State: Change chips away disclosure

As millions of dollars pour into the campaigns for governor, a little-noticed change in state elections law will make it almost impossible for voters to find out who's bankrolling the final two months of the campaigns until after election day.

State lawmakers last year cut a previously required campaign finance report when they eliminated a runoff election among primary candidates. The change means the political parties, the main conduit for gubernatorial campaign money, won't report their donors until Nov. 1, and state elections officials probably won't report who gave what until after the Nov. 5 election.

Combine that with the trend of independent groups airing political TV commercials with no disclosure requirements and the most expensive governor's race in Florida history will also be the one with the least disclosure in decades.

"Our campaign finance laws are in a state of disarray. It's as bad as I've ever seen it," said Ben Wilcox of Common Cause Florida. "It comes down to lack of accountability. There's just no way of seeing who's giving what."

If groups pushing for casino gambling or fewer abortion restrictions decide to pump big money into either party to influence the governor's race, the public would not know about it until after the votes are counted.

"Obviously that was never intended when we rewrote the code in the session before last," said state Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, one of the lawmakers most closely involved in election law changes. "The public deserves to know not only who is contributing to the candidates, but who is contributing to the parties. It's fundamental."

It's also too late to do anything about it before the election, Sebesta said.

Candidates still must file their own campaign reports every two weeks until the election. Those will detail who gives up to $500 directly to the Bush and McBride campaigns.

But the real engines for gubernatorial races are the state parties, which can take unlimited contributions. The parties then pay for campaign expenses and TV ads that focus on the gubernatorial candidates while giving fleeting mentions of other candidates.

Both campaigns rely largely on unlimited "soft money" donations to their parties, and both campaigns are expecting millions of dollars in contributions from across the country in coming weeks. The state GOP has reported raising $26.2-million this year and the state Democratic Party $6.7-million.

Other than party organizations or other politicians' campaign accounts, the top donors to the Republican Party as of Sept. 5 include: a cruise industry trade group ($515,000); Wal-Mart heir and school voucher advocate John Walton ($338,000); and three executives of a Pittsburgh investment group recently hired to manage state employee retirement savings investments ($300,000).

Top donors to the state Democratic Party: The Florida Education Association teachers union ($202,780); Sonia M. Jones, wife of a New York commodities broker and close friend of Mary Barley, who lost her primary for agriculture commissioner ($190,000); and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ($144,360).

State law requires the parties to file fundraising reports on the Friday before elections -- normally the primary, second primary and general election. By eliminating the second primary for this election, lawmakers cut out a fundraising report that normally would cover September campaign finance activity, said a spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office.

The parties must file their next campaign finance reports by the Friday before the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election.

Jenny Nash, spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's office, said that, barring any problems, the state would post the details of those reports on its Web site "one or two days past the election."

State Rep. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, chairman of the House Rules, Ethics and Elections Committee, said he was unaware of the change but hoped the division of elections could post the reports sooner.

"I don't have a lot of heartburn about this as long as there's some disclosure that is required," Goodlette said.

State Democratic Party chairman Bob Poe also was unaware of the change. Asked whether the party might voluntarily release its donors before November, Poe said maybe.

"Philosophically, I don't have a problem with that, but its a practical matter of how we do it," he said.

A spokesman for the Republican Party, Towson Fraser, said they would "definitely think about that."

-- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report. Adam C. Smith can be reached at (727) 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com.

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