Contrary to the governor's wishes, the GOP House members wish to protect secret donors.
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published October 2, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - One day after Gov. Jeb Bush called on state lawmakers to reveal all big money donations to fundraising groups they control, two Republican House members refused.
Rep. Donna Clarke of Sarasota and Rep. Stan Mayfield of Vero Beach said they won't disclose the names and occupations of donors despite criticism from the top Republican officeholder in the state.
Clarke, elected to the House three years ago, said disclosing the information violates her privacy.
"There are people in our society that want to know everything I do, every minute of the day, and ever dollar I have, and where it came from, just because I'm an elected official," Clarke said Wednesday. "I think we're entitled to a certain level of privacy, even though we're elected officials."
Clarke is one of more than two dozen Florida lawmakers who created fundraising committees that can collect donations of any size with little disclosure. Most of the lawmakers are using the money to campaign for House speaker or Senate president. A 1973 law allows the secrecy but was intended to ease paperwork requirements on groups with many members, mainly trade groups and labor unions.
Lawmakers have used the law to raise $3-million, mostly from special interest groups with a stake in legislative action. Most lawmakers have voluntarily identified the donors, but $1.1-million is untraceable.
Bush said Tuesday all the donors should be disclosed and favors changing law to require it.
House Democrats accused Bush of flip-flopping. They contrasted his demand for "total transparency" with his refusal to identify contributors to the Foundation for Florida's Future. Bush created the nonprofit group to maintain a public profile between his 1994 and 1998 campaigns for governor.
Clarke, 57, heads a fundraising group called Committee to Build Florida Leadership that raised $12,700. That's far less than most of the more than two dozen funds lawmakers control. Most of Clarke's contributions came in four donations of $2,500 each, an amount five times higher than the $500 limit on donations Clarke can accept to run for re-election.
The committee got seven secret donations in May and June of this year.
Mayfield, whose Committee for Responsible Leadership raised $22,800 before he abandoned a campaign for House speaker, said he favors full disclosure but some donors wrote checks believing they would remain anonymous. Two "gold members" of his committee wrote checks of $4,000 each.
Asked if he would disclose the donors, Mayfield, 47, said: "Probably not. For me, it's more of a fairness issue. Those are the rules we were playing by. Let's go fix the rules."
Mayfield said he was encouraged by Bush's call for more disclosure.
Clarke, Mayfield and 116 other House members voted two years ago to require disclosure. The bill (HB 273) called for disclosing names, addresses and occupations of donors.
The legislation passed the House early in the 2001 session, 118-0, and went to the Senate. The Senate Elections Committee approved it 10-0, but it languished in an appropriations subcommittee headed by Sen. Charlie Clary, R-Destin.
Two other House members whose committee contributions remain secret, Reps. Marco Rubio of Coral Gables and Gaston Cantens of Miami, said they would identify all contributors. And two others, Rep. Jeff Kottkamp of Cape Coral and Tim Ryan of Dania Beach, disclosed all of their funds' contributors immediately when asked Tuesday.
Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, by far the biggest recipient of secret money, identified who gave about $200,000, including $50,000 from the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, in response to a request by the St. Petersburg Times. But he hasn't said who gave about $275,000 in other donations.
Pruitt, who is campaigning across the state for the Bright Futures scholarship program, said Wednesday it would take him two and a half months to compile a list of the other donors.
