The Fine Print

Mystery appeals and campaign finance dilemmas

Time for another round of inside the bubble news....

Who's ad is it anyway?....Republican frontrunner for governor Adam Putnam hit the airwaves this month with a biographical ad that is meant to highlight his agricultural roots and his belief in faith and family.

But campaign records available so far show that the ad isn't being bankrolled by Putnam's campaign.

Instead Florida Grown, a political committee organized and controlled by the agriculture commissioner, has already paid nearly $1 million to Smart Media Group to purchase television time for the ad. That has been backed by FCC filings on file that show that the ad is being paid for by Florida Grown.

Ads on television have carried a disclaimer saying it was a paid political advertisement from Florida Grown.

Yet on Sunday, the Putnam campaign put out a fundraising pitch that says it's their ad and asked people to give them money to keep it on the air. There's a link to the ad on the Putnam for governor website. That version _ which is a full minute in length and not 30 seconds like the version shown on television _ has a disclaimer saying it was paid by the Adam Putnam for governor campaign.

So why is this important?

Well, the first is that Florida Grown can accept unlimited amounts from anyone, including corporate donors, while Putnam's actual campaign can only accept donations worth up to $3,000. So that means that it's harder to raise money for the actual campaign versus the political committee. And that's why there would be a desire to pay for television ads through the committee since those dollars are much easier to replace.

But while Florida law regarding political committees has loosened up in recent years there remain some restrictions on how those committees can spend money.

Florida does not have the same kind of federal restrictions that are supposed to limit contact and coordination between campaigns and other groups. Campaigns are allowed to work in tandem with committees regarding ads.

But the state's Division of Elections put out a very interesting opinion in 2016 that could have ramifications for the Putnam campaign.

Well-known attorney Ron Meyer, who does work on behalf of entities aligned with the Florida Education Association, asked that year about what kind of ads a political committee could undertake - including running television ads that refer or depict "a clearly identified candidate for office" that do not "expressly advocate" for that candidate but have no other reasonable interpretation "than an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate."

In that opinion, the division stated that there are a type of ads that fall outside the normal definition of what constitutes a regulated ad. These are ads that are run outside a period of 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election. These ads are also coordinated with a campaign but do not expressly advocate someone's election. But here's the important part: Since these ads don't fall under the normal definition then a committee that does such ad could be contributing to a campaign.

If this opinion were applied to the Florida Grown ad, then it could be a problem especially since $1 million is way beyond the $3,000 contribution limit.

Under Florida law, campaigns that accept contributions above the legal limit can be susceptible to fines twice the amount of the contribution.

It is important to stress that this is an interpretation of existing law by the Division of Elections. But this speaks to the nature of Florida's complicated campaign finance laws and how they function - and just as important - what is the actual purpose of the law.

MYSTERY APPEAL...There was quite a bit of drama last week as it relates to Florida's automatic ban on civil rights for felons.

A federal appeals court late Wednesday agreed to place a stay on U.S. District Judge Mark Walker's ruling that maintained that Florida's current system for deciding who should have their rights restored is unconstitutional. Florida currently requires former prisoners to wait anywhere from five to seven years after they leave prison before they can ask to have their rights restored. Walker sided with former prisoners who had their applications denied. And as part of that ruling, Walker ordered the state to overhaul its rules by April 26.

Fearful that the appeals court would not act in time Gov. Rick Scott scheduled an emergency meeting of the state's clemency board (which consists of the governor and the three other elected Cabinet officials) with a potential new set of rules. The meeting was scrapped, however, when the court came down with its last-minute decision.

So here's the mystery then: Who gave the order for the clemency board to file the appeal and request the stay in the first place?

Here's the reason for that question: The lawsuit wasn't just against Scott or Attorney General Pam Bondi but it was a lawsuit against the clemency board itself. Florida's Sunshine Law does in general apply to meetings of the governor and Cabinet. (Clemency records are confidential, but there has not been an assertion that the board can meet in private.)

The state's solicitor general _ who works for Bondi _ filed the appeal and the stay request even though there was never a meeting of the clemency board to discuss or vote on what to do in the wake of the initial ruling.

And the state officials who sit on the clemency board have not given a lot of information on how this happened.

When first asked, Whitney Ray, a spokesman for Bondi said that "given the gravity of this issue, a decision to appeal was never in question."

Ok, but again - the solicitor general is an attorney who was working on behalf of the clemency board. Usually attorneys must confer with their clients before proceeding with major action such an an appeal.

