Sen. Tom Lee says House Speaker Johnnie Byrd's plan to limit political contributions will not stop the money flow.
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published March 25, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - A move by House Speaker Johnnie Byrd to limit the size of contributions to legislative funding groups is dead because of opposition by a powerful senator.
Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, the sponsor of a Senate campaign finance bill, said he opposes putting contribution limits only on fundraising groups known as committees of continuous existence.
Unless the Legislature imposes the same contribution limit on political parties and other fundraising groups, Lee said, big money will simply be redirected elsewhere.
"On the surface, it sounds like good government," Lee said. "But it's an illusion."
Byrd proposed a $1,000 cap. A House committee lowered the cap to $500, the same as the limit on lawmakers' election funds. Byrd told House members two weeks ago there is "too much money in the wrong places."
The House and Senate have reached a consensus on the need to reveal the names of big-money donors to the groups.
The Senate bill (SB 2346) requires disclosure of all donors, and places restrictions on so-called "electioneering" ads by groups seeking to influence an election.
In recent years, more than two dozen legislators, including Lee and Byrd, formed committees to raise money to advance their rise to power. Some donations have been as large as $50,000 and many were secret until the St. Petersburg Times and other newspapers requested the donors' names last fall.
With Lee rapidly rising in power as the incoming Senate president, he has quickly raised $606,000 for a fund called Floridians United for a Stronger Tomorrow. Lee is the only Florida legislator with a CCE who quickly discloses all contributions on a Web site, www.flust.com
