Politics
Crist Defies GOP Lawmakers, Vetoes Leadership Funds
Around the State
THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, April 6, 2010….Gov. Charlie Crist defied the incoming legislative leaders of his own Republican Party by vetoing a measure Tuesday that would have given them unbridled control of millions of dollars in campaign cash.
Citing the Legislature’s decision to ban so-called leadership funds in 1989, Crist indicated that time and the present political atmosphere provided no reason for lifting the prohibition.
“While I commend the sponsors of this bill for their effort to bring more transparency and accountability in their attempt to revive leadership funds, I reject the notion that affiliated party committees, or leadership funds, will benefit our state,” Crist wrote in his veto of the measure, his first of the 2010 session.
The effort to revive leadership funds was heavily promoted by Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who would have had unfettered authority over campaign contributions they raise for the election of House and Senate candidates.
Their Democratic counterparts, Rep. Ron Saunders of Key West and Sen. Nan Rich of Weston, had argued against re-establishment of leadership funds, saying it was improper to give lawmakers another method for extracting campaign contributions from the corporations and lobbyists whose business interests they shape through legislation.
Crist echoed a similar concern in his veto, reflecting on a system legislators ditched 21 years ago. “These accounts allowed legislative leaders to solicit and accept campaign contributions during the legislative session from lobbyists and interest groups outside of the public view,” Crist concluded.
Reaction from wounded leaders was swift.
But some sought to deflect criticism of leadership funds by pointing out the legislation also re-enacted state regulation of shadowy political committees that typically air some of the harshest television advertising and direct-mail campaigns of an election season.
“The Governor is one-hundred percent wrong,” said Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami. “The legislation...would have brought new reporting requirements to electioneering communication organizations (ECOs). This provision would have guaranteed accountability when outside intererests participate in elections.”
Newly elected Florida Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican state senator, was another key advocate for the leadership fund bill (HB 1207), saying the measure was needed to blunt the kind of free-swinging advertising that was used against him during a special Senate election last fall.
Organizations tied to Florida trial lawyers were behind the effort to defeat Thrasher with sharp-edged advertising that challenged his ethics and spending during his 1998-99 term as House speaker.
But perhaps the biggest symbol of the push for leadership funds was the man Thrasher succeeded as Florida Republican chairman, ousted party leader Jim Greer. Haridopolos and Cannon withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars they had raised for the state party late last year amid concerns that Greer was using the money to patch budget holes in the party’s account.
Citing the Legislature’s decision to ban so-called leadership funds in 1989, Crist indicated that time and the present political atmosphere provided no reason for lifting the prohibition.
“While I commend the sponsors of this bill for their effort to bring more transparency and accountability in their attempt to revive leadership funds, I reject the notion that affiliated party committees, or leadership funds, will benefit our state,” Crist wrote in his veto of the measure, his first of the 2010 session.
The effort to revive leadership funds was heavily promoted by Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, who would have had unfettered authority over campaign contributions they raise for the election of House and Senate candidates.
Their Democratic counterparts, Rep. Ron Saunders of Key West and Sen. Nan Rich of Weston, had argued against re-establishment of leadership funds, saying it was improper to give lawmakers another method for extracting campaign contributions from the corporations and lobbyists whose business interests they shape through legislation.
Crist echoed a similar concern in his veto, reflecting on a system legislators ditched 21 years ago. “These accounts allowed legislative leaders to solicit and accept campaign contributions during the legislative session from lobbyists and interest groups outside of the public view,” Crist concluded.
Reaction from wounded leaders was swift.
But some sought to deflect criticism of leadership funds by pointing out the legislation also re-enacted state regulation of shadowy political committees that typically air some of the harshest television advertising and direct-mail campaigns of an election season.
“The Governor is one-hundred percent wrong,” said Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami. “The legislation...would have brought new reporting requirements to electioneering communication organizations (ECOs). This provision would have guaranteed accountability when outside intererests participate in elections.”
Newly elected Florida Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican state senator, was another key advocate for the leadership fund bill (HB 1207), saying the measure was needed to blunt the kind of free-swinging advertising that was used against him during a special Senate election last fall.
Organizations tied to Florida trial lawyers were behind the effort to defeat Thrasher with sharp-edged advertising that challenged his ethics and spending during his 1998-99 term as House speaker.
But perhaps the biggest symbol of the push for leadership funds was the man Thrasher succeeded as Florida Republican chairman, ousted party leader Jim Greer. Haridopolos and Cannon withdrew hundreds of thousands of dollars they had raised for the state party late last year amid concerns that Greer was using the money to patch budget holes in the party’s account.
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