During a public availability, Bondi herself refused to answer a question on the decision to appeal. She said that "we're not going to talk about pending litigation."

The press offices for both Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Putnam also did not yield much information on the decision to appeal. Putnam's spokeswoman, Jennifer Meale, said that their office was "notified of the decision to appeal." Patronis's office said the CFO was "kept informed" by communication between the solicitor general and the general counsel for Patronis.

So in both instances neither official said they made an affirmative decision to appeal.

The only office to finally bring some light to the situation was Scott's office. John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott, said that the general counsel for the governor conferred with the solicitor general about the need for appeal.

And the governor's office maintains that such a move was legal even though it was done behind closed doors. They point to a 1978 case that is still cited in the Sunshine Manual that said it was ok for an attorney to confer with members of a board in reaching a decision to appeal.

But even if Scott and Bondi agreed to an appeal that's still just two out of four clemency board members.

Worth pointing out as well: Scott and the Cabinet were sued in 2015 for sidestepping the Sunshine Law because of the way then Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey was dismissed since he worked for all four officials not just the governor. In the end the case was settled, but only after the state agreed to pay attorney fees in the case and that senior staff and aides participate in mandatory Sunshine Law training.

Barbara Petersen of the First Amendment Foundation said that whole situation "doesn't pass the sniff test" and questions if the other members of the board have yielded all legal decisions to Scott's office.

One Democratic candidate for governor opposed to Florida's current system of handing rights restoration is also asking questions.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum last week filed a public records request that asked for any records related to the decision to appeal and file other legal motions in the case. In his letter seeking the records Gillum states "it is unclear the legality of whether the Solicitor General, at the discretion of the Governor, can decide to file a motion, or a series of motions, on behalf of all the Cabinet officers. Floridians deserve to know how their Cabinet officers agreed to a legal decision on behalf of the state of Florida." 

And just like that - Gov. Rick Scott cuts ties to Let's Get to Work

So a funny thing happened on Sunday.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's image and his name and videos disappeared from the Let's Get to Work website. (The photo on the right was taken last Thursday.)

Consider his disappearance just another sure sign of his expected jump into the race for U.S. Senate against incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Scott is planning to make a "major" and "big" announcement about his political future on Monday in Orlando. 

Scott first started Let's Get to Work in the heat of the 2010 campaign for governor as an electioneering communication organization amid potential fears that the governor's self-funded campaign would bust a spending cap that could result in Republican primary opponent Bill McCollum getting a dollar-for-dollar match from public financing. Scott sued in federal court and eventually won an important ruling that declared the spending cap law unconstitutional. But the organization remained in play that whole campaign season.

After ECOs as they were known were eliminated by the Legislature, Let's Get to Work became a political committee that then assisted Scott's re-election. But even after he won a second term, the committee paid for television ads meant to push Scott's agenda through a sometimes recalcitrant GOP-controlled Legislature.

But the problem with the committee for Scott is that it relied on large corporate donations, taking checks in from various groups whose business can be affected by Scott and the Legislature. (U.S. Sugar, for example, gave more than $600,000 over a three-year period. Private prison providers, health care providers, utilities, business associations are among the long list of those who gave money.)

So in order to remain complaint under federal election law while he runs for U.S. Senate Scott needed to distance himself from his creation. Hence the makeover of the website this weekend.

It was already clear that the end was coming. Donations stop flowing into the political committee in the last few months. Records _ including those were self-reported by the committee _ show that at this point that Let's Get to Work has less than $200,000 in its bank accounts. The committee has spent more than $57 million since March 2014.

While Scott's name and image have vanished from the website, it now states that "Let’s Get to Work is supported by Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera.  Its chairman, Abby Dupree, is also associated with this organization."

This was apparently news to Lopez-Cantera, who Scott appointed in January 2014 right ahead of his re-election campaign.

Brian Swensen, who served as campaign manager for Lopez-Cantera's U.S. Senate bid in 2016, said neither he or Lopez-Cantera were aware that the LG was still being associated with Let's Get to Work.

Now while the official Let's Get to Work website has been wiped the videos and ads that the committee did on behalf of Scott still remain on YouTube. 

(UPDATE: Matt Dixon with Politico Florida reported on Sunday night that the New Republican Super PAC has also removed all references to Scott. Scott became chairman of the group last year, but he has to sever his connections to the organization once he becomes a federal candidate.)

