State: Check, law on billboards coincide

TALLAHASSEE -- One week before Gov. Jeb Bush signed a controversial bill in April that made it harder for local communities to remove billboards, the founder of one of Florida's biggest billboard companies gave $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida.

The money came in two personal checks from Karl Eller of Phoenix, a longtime contributor to Republican candidates and the founder of Eller Media. Eller sold the company and its vast billboard inventory to Clear Channel Communications for $1.2-billion in 1997, and served as chairman and CEO of the company's outdoor advertising unit until last year.

Eller's gifts of $20,000 to the state GOP and $5,000 to the party's federal account are both listed by the party as having been received March 28. That date fell midway between a two-week period after the Legislature passed the bill and before Bush signed it.

To one leading critic of the billboard industry, it doesn't look like a coincidence.

"A major player in the outdoor advertising industry was taking a distinct interest in Florida politics," said Bill Brinton, a Jacksonville lawyer and chairman of Citizens for a Scenic Florida, which has been battling the industry on various fronts. "All I know is, it was horrible public policy."

A Republican Party spokesman said there was no connection between the money and Bush's signing of the bill.

"People try to draw these correlations all the time. There's no correlation," Towson Fraser said. "People with a lot of money, and people with a little bit of money, give us contributions all the time because they appreciate the job Gov. Bush is doing."

In June, Bush wrote a letter to an appointee of his brother, President Bush, asking for "quick, decisive action" on behalf of a Miami-based liquor distributor, Bacardi-Martini USA. The letter followed the firm's $50,000 donation to the state Republican Party. Bush said "no connection" existed and a spokeswoman said the governor is unaware of the timing of party contributions.

Executives of a Pennsylvania investment firm, Federated Investors, gave $291,000 to the state party after winning a contract to manage state employees' retirement accounts.

Eller, 72, has been supporting Republican candidates for decades, and the billboard industry is one of the most effective lobbies in the state capital.

Eller Media gave nearly $50,000 worth of billboard space to the state GOP in 1998 when Eller was chairman, but Eller himself did not write large personal checks to the state GOP, according to the state elections website.

Two telephone messages left at Eller's office in Phoenix on Wednesday were not returned.

Peter Dunbar, who lobbied for the bill for the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association, downplayed the significance of Eller's donations. "This guy is not a player in our world," Dunbar said.

Dunbar said Bush's approval of the bill was widely expected because the governor had said a year earlier that he would favor the bill if it were presented to him as a single issue, not joined to unrelated legislation. Bush vetoed a billboard measure in 2001 because it was part of a larger bill.

Dunbar said the billboard industry's willingness to support friendly candidates from both parties should be no surprise. "We want very much to express our appreciation," he said. "It's bipartisan -- and the governor's at the top of our list."

Wayne Mock, senior vice president for public affairs at Clear Channel Outdoor in Clearwater, who also worked on the bill, said he never had any talks with Eller about the legislation.

"Karl has been a very active member politically for 30 or 40 years. It wouldn't surprise me if he made a contribution," Mock said. "But I was very active on this issue and I had no conversation with Karl at that time. I just don't see a connection."

Bush signed the bill (HB 715) after it sailed through both houses with overwhelming support among Republicans and Democrats. It was strongly opposed by many cities and counties and their statewide lobbies, the Florida League of Cities and Florida Association of Counties.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Rossin, the running mate of Bush's Democratic opponent, Bill McBride , voted against the bill. McBride has not made billboards a campaign issue.

By requiring governments to pay cash to remove billboards rather than give companies time to recoup their investment before the signs are removed, the bill makes it harder and more expensive for communities to remove billboards.

The bill crystallized the conflict between private property rights and local efforts to beautify roadsides. Bush acknowledged as much in signing the bill. "This issue is especially difficult since I am a firm believer in both local control and property rights," he wrote in signing the legislation April 4.

Local governments opposed the measure. "You have spoken many times of the need for government to be closer to the people, and of limiting the role of state government in favor of enhancing the responsibility and accountability of government at the local level," Mary Kay Cariseo, executive director of the state association of counties, wrote Bush in March. "Removing that tool will, in our view, remove a significant incentive for billboard companies to work with local government to craft appropriate local solutions to local problems."

Pasco County Commissioner Steve Simon, a Democrat who said "Shame on him" when Bush signed the bill, declined to comment on Eller's contribution, saying he didn't have enough information. Speaking generally, Simon said: "Do I think there's a lot of influence from this handful of companies that have pretty much manipulated the system for their own benefit? Yes."

He said the bill is bad policy because it diminishes local officials' power to decide how communities' roadsides should look.

-- Times researcher Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report.

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