The rules banning campaign fundraisers during theannual legislative session don't apply to special sessions,and House members are collecting from hospital lobbyists.
Published June 18, 2003
Gov. Jeb Bush says he may keep calling lawmakers back to the state Capitol if they don't deliver this week on his plan to fix medical malpractice insurance. What could make House members any happier? More special sessions just mean more chances to shake down doctors for campaign money.
This week, as Times associate editor and Tallahassee bureau chief Lucy Morgan reports, malpractice rates aren't the only things that are soaring. So is the ante lobbyists are paying at 20 different campaign fundraisers for 19 Republican House members.
That's right. Speaker Johnnie Byrd and his top lieutenants have managed to find time away from what Byrd has called a "crisis in health care availability" so they can play party hosts to eager lobbyists throughout the capital city. The payoff comes in $500 and $1,000 checks to their own re-election campaigns.
The rules that ban campaign fundraisers during the annual legislative session have never been extended to the special sessions, and don't look for Byrd to change that practice any time soon. Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, tried to call the Republicans' hand on Monday. He asked the House Rules Committee to extend the ban to special sessions, but was abruptly voted down. (From the Tampa Bay area, House members voting to keep the campaign tap flowing were: Frank Farkas, St. Petersburg; Ken Littlefield, Dade City; Sandra Murman, Tampa; and Leslie Waters, Pinellas Park.)
After the vote, Justice said that "I thought the purpose of coming to Tallahassee was to help patients and doctors, not collect checks outside the Capitol." Byrd offered a different take. He called these lobbyist shakedowns "basically a freedom-of-speech issue" and said he is hesitant to end the practice "off the cuff."
That's hardly surprising. Last year, according to Florida Today, Byrd topped the legislative campaign fundraising charts during two special sessions dealing with the budget crisis. He raked in $25,500. This year, given the deep pockets of doctors and lawyers, Byrd has to figure that the getting can only get better.
House Republicans are responding to criticism by accusing Justice of a partisan ambush. But they are failing to take notice of their own Republican colleagues in the Senate, who are not holding fundraisers, and of their Republican governor, who agrees with Justice. On Tuesday, Bush put it plainly: "I don't think it is appropriate. It's not that it is an indication of a belief that it is some kind of quid pro quo, but there shouldn't be money raised while we are in session."
Running from a committee meeting to a campaign fundraiser is unseemly. Leaving a medical malpractice debate to collect dollars at a party hosted by hospital lobbyists is an outrage.