GOP to hold onto Latvala loot and other inside the bubble news

 

 Time for some inside the bubble news here in Tallahassee:

LATVALA DONATIONS....Five years ago in the immediate aftermath of the Allied Veterans of the World charity gambling scandal, the Republican Party of Florida donated $300,000 to a veterans charity. That was the same amount that Allied Veterans had given the state party. The party made the move after the arrests of dozens of people connected to Allied Veterans and the resignation of then-Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll. (Carroll was never charged with any wrongdoing and in the end no one did any lengthy jail time in connection with the incident.)

But times have changed.

Republican Party of Florida chairman Blaise Ingoglia says that his party will not return - or offset with a charitable donation - the money that the party has received from a political committee controlled by former State Sen. Jack Latvala. Latvala resigned after a investigation concluded there was probable cause that he had engaged in sexual misconduct. Latvala has denied any wrongdoing, but the matter has been turned over to state law-enforcement authorities.

Latvala's political committee has donated $190,000 since late 2015 - and gave $100,000 in the final quarter of 2017. It's been well-documented that the party isn't raising as much money as it used to because Gov. Rick Scott and Senate Republicans have their own fundraising organizations now. Latvala himself promised to help the party out amid those reports.

In an interview, Ingoglia says that money from Latvala has already been spent or budgeted by the party. But he also argues that it will be .put to good use by the party.

"I would say that the money being used in the Republican Party coffers,  helping to get Republicans elected and putting the infrastructure in place for 2018 is probably a better use for the money,'' Ingoglia said.

Ingoglia added, however, that he would be willing to consider donating or returning the money if the Florida Democratic Party were to return donations it received from former Chairman Stephen Bittel. Bittel resigned after Politico reported that he had made demeaning comments to women.

Campaign records show that Bittel during his time as chairman gave more than $212,000 to the party. In the months ahead of the 2016 election, Bittel also donated $150,000.

OFFICE FOR SALE...One of Tallahassee's most influential lobbying firms - Ballard Partners - recently moved from a historic home on Park Avenue to a brand new office building located at the corner of Park and Monroe Street.

Property records show that Ballard's old offices was bought for $1.35 million by Rubus Idaeus LLC. That's a company that was set up by Tallahassee attorneys Tor Friedman and Eric Abrahamsen. The firm, which has moved into the old Ballard Partners office, handles criminal defense cases, employment law, and personal injury cases.

The roster of attorneys at the firm also includes Tiffany Cruz, who has been in the news lately because she is representing Rachel Perrin Rogers, the Senate employee who filed a formal complaint against Latvala that led to his resignation.

The firm is also representing Farhan "Ronny" Armed - one of the victims at the 2014 shooting at Florida State University who was paralyzed as a result- in a lawsuit against the FSU Board of Trustees. The lawsuit that was filed last year contends that FSU was negligent in providing security.

Kathryn Ballard is a member of the FSU trustees and is married to well-known lobbyist Brian Ballard who runs Ballard Partners. Property records show that both Kathryn and Brian Ballard were listed as co-owners of the office building that was acquired by Rubus Idaeus.

WAITING FOR THE NUMBERS....For the third time this decade, Florida legislators are holding their annual legislative session in January.

One of the prime reasons for the move was that legislators said they liked being able to spend spring break with their children instead of spending it in the halls of the state Capitol.

This year, however, the timing is causing a bit of a potential hiccup.

House and Senate budget writers are having to start work on a new 2018-19 budget without the latest estimates on tax collections. That's because state economists have pushed back the date of their annual estimating conference until Feb. 9th, the fifth week of session.

Amy Baker, one of the main economists, said the reason is primarily due to Hurricane Irma. Irma ripped through the state in September and was responsible for nearly 100 deaths and caused widespread devastation.

Baker explained that sales tax collection data received by the economists generally has a lag in it. So the economists are waiting for a new round of data that will be released Jan. 25th that will show December tax collections, but in reality is more an accurate reflection of November sales.

If economists had scheduled their conference earlier, it was "too close to the hurricane to be useful to us." Baker said that the additional month gives economists "cleanly into the recovery period." The House and Senate agreed to the change, but in order to keep the session on schedule they will begin work on new budgets prior to getting the updated numbers.

This could create a scenario where budget negotiators have to change the budget during the conference period where House and Senate legislators work out differences.

But Sen. Rob Bradley, the Senate budget chief, last week said he was not concerned that the new numbers would show big changes from the previous forecast.

For some Florida Republicans it's time for golf, wine and mild California weather

After a protracted absence, more inside the Tallahassee bubble news.

