Political donations to lawmakers swirl into dark holes
RV repair? Dry cleaning? State lawmakers have broad discretion with money from fundraising committees.
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published April 12, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Like dozens of Florida legislators, Rep. Randy Johnson benefited from a fundraising committee that supported his political activities.
The Citizens for Florida's Future raised $108,000. Johnson, a Republican from Celebration and one of the group's four founders, disclosed every dollar from car dealers, resort hotels, billboard companies and others. The money could have been kept secret because the committee is exempt from state disclosure laws.
Other lawmakers concealed their donors, some of whom gave as much as $50,000. Gov. Jeb Bush criticized the practice, and now an embarrassed Legislature is pushing for a law to compel disclosure of all contributors while allowing the year-round fundraising to continue.
But little attention has been paid to how the money is spent.
Legislators have hired political consultants, bought computers and cell phones and stayed in four-star hotels, all in the name of supporting candidates or causes in an effort to fuel their ambition for legislative leadership posts. Some examples:
Johnson's committee, formed to promote responsible government and limits on "unnecessary government spending," has spent $6,000 for vehicle repairs, $2,000 for a trailer at Lowe's, $1,300 for hauling equipment, $1,500 for welcome baskets and $200 for dry cleaning.
A committee controlled by Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, gave $36,000 to a political group linked to the home building industry, the Florida Freedom Council, for issue ads in local elections. The content, and the candidates, could not be determined. A lobbyist for the home building industry, Richard Gentry, said he could not recall which candidates benefited from the ads, but he said they were "positive." Pending legislation would ban committees from making such transfers.
A Democratic fund, Business for Better Government, moved $13,000 to another group, the Committee for Fair Representation, to promote an independent legislative redistricting commission. Both groups are controlled by Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Dania Beach, who said the money would help pay to gather voters' signatures for a ballot initiative.
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, repaid himself $20,346 last year in expenses from his fund, the Committee for Responsible Government. His expenses included food, travel, software and office equipment. The three biggest checks total $18,630, and were listed as "reimb. expenses."
Attorney Mark Herron, an election law expert, questioned the practice of lump-sum reimbursements to elected officials.
"I think it's outside the lines," Herron said. "But no enforcement has been brought and there's no definitive opinion from the Division of Elections."
Wayne Garcia, manager of Byrd's U.S. Senate campaign, said Byrd would have no comment on the expenditures.
"It is our position that he is not going to discuss the expenditures of the (committee), which have been legally and properly reported," Garcia said in an e-mail.
Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said he was surprised to discover that no case has clarified what expenses are allowed by committees controlled by legislators.
"Nobody has made a challenge, and forced somebody to explain why a particular expenditure was relevant," Lee said.
Florida is the only state that allows elected officials to control fundraising groups that originally were created to help trade groups with thousands of members avoid excessive record-keeping, House election experts say.
Known as committees of continuous existence, they are virtually unregulated. That is why CCEs became popular fundraising vehicles in recent years. Legislators can use the committees as soft-money machines and raise money in huge sums with no demand for disclosure.
The money is frequently used to help re-elect legislators who will support a lawmaker's bid for House speaker or Senate president.
Johnson has become an outspoken critic of soft-money fundraising by legislators and of transfers of large sums of money between committees, a practice he calls "washing" money.
"Let's be honest," Johnson told his colleagues at a recent hearing. "These committees have been obfuscated to the point where their purpose is just to get around, basically, the election laws."
Johnson and several allies formed Citizens for Florida's Future in 2000 to promote responsible government and lower taxes and push Johnson's bid for speaker. Johnson, 44, a Central Florida sports marketing executive and chairman of the House Finance and Tax Committee, is now running for an open Orlando-area Senate seat.
The fund's largest expenditure was $6,030 in two payments to repair a recreational vehicle last year. Financial reports show the money was paid to "L.D. Repair" in Kissimmee, but no business exists by that name.
The address in public records matches a single-family home in Kissimmee. The committee's treasurer says the report was wrong, that the money was spent to repair a vehicle at Lazy Days, an RV repair center near Tampa.
Johnson lived in a 600-square-foot motor coach, with washer, dryer and TV, at a Tallahassee RV campground during the 2003 legislative session. He declined to comment on the RV repairs.
"I can't talk about that," Johnson said.
He referred questions to a Winter Park accountant, Larry Herring, who did not respond to several phone messages but responded in writing to a letter sent by the St. Petersburg Times. Herring wrote that the money was used to repair a vehicle that was damaged while an unidentified person was "on committee business."
"The address used in the report was found in the telephone book and it was posted in CFFF's reporting software," Herring wrote. "We thought it was the correct address, but we failed to go back and change the address when we had the correct address."
He said the correct name was the Lazy Days Repair and Service Center in Seffner.
Less than 13 percent of the money raised by 22 leadership committees went directly to candidates, said Daniel Smith, a University of Florida political science professor who has analyzed the fundraising groups. One reason: the committees cannot give more than $500 directly to a candidate.
So committee money aided candidates indirectly, through political consultants.
Byrd's fund, the Committee for Responsible Government in Plant City, paid $56,000 to a consulting firm owned by Mike Corcoran, a lobbyist and Byrd's former aide.
Pruitt's fund, Floridians for a Brighter Future, has paid $107,000 to Enterprising Business Strategies, a political consulting firm owned by state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale. She said she was hired to bring order to the committee's financial records.
Pruitt's fund also paid $9,000 to Civic Action Group, a New Port Richey political consulting firm owned by former Sen. Jack Latvala of Palm Harbor.
"He calls me for advice," Latvala said.
Bogdanoff said legislators, like voters, are more concerned with where the money comes from than where it goes. She said political committees give political figures such as Pruitt a way to promote an agenda, such as his support for college scholarship and prepaid tuition programs.
"If you completely eliminate a vehicle for the average person to achieve a leadership position, it will only go to those who can afford to do so: the parties and the press," Bogdanoff said.
