Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By STEVE BOUSQUET, Times Staff WriterThe group failed to identify paid petition circulators in its successful drive to kill a constitutional amendment, the Elections Commission rules.
TALLAHASSEE - A political group that led last year's successful drive to strip high-speed rail from the state Constitution was fined $10,000 Thursday by the Florida Elections Commission.
Derail the Bullet Train, or DEBT, was fined for failing to disclose names and addresses of paid petition circulators on forms it submitted in 65 of 67 counties. DEBT's chairman was Tom Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer and a Republican candidate for governor.
DEBT launched its repeal effort in March 2004. Gallagher and Gov. Jeb Bush appeared at a news conference to denounce the bullet train as a costly boondoggle, and Gallagher's office issued news releases emphasizing his support for abolishing the train.
Gallagher's office referred questions about Thursday's fine to Mark Mills, a DEBT spokesman.
"We didn't settle this for any other reason than expediency - to get it over with - not because we agree with the commission's conclusions," Mills said.
Mills cited a decision by Leon Circuit Judge Kevin Davey who ruled in December 2004 that a proposed regulation requiring the names and addresses of petition circulators was not valid.
With large contributions from Anheuser-Busch, Universal Studios and the Villages, a large retirement complex near Ocala, DEBT raised $2.1-million. More than half of that money was paid to ARNO Political Consultants, a California firm that specializes in collecting voters' signatures on initiative petitions.
DEBT and the commission agreed in a written order that the violations were willful but "were not knowingly committed."
The commission voted 6-0 to impose the $10,000 fine. The order was signed by DEBT attorney John French. He called the elections commission "nothing but agents of the vindictiveness of the person who was on the losing side."
"The bottom line is, this thing is over," French said. "Why spend four or five times as much in legal fees when we can put it behind us?"
Lakeland businessman C.C. "Doc" Dockery, who led the 2000 campaign to put the high-speed train in the Constitution, filed the complaint.
"That's good news," Dockery said of the fine. "They recognized they did something bad, but I'm not sure it means anything other than "Shame on you.' "
He said he doubted the fine would ever be paid because DEBT has disbanded.
"It will be paid," DEBT spokesman Mills said. "I don't know by whom, but someone is going to pay. It has to be paid."
DEBT dissolved after collecting enough signatures to get the repeal proposal on the 2004 ballot, which passed by a 2-to-1 ratio. The committee's unspent money was transferred to a different political committee, Floridians for Responsible Spending.
In another case, the commission fined a political group, People for Fairness and Equality, $1,000 for not listing its address on mail it sent out in the 2004 election against Ron Saunders, a Democratic Senate candidate in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. The group was an electioneering communication organization financed by sugar growers and other Florida business interests.
The commission also voted to dismiss a complaint that accused the 2002 Democratic candidate for governor, Bill McBride, of illegally collaborating on nearly $2-million worth of TV ads in his campaign. Neither side admitted wrongdoing in the case.
Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.