The really important local race that could impact the whole state....The end of qualifying _ and the lurch into the official campaign season _ has been dominated with talk about the U.S. Senate race featuring incumbent Marco Rubio as well several high profile congressional and state senate races.

Yet there's one very important race that is emerging within the shadows of the Florida Capitol.

Last August State Attorney Willie Meggs announced that he was ending a career stretching back to 1985.

Three challengers have stepped forward to challenge him: Jack Campbell, an assistant state attorney and son of late Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, Sean Desmond, a former prosecutor under Meggs who is now in private practice, and former Statewide Prosecutor Pete Williams.

Over the course of his time in office Meggs engaged in cases that had reverberations in state politics. He aggressively investigated in the '90s whether or not legislators were accepting gifts and trips from lobbyists. The Meggs investigation into House Speaker Ray Sansom wound up forcing the Destin Republican to resign from both the speakership and the Florida Legislature.

Meggs was ultimately forced to abandon the case against Sansom, which was tied to his push for an appropriation in the budget that appeared to be benefit a Republican businessman from Sansom's area.

But because of a Meggs subpoena that probe forced into daylight the use of Republican Party of Florida credit cards by top elected officials - a topic ultimately that caused questions for a long line of politicians including Rubio, then-Gov. Charlie Crist as well as RPOF Chairman Jim Greer.

Other times, however, Meggs has resisted calls to investigate powerful people, such as in 2015 amid the outcry over Gov. Rick Scott's decision to oust Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey. Meggs refused to investigate Bailey's ouster even there were allegations of Sunshine Law violations and Bailey himself alleged that the Scott administration had potentially tried to interfere with an investigation.

So how will the next state attorney handle these types of cases?

Well, it could very well depend on who wins.

In Tallahassee at least - which is where the largest concentration of votes in the race will come from - the primary focus for the candidates is Leon County's crime rate, which is currently the highest in the state.

During a recent community forum featuring the three candidates, Campbell was blunt, saying that while "you need to have the courage" to take on potential corruption cases it would not be a pressing item for him.

"We got plenty of people getting shot in the street, I’ve got plenty of people getting raped at FSU campus,'' Campbell said.

Desmond echoed that sentiment: "I think it's absolutely a duty to shine a light on everything, but if it's going to impact and take away resources from other things we need to prioritize that."

Williams, who noted he pursued corruption cases when he was statewide prosecutor, maintains that "I will be very aggressive there." But in a followup statement Williams faulted the way that Meggs' office has handled certain cases, including the unsuccessful prosecution of Liberty County Sheriff Nick Finch. (The case was handled by Campbell and Williams contended that it should have been handled by an outside prosecutor instead of someone working for Meggs. Williams also contended Finch was prosecuted because he backed Williams in the 2012 election, an allegation that Campbell said was a "lie.")

Desmond and Campbell are squaring off in the Democratic primary and the winner of that race will run against Williams, the Republican nominee, in the November general election.

"Going to California"....

Gov. RIck Scott has pilloried California over the last couple of years and has visited the state in an effort to woo businesses in that state to move to the Sunshine State.

But apparently it's a good place for some Republicans to go and escape the heat, humidity, algal blooms, mosquitoes and raise money.

The main fundraising committee led by Sen. Joe Negron that is helping Republican state Senate candidates held a two-day fundraiser this week at the famed Pebble Beach golf course (where the daily high was in the mid-60s) located near Carmel and Monterey.

This is a recurring site for fundraisers and it's been held in this site before. But which elected officials decided to attend it? Shh. That's a secret.

A spokeswoman for Negron said he would not discuss fundraising events. But the little birds who flock to Peter Schorsch told him that joining Negron at the California event were Sens. Anitere Flores, Lizbeth Benacquisto, and Rob Bradley.

Also there was Sen. Bill Galvano, who is staying out west this week to hold a separate Napa Valley fundraiser for his own political committee Innovate Florida. The invitation promises a group dinner and private vineyard lunch tasting at the Far Niente Winery about 171 miles north of Pebble Beach.

Galvano, who was re-elected to a new term in office without opposition, said earlier this month that he decided to hold the fundraiser at the winery since he was going out west for the Pebble Beach fundraiser.

Since the end of the 2016 session Galvano has piled up a significant amount of money in his political committee.

State filed fundraising reports for March, April and May - along with paperwork on the Innovate Florida website for June - show that Galvano has collected more than $357,000. Some of the big donors include Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Medical Association.

