While releasing a proposed education and business friendly $74.2 billion budget -- derided by critics as smacking of “pre-election year gimmicks” -- the group backing Gov. Rick Scott’s 2014 re-election has posted that $1.27 million was added to its coffers in January.

The monthly total promoted by the Let’s Get to Work electioneering organization on its website could be seen as another warning shot across the bow of those intending to take on Scott, who has said he will not again dip into his personal wealth to mount a statewide campaign.

The registered committee, chaired by longtime Tallahassee lobbyist John French, in January received: $30,000 from Property Casualty Insurers Association; $25,000 from Liberty Partners; $25,000 from Southern Gardens Groves of Clewiston; $25,000 from the GPRA Thoroughbred Training Center in Boynton Beach; $25,000 from Gulfstream Park Racing in Hallandale; more than $80,000 from health care interests; and more than $350,000 from various real estate and development interests.

The political committee hauled in $4.79 million in 2012, having spent just over $550,000 since the start of 2012.

Of its expenses, the committee spent $136,798 in January, with $112,314.98 going to the Florida Governor’s Mansion Foundation.

While eyes remain on former governor and former Republican Charlie Crist to make an entrance into the race as a Democrat, with expected well-funded backing from the Morgan & Morgan law firm, also rumored to be ready to jump in are former Florida chief financial officer Alex Sink and former Miami mayor Manny Diaz.

Meanwhile, Nan Rich, a Democrat from Weston who has already opened a campaign account, was in Tallahassee on Wednesday to make her case to the media.

Appearing at the Associated Press’s annual pre-legislative review at the Capitol, former Senate Minority Leader Rich tried to score points before Scott released his budget.

Rich laid into Scott’s “right-wing agenda,” pointing to his rejecting the $2.4 billion from the feds for high-speed rail and delaying the state’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act. “There are few decisions that Governor Scott has made that have been good for Florida,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the financial battle, Rich remains a long shot for her party’s nomination, with her campaign account holding at around $60,000 as of Dec.31, 2012, the most recent numbers posted by the Division of Elections. She pulled in $22,159 in the final quarter of 2012.



Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.