A pro-sales tax activist says the mailing this week conceals its true sponsor, a Hillsborough County antitax political heavyweight.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published March 6, 2004
Jennifer Seney, an environmental activist and a leader of the pro-sales tax group Preserve Pasco!, has filed two elections complaints against the author of an antitax mailing that went to scores of Pasco voters this week.
She accuses Wesley Chapel resident Larry Toll of skirting the campaign finance laws to conceal the true sponsor of his three-page mailer: Ralph Hughes, an antitax political heavyweight in Hillsborough County. Toll is the human resources director for one of Hughes' companies, Cast-Crete Corp. of Tampa.
The mailing included a short letter from Toll and photocopies of two newspaper columns questioning the 1-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax proposal - but no disclaimer that it was a paid political advertisement, and nothing saying who paid for it.
The postage was paid with a bulk mailing permit owned by F.E.C.P., or Florida Engineered Construction Products Corp., the Hughes' parent company of Cast-Crete. But because the mailing did not come through a political action committee, there are no campaign finance records showing who paid for it.
"That mailing could be as large as 60,000, 70,000 or 80,000 . . . with no indication of the fact it's being paid for by an out-of-county political powerbroker from Hillsborough," Seney said. "That got up my nose more than anything else."
On Friday, Seney mailed two complaints about Toll to the State Elections Commission. If the agency concludes there were "willful violations" of the law, Toll could face up to $1,000 in fines per count.
The first complaint centers on the lack of a disclaimer on the mailing as a paid political advertisement.
The second complaint alleges that Toll is working with another entity - namely, his employer - to spread a political message. If the two are spending more than $500, they must register as a political action committee and submit campaign finance reports, Seney said.
Toll is out of the state and could not be reached Friday for comment. Hughes did not return calls for comment.
Seney also questioned whether the Citizens Against the Penny for Pasco, a political action committee headed by Ann Bunting, participated in the mailing.
"If I had done a mailer, it would have been a lot stiffer than the two newspaper articles that went out," Bunting added.
Bunting dismissed the complaints as a publicity ploy in the final days before the Tuesday election.
If approved by voters, the Penny for Pasco would raise $437-million over 10 years to build and expand schools, improve roads, buy land for conservation and pay for various city projects.
- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com