So far in the last few months Galvano has steered money from his Innovate Florida account to other political committees - such as the one helping Senate candidates - the campaign accounts of GOP senators as well as payments to his staff, a fundraising consultant and reimbursements that Galvano has claimed. State records show that money from the account has been used to pay for hotels, meals and travel including a nearly $500 tab at The Edison in early April.

Galvano kicks in big money to help Senate Republicans

We are now six months into the second term of Gov. Rick Scott _ and a nearly as much time into the new reality that greets Republicans in the state.

This Friday will mark an important milestone since Scott, the Republican Party of Florida and Senate Republicans went their separate ways back in January.

On Friday, the RPOF and the affiliated committee associated with the Senate will post their second quarter numbers.

It's this report - followed by the third quarter one in early October - that may give an accurate picture of just how serious the fallout has been over the last few months.

As everyone knows Republican Party activists rejected Leslie Dougher, Scott's hand-picked selection for party chairman. In anticipation of the schism, party leaders loyal to Scott and Senate Republicans transferred large amounts of money into separate fundraising accounts.

Since that time Scott's Let's Get to Work political committee has kept a fairly robust fundraising _ and spending regimen. It was the entity that helped put together Scott's well-attended presidential summit in Orlando and spent money on television ads touting Scott's agenda. But that's money not heading into the coffers of the party which is now headed up by Rep. Blaise Ingoglia.

Meanwhile, this year's legislative session went haywire due to a dispute over health care, which resulted in a special session to pass a new budget and caused an even larger split between Scott and some GOPers.

Scott's fundraising reports show that in cash alone he has raised nearly $2.1 million during the year. This doesn't include the $580,000 that was transferred from party accounts shortly before Ingoglia took over or the more than $250,000 that Disney donated for travel, food and beverages associated with the summit that the governor held at the start of June.

Big donors so far this year to Scott include committees linked to the state's two big business lobbying groups, Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce as well as hedge fund investor and now real estate developer Jeff Vinik.

The Senate campaign efforts, meanwhile, have been in flux because of the still-unsettled battle between Sens. Joe Negron and Jack Latvala for president. In late June, current Senate President Andy Gardiner tapped Sen. Bill Galvano to lead the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Gardiner's move was apparently aimed at telegraphing to potentially nervous donors and backers that the Latvala-Negron contest was not going to derail ongoing efforts to maintain the Republican majority in the Senate.

And Galvano wasted little time in showing his commitment that the committee has money.

Records show that Galvano had his own political committee - Innovate Florida - hand over a $250,000 check to the Senate committee on June 24.

Galvano's donation is apparently aimed at stemming anxiety that donors may have that the tug-of-war between Latvala and Negron would have on the overall effort to help Senate incumbents during an upcoming presidential year.

Latvala earlier this year hired top Florida political fundraiser Meredith O'Rourke in an effort to help his presidential aspirations.

So far this calendar year Latvala's political committee Florida Leadership Committee has hauled in more than $800,000 - including more than $70,000 in the month of June (despite a special session which limited contributions.)

Negron's Treasure Coast Alliance has raised just a tad over $1 million in 2015, with most of that happening in the month of May. The group collected $25,000 during the month of June.

The records for the Treasure Coast Alliance show that so far it has given $5,000 to the Republican Senate committee this year, while Latvala's political committee has not donated anything.

But if you do the math there's at least $4 million during the first half of 2015 that did not go to the RPOF and instead has gone into other accounts that are largely controlled by individual Republicans.

The 2016 elections are still a ways off, but it will be worth watching the run-up to the crucial presidential election to see what kind of resources the state party has available, and conversely how much money and organization the national party and national campaigns will have to expend in the state because of the current set -up.

The slow fading light of a Scott initiative

Sorry for the delay - time for another installment of Inside the Tallahassee bubble news

Three years ago this May Gov. Rick Scott unveiled an initiative that he said would help citizens hold their government accountable.

Project Sunburst as it was called was described as a way to increase access to public records held by the Scott administration - while at the same time helping cut down on the number of record requests constantly flowing in for emails from both the governor and his staff.

When it started the initiative included the emails of Scott and members of his leadership team (although noticeably absent were the emails of his budget chief and general counsel.)

And when asked about other records, such as correspondence and letters written by Scott, then-Chief of Staff Steve MacNamara promised that would be added as well.

Let's flash forward and see what's there now.

Letters? That never really got going. All that is on is the site are 11 letters written in June 2012.

