last spring, has consistently been thrown out as Gov. Rick Scott's search for a replacement to Jennifer Carroll has stretched on now for eight months.

The rationale behind Thrasher has been that he would give Scott a steady veteran to help with the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature. His other positive is that as a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida he has a good relationship with party leaders and major donors that help the party carry out its mission.

The down-side on Thrasher is that his past as a lobbyist could be used to attack the governor. Additionally Thrasher would not create a lot of attention or buzz for a re-election campaign that is expected to be close. (Although after the forced resignation of Carroll there are those who want a running mate that does not attract a lot of attention.)

Well, it may be pointless to weigh the pros and cons because the signs are that Thrasher is now focusing on getting re-elected to the state Senate in 2014 and not joining Scott as his running-mate.

Look no further than to tonight's major fundraiser that Thrasher _ who still has no announced opponent _ has planned at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse in Ponte Vedra Beach.

The host committee includes a lengthy list of well-known northeast Florida figures including former Jacksonville mayor John Delaney, current State Board of Education chairman Gary Chartrand, Michael Hightower, Tom Petway and former U.S. Ambassador John Rood. Another member of the host committee is Southern Strategy Group, the big-time Tallahassee lobbying powerhouse that Thrasher worked at between his stint as House speaker and his election to the state Senate.

When asked about the fundraiser, a spokeswoman for Thrasher sounded firm that he is not planning on switching from the legislative branch of government to the executive.

"John Thrasher is committed to running for re-election for the Florida Senate, as evidenced by this evening's scheduled fundraiser,'' said Sarah Bascom.

With Thrasher out of the running for LG this means speculation will return again to other political figures.

Of course Scott remains under no real legal obligation to find a LG anytime soon.

State law requires a lieutenant governor, but there is no enforceable deadline on how quickly a governor must act to replace an LG. (With the holidays coming up fast it would seem unlikely Scott would act before the end of the year.)

Asked about it earlier this week Scott would only say he was still reviewing possible candidates.

"Look, there's a lot of great people around the state that could be great lieutenant governors, so we're still going through the process,'' Scott said.

 

 

Why Jeb Bush's endorsement is more important than you think

There was a bit of a collective yawn when the Republican Party of Florida announced Tuesday that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had endorsed incumbent Gov. Rick Scott for re-election.

The presumption is that well, why wouldn't Bush endorse his fellow Republican for a second term? In his endorsement Bush touted Scott's handling of the state's economy and said he had "demonstrated leadership when Florida needed it most."

But there are other things about the endorsement, however, that are important.

The timing of the endorsement is unusual.

Since Scott really doesn't have a significant primary opponent the question is why announce it a full year before the election.

Some have speculated it's to remove any talk that Bush was holding back his endorsement _ because that would have generated unneeded talk about a Bush-Scott rift.

Let's make no mistake: The disconnect between the two is not something made up out of thin air.

There was already a less-than-cordial air between the two as evidenced by the fact that the Scott administration earlier this year couldn't find time to have the governor meet with Bush when he came to Tallahassee.

But Scott's decision to retreat from his previous strong support of Common Core State Standards _ and open the door for the possible abandonment of the standards _ has exasperated people who are connected to Bush and share his strong viewpoints on education reform.

For his part, Scott has tried to walk a thin line on the issue. He called for public hearings and raised the possibility of change amid a strong backlash coming from some in the Republican base who are passionately opposed to the standards and want them stopped. These are the same people that Scott will need in a tough re-election campaign that could likely hinge on turnout.

And there are those in Scott's orbit who remain annoyed that those around Bush think that he's still governor, or think at least that his agenda is what matters.

Some might say that that the endorsement shows Bush was eager to keep the standards intact so he endorsed now to show his loyalty.

First off, that's not really how Bush normally operates.

But more importantly the understanding is that Bush told the party and Scott he would support the governor. It was up to the Scott campaign when to announce the endorsement.

So that brings us back to why?

Since we are still a year out from the election the amount of news coverage that such an endorsement would bring is probably not that major.

But there could be other factors at work:

1. Such an endorsement would help cut off any lingering talk of a 11th-hour primary challenge to Scott.

2. It would communicate to GOP donors _ who may be getting wooed by the campaign of Democrat Charlie Crist _ that they need to back Scott. There have been concerns that major donors may not want to open up their wallets to a candidate whose poll numbers remain troubling, and just as importantly bankrolled his last campaign with more than $70 million of his own money.

3. Or it could be a sign that there remains a need to do anything that could boost Scott's poll numbers _ even with Republicans.

Whatever the rationale the endorsement was far from your run-of-the mill campaign related announcement. And it points to a fascinating year that lies ahead.

 

 

 

Don Gaetz's $4200 close-up

Another round of Inside the Tallahassee bubble news:

The tradition in Tallahassee is that the second year of legislative leadership inevitably brings the unveiling on an oil portrait for the House speaker or Senate president about to depart.

As anyone who's been in the Capitol knows each time a new portrait is brought in the ones already in the chambers are rotated to make room for the newest arrival (and one portrait is taken down and placed in storage.)

