House Speaker Johnnie Byrd passionately tried this week to defend fundraising in the middle of an important special session on medical malpractice.
He doesn't seem to understand how unseemly it looks for lawmakers to be debating the hottest issue of the year one minute and putting out their hands for contributions the next.
Government shouldn't tell candidates what they can do, Byrd insists. It's enough to ban fundraising during the regular session, he says.
Byrd says he'll quit fundraising when the St. Petersburg Times gives him free space next to my column. Can't imagine why he is complaining. We've given him a lot of free space. We haven't charged him a nickel for any of the names we've called him.
It's odd to hear this coming from a legislative leader of any party. In 1994 the House led the way by banning session fundraising, a move sought by Rep. Peter Wallace, D-St. Petersburg, the year he became speaker.
The Senate followed two years later with the support of Republicans like former Sen. Malcolm Beard, R-Seffner, who compared session fundraising with "shooting quail on the ground."
Beard noted how easy it was to raise money from a lobbyist who wanted his vote.
Lawmakers tried to write the fundraising ban into law in 1989, but the Florida Supreme Court overturned the law because it didn't limit the ban to incumbent legislators but included candidates who oppose them. The court suggested, however, that lawmakers could legally bar incumbents from taking contributions.
That's how the House and Senate came to create rules banning fundraising during regular sessions. Many lawmakers and the governor think it should also apply to special sessions.
In the late 1980s, fundraising got totally out of hand in the Legislature. One Senate president, John Vogt, summoned insurance lobbyists to his office to seek support so he could run for insurance commissioner while the rest of the Senate was on the floor debating important issues affecting many of those same lobbyists. A week later, in the final 48 hours of the session, he had a fundraiser to kick start his campaign.
It was that brazen.
And that embarrassing.
Back then we had legislative leaders who could actually be embarrassed.
In an age of term limits the House obviously needs help and a little history.
The Senate, Gov. Jeb Bush and all the legislative Democrats in both chambers scheduled no fundraisers in Tallahassee during the special session.
Nineteen House Republicans collected money at fundraisers staged in bars, restaurants and special interest headquarters within two blocks of the Capitol. Byrd was a sponsor of eight events.
Some days it was touch and go to get out of the Capitol in time to drop a few checks down the street.
Some lobbyists worried about being seen at the fundraisers after Bush and Senate President Jim King spoke out against the practice. Lobbyist Ronnie Book said he decided it wasn't worth the trouble. He'll use the U.S. Mail.
House Democrats tried to push through a rule to extend the ban to special sessions but were outvoted by the Republican majority. Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, has written a letter to Byrd asking him to consider changing the rules.
When Democrats forced the House to go on the record with their votes, Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, voted with the Democrats. He was alone in a House where few Republican members have dared oppose the speaker.
Asked about it later, Baxley said he was taught by former House Speaker Tom Feeney that fundraising is not appropriate during a session.
The House would be looking a lot better if anyone else had listened.