Ok, so what about emails?

Well, there are more folders associated with former employees than people working there now.

There are four deputy chiefs of staff reporting to Melissa Sellers, Scott's chief of staff and campaign manager for his re-election. None of them have their emails included in Sunburst. Nor does Scott's current cabinet affairs director - an area that has been the source of consternation in recent months since the forced dismissal of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.

Emails going into an account for Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera appear to have stopped going into Sunburst this past January.

There is still traffic in Sellers account - but it mainly consists of her schedule and emails she receives. She appears to have adopted the same policy as her predecessor and refrains from using her state account to send anything out.

Sunburst does still show Scott's own email account although the great bulk of that account are emails received to his public account from citizens around the state. The site also does include the emails of Scott communications director Jackie Schutz although her account hasn't been updated since May 7.

Another legal battle brewing over taxpayer-helped campaigns

Former State Rep. Perry Thurston lost his bid last year to become the state's top legal affairs officer.

But Thurston is embarking on a legal challenge that could affect future statewide campaigns.

The unsuccessful Democratic candidate for attorney general and his attorney Mark Herron are asserting that the Department of State improperly denied his request last summer for matching funds.

To refresh everyone's memory: Matching funds are taxpayer money that is made available to statewide candidates based on certain eligibility criteria. Those who meet the criteria receive an initial two-for-one match for contributions from Florida residents followed by additional distributions at a one for one match.

The Legislature tried to repeal the program but voters turned down a proposed amendment to get rid of the money.

Thurston asserts he cleared the thresholds needed to get the matching funds including raising at least $100,000.

But in its filing with the Florida Elections Commission attorneys who work for Secretary of State Ken Detzner maintain that the documentation submitted by Thurston in August 2014 put him at slightly more than $99,000 - or below the threshold. They contend that the Thurston campaign did not question the omission of other documentation until after he has lost the Democratic primary to George Sheldon and by then it was too late because he was no longer a candidate.

"If individuals were permitted to submit supplementary documentation to establish the $100,000 threshold for eligibility at any time, even after being eliminated as a candidate, there would be no limiting principle to achieve finality,'' states the filing by then-department general counsel J. Andrew Atkinson.

Thurston appealed the finding to the commission but the panel last week voted against him.

Herron says his client plans to take the case to the 1st District Court of Appeal. He contends that this is an important case because the division used minor issues - the fact that a copy of the check was partially turned down and hid part of an address - to deny Thurston's submission. If the division had counted these checks then Thurston would have been eligible. The October submission was merely resubmitting the same information with new copies of the checks.

The amount of money that Thurston could be eligible for if he wins the case would not be unsubstantial. The division itself acknowledges that if Thurston had been crossed the initial threshold he would have been entitled to roughly $75,000.

In its filing division attorneys assert it is pointless to pay the money now because under law it would have be returned to the state's general revenue account. Herron disputes that as well.

Pam Bondi, the reporter and the money

Some more inside the Tallahassee bubble news...

Remember the lawsuit that disgraced former House Speaker Ray Sansom filed against the state to recover more than $800,000 in legal fees?

Sansom, if you recall, was charged with manipulating the state budget process in order to obtain $6 million in state money to pay for a hangar at the Destin airport that was really intended to be used by a businessman and major Republican donor.

His trial in 2011 ended when State Attorney Willie Meggs dropped the charges after a judge refused to let a key witness testify.

Sansom filed a civil lawsuit asking for payment of his legal fees. He asserts that his legal fees should be paid by taxpayers because it was connected to his legal duties.

The state, however, has fought this request, saying that despite the charges being dropped that Sansom's action were still "tainted" because he was seeking to do something on behalf of private interests not the public.

Well the trial is coming up soon and the office of Attorney General Pam Bondi has subpoenaed Tampa Tribune reporter James Rosica to testify in the case.

Rosica covered the trial for The Associated Press at the time.

Why is Bondi's office seeking to compel a reporter to appear at the trial? That's not really clear.

A spokesman for the attorney general refused to comment citing the pending litigation.

The subpoena given to Rosica last Friday does instruct him to bring a copy of the March 25, 2011 article he did on the criminal case. That story does note that both Sansom and businessman Jay Odom had agreed to pay restitution to Northwest Florida State College for costs related to the hangar.

During a court hearing in 2013 it was pointed out that Odom wound up paying Sansom's share of the restitution. Sansom's lawyer argued that Sansom never really consented to the payment and that it should not have been viewed as an admission of guilt.