The Senate recently signed a contract with Alabama-based artist Leon Loard to pay for Gaetz's oil portrait. The cost is a total of $4,258.

The cost of the portrait _ which falls in line with previous purchases _ is not the most expensive one done in recent years.

The portraits of Senate President Toni Jennings and John McKay cost $7,000 while Jim Scott's was $6,800 according to information compiled by the Senate. The portraits of Jim King, Tom Lee, Ken Pruitt, Jeff Atwater and Mike Haridopolos ranged from nearly $3,200 (King) to close to $4,000 (Haridopolos).

But the most expensive legislative leader portraits of late have been of two House speakers: Johnnie Byrd and Marco Rubio.

House records show that Byrd's portrait cost $10,500 and included the cost of the frame.

Rubio's portrait was initially $9,500 but the cost was lowered by $500 after the artist asked to not be responsible for the frame.

By contrast the portraits of both House Speaker Larry Cretul and Dean Cannon have been considerably less: $3,380 for Cretul and $4,052 for Cannon.

The House has not yet signed a contract for House Speaker Will Weatherford's oil portrait. But it may be worth noting that the cost for Allan Bense (Weatherford's father-in-law) was $6,000.

Oil portraits, some may recall, played a small but interesting role in the saga of the Republican Party of Florida under the direction of former chairman Jim Greer.

According to reports at the time the party agreed to spend $7,500 on oil portraits of both Greer and then-Gov. Charlie Crist.

Charlie's November surprise

Charlie Crist's grand entrance into the governor's race occured Monday morning and there's sure to be a lot of analysis and speculation about how Crist will fare against incumbent GOP Gov. Rick Scott.

But lost in the flurry of analysis - and the constant public relations barrage from the Republican Party of Florida dissecting Crist's lengthy political career - is that there is one big change that has happened that could impact Crist's campaign for governor.

And that of course is that this year the Republican-led Legislature - instigated primarily by House Speaker Will Weatherford - did a major overhaul of the state's campaign finance laws.

This past Friday key portions of that overhaul - higher campaign limits - kicked in.

From now on, candidates in statewide races can collect up to $3,000 from each individual contributor _ or six times more than the previous limit of $500.

But what legislators did not alter was Florida's public campaign financing system. That's the system that allows candidates for statewide office to get matching funds from taxpayers for contributions they receive.

Crist has relied on public matching money in the past, collecting $3.3 million in his successful 2006 run for governor.

One could argue that what legislators did, however, was sharply dilute the impact of public financing in such a way that might make it meaningless going forward.

Under the law candidates get contributions that either double - or matched equally - the amount of money they received from certain contributors (The prime qualifications being that the contributor is a Florida resident and a real person as opposed to a Florida-based corporation.)

But when legislators changed the law they left the current amount candidates receive in matching money unchanged.

That means the most that Crist could get from the state is $500 in matching funds for each eligible contributor who donates money.

The way it works is that candidates get a two-for-one match for every contribution up to $250 that is part of what is called the "threshold" to be eligible for public financing. The threshold for candidates for governor is $150,000. Then candidates get a one to one match _ with a maximum of $250 _ on the remaining eligible contributions.

Yet there's another catch here: Candidates who wish to receive public campaign funding must agree to abide by campaign expenditure limits. During the 2014 campaign the limit according to the Division of Elections is $25 million.

Scott, who did not collect public financing last time because he used more than $70 million of his own money, is of course not going to abide by these limits. He's already publicly proclaimed his intention to spend collect and spend tens of millions on his re-election effort. (Note: Scott also successfully sued to strike a key portion of the law that gives extra money to a candidate opposed by someone who exceeds the spending cap.)

Under the wording of the law Crist can also exceed the $25 million cap but only after the non-participating candidate "exceeds" the expenditure limit.

Note the word there - once the "candidate" - exceeds the limit. That means the official campaign account of Gov. Scott. It does not mean Let's Get to Work, his 527 that has already collected $18 million since the summer of 2011 and is going up with its first ad buy this week.

There are also ways the Republican Party of Florida can assist Scott as well that would not count toward the total.

It's therefore conceivable _ although slightly improbable _ that Scott's official campaign could never hit the cap because of all the heavy lifting done elsewhere.

Now, was this all done by design?

Sen. Jack Latvala, the Pinellas County Republican and chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, said no. He said that the potential impact of public financing didn't even come up during the work on the overhaul.

"You tend to forget it's even on the books,''  Latvala said.

The question, however, for Crist is whether or not the strings and limitations associated with the law will be worth it.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink during her closely contested race against Scott opted not to accept public financing out of concern that Scott would attack her for using taxpayer money for her campaign. After losing by roughly 60,000 votes there was a lot of after-the-fact speculation that the $4 million she was eligible for could have helped close the gap with Scott.

Today of course none of this matters. But it could matter next year when Crist will be scrambling for every dollar in an effort to keep up the large amounts of money Scott and the Republicans will spend to keep the governor's mansion.