Speaking of the Sansom civil trial....

One interesting tidbit from the legal battle. According to one court filing, Sansom in a deposition has defended his actions as House budget chairman by comparing himself to....John Thrasher.

Sansom noted that while he was speaker Thrasher helped obtain funding for a Florida State University medical school.

For their part attorneys for Bondi's office don't agree with the comparison.

"The difference in the two situations is stark,'' states the filing from last fall. "Mr. Thrasher put an appropriation in for a medical school building, and a medical school building was built. Mr. Sansom placed into the appropriations bill an appropriation for the 'Okaloose Jt Use Emergency Response Workforce Center" for building a hanger at the Destin airport for his campaign contributor, Jay Odom. A finding that this act was within the public interest essentially condones political corruption."

Odom by the way also appears to be a key person for the upcoming trial.

He has been fighting attempts to get him to answer questions related to the entire Sansom incident and the payment he made to the college. The state has also wanted to delve into his friendship with Sansom as well as ask him questions about his businesses.

Filings show that Odom, who was sentenced in 2013 to six months in jail and ordered to pay fines in connection with money he donated to the presidential campaign of Mike Huckabee, has been citing his Fifth Amendment privilege in order to rebuff these questions from the state. His attorneys say the threat of continued prosecution _ including potential racketeering charges_remain real.

From one of the court filings:

"The scope of the federal investigation is broad.

The federal authorities have gone to extreme efforts to seize virtually all of Mr. Odom's business and personal records and interview, or compel testimony, from a vast number of his friends, family members, employees and associates. Search warrants have been served on him, his businesses and his properties. With those search warrants, the federal authorities seized over 18 boxes (and other containers) of documents, copied the hard drives of eleven computers, and seized financial records relating to virtually every receipt and expenditure by Mr. Odom, or his companies."

The court filing adds that federal investigators have not only focused on the appropriation but the relationship between Odom and Sansom as well as "campaign contributions made by Mr. Odom's businesses to political candidates and causes."

In November, Judge Angela Dempsey ruled that Odom does have a right to assert his Fifth Amendment privilege, but she did say he needed to order two questions related to his decision to pay the restitution on behalf of Sansom.

Where things stand four months before Election Day

Happy Independence Day.

It's now exactly 4 months before voters in Florida will decide who to pick for governor.

Amid the recent twist of events as well as the multi-million dollar barrage of ads from the re-election campaign of Gov. Rick Scott against former Gov. Charlie Crist some pundits are already proclaiming Crist's campaign off course. They have argued he is in need of a campaign shake-up or he needs to debate Democratic state senator Nan Rich or he needs to release his wife's tax returns etc. etc.

Well, that's for the pundits to debate.

But let's take a look an overall look of where things stand at present:

MONEY: It was reported back in 2013 that the Scott campaign planned to spend $100 million to get re-elected. Well, while that goal is still possible - it's not apparent that amount is a sure thing.

It has appeared that Scott's main re-election vehicle _ Let's Get to Work _ was poised to burn through all of its cash by the time the Aug. 26 primary rolls around. The June 27th reports filed with the state indicated that LGTW had about $11 million left in the bank after spending $17.3 million - most of it on television ad buys since March.

The Republican Governor's Association, however, kicked in $4 million just two days ago according to updated filings on the LGTW web site.

It's significant that the RGA chose to share that money with LGTW - which can run ads attacking Crist but can't run ads that explicitly tell voters to stick with Scott. The Scott campaign has been proclaiming for months that it the incumbent governor was raising most of his money for the Republican Party of Florida. RPOF can run ads that urge voters to choose Scott, but only if they also tout other candidates. It's also significant since one of the supposed advantages of buying ads through the party as opposed through LGTW is that the party can purchase ads at a cheaper rate. So obviously there was a feeling that the burn rate needs to be even higher than it has been.

So barring any additional significant contributions we can anticipate that LGTW will have spent $30 million from March to the end of August or a little more than 2 months left before Election Day.

Crist for the most part has been waiting before tapping into his campaign warchest. The most recent reports indicate that Crist has at least $10 million in the bank.

Crist, who has tapped into public financing in his past runs for office, will likely get a substantial amount of matching money from the state later this month.

That means there's a good chance Crist will still have a healthy bank account once the primary election is over (although it won't be surprising if third party groups bankrolled by unknown parties go after him this month in an attempt to force Crist to spend more than he wants prior to the primary.) So far, however, Crist has gotten help from the Florida Democratic Party which is running its own ads going after Scott which means that Crist can continue to hold back.

We still don't have a good idea of how much money outside groups plan to bring into the state. A billionaire has already pledged to spend considerable sums to go after candidates on the issue of climate change including Scott. Meanwhile, other groups appear waiting in the wings to assist Scott.

At this point it would be save to assume that at least $100 million will be spent by everyone involved in this race - or at least four times more than has been spent to date but probably less than what was once hinted at.

POLLS: Much has been made of the tracking in the polls that have shown Scott erasing the lead Crist once had and in some cases leading the Republican turned independent turned Democrat although it is usually within the margin of error.

Well, the issue of course hinges on whether the turnout models used by the various polls will be accurate.

Early signs are that Republicans will not replicate the 2010 turnout that helped Scott squeeze out a victory over Democrat Alex Sink. The expectations of course are that the Democrats will not come close to witnessing the type of turnout that helped President Barack Obama win Florida a second time in 2012.

But let's consider how quickly things can turn - even with a candidate spending considerable amounts of money.

On June 29, 2010 Quinnipiac University had Scott up on Attorney General Bill McCollum by a 43-32 margin in the looming GOP primary for governor. By August 18, 2010 Quinnipiac had it totally flipped with that poll among "likely primary" voters to a 44 to 35 percent edge for McCollum.

One of the recent polls that has gotten a lot of attention was that the Florida Chamber of Commerce poll released in late June that had Scott at 41 percent and Crist at 38 percent (or within the margin of error meaning essentially they were tied). This was a poll of self-selected "likely voters" according to the Chamber. The Chamber, for what it's worth, released a poll (done by a different company) on Aug. 13, 2010 that showed McCollum had turned the tide against Scott and was actually up by 12 points.

The point is this: The general trendlines suggest a tightening of the race, which actually should not have been unexpected. But we may be a tad too far out to have an accurate gauge on who will actually vote in this election. (See this previous post on whether or not Scott can count on the GOP base to show up like it has in past elections.)

Case in point: The Quinnipiac poll from April 30 showed Crist up by a full 10 points. But that poll also showed Crist pulling in 10 percent of Republican voters, while Scott was pulling in 9 percent of Democrats. Even more interesting is that even that poll contended there was no more than 9 percent undecided.

Bottom line: After Scott and the Republicans have spent $17 million the race is essentially tied and Democrats and Crist are only now returning fire.

ORGANIZATION: We don't have to do much analysis here: Scott and the Republican Party of Florida have a bigger staff and a larger organization and it's unlikely that will change.

They plan to use a microtargeting plan that will attempt to identify voters who can propel the incumbent governor to victory. Not that there hasn't been a long line of missteps along the way, i.e., the entire episode with finance chairman Mike Fernandez.

Crist has had his own series of problems putting together a staff. It does appear he will have a fair amount of help from Democrats. While the Democrats are underfunded, they did not actively recruit a lot of legislative and Cabinet candidates that will compete for scarce resources. It's a big gamble, of course, since Crist could lose, but a win would help the Democrats immensely. There have been suggestions that the vaunted Obama network will come into play but at this juncture it doesn't appear that it will resemble anything close to what the OBama campaign did in this state just two years ago.

WHAT'S NEXT: For many Republicans there is an expectation, and hope, that maybe wasn't there a year, or even 6 months ago. They see the fundraising numbers, the polls and the problems so far experienced by Crist's team as proof that victory is within their grasp.

But it's also true that Crist has not begun a sustained assault against Scott.

We already seen some hints of where he plans to go: On a recent stop in Tallahassee Crist argued that voters will get the "old Rick Scott" a.k.a. the one who cut education funding by more than $1 billion and killed high speed rail and not the new Scott who has tried to take a few steps to the middle. Expect more of that. Expect public service workers and unions to ramp up to remind their rank and file that Scott was the person who took 3 percent out of the paychecks of every teacher, prison guard and even sheriff's deputies across the state. Expect Scott to continue to be drawn into the ongoing contentious battle over Common Core that shows no signs of diminishing and could haunt him all the way to Election Day.

There will be debates, there will be continued economic news that could hamper Scott's pro-jobs message, and not to mention a court ruling on gay marriage that could also force the Scott administration on the defensive. (The state is defending the state's current ban on gay marriage.)

Bottom line: Four months out it is evident Scott is no longer losing. But it's hard to argue anyone is winning either.

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.