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Lee lugs war chest, talks reform

The campaign of the Senate president can draw on soft money like that he rails against.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published January 22, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - To his allies, Senate President Tom Lee is a reformer, determined to clean up a system dominated by powerful moneyed interests.

To his critics, he's sanctimonious at best and a hypocrite a t worst, a politician who is skillful at raising the same unrestricted corporate "soft money" he rails against.

These two views of Lee are colliding with renewed intensity in the Capitol, on the campaign trail and in the political blogosphere. As Lee condemns big money in politics, he's also collecting millions for his first statewide campaign. The 44-year-old Republican from east Hillsborough is running for chief financial officer, one of the most powerful jobs in state government.

He also is beginning the second half of his two-year Senate presidency by again targeting the issue of special interest influence in Tallahassee.

His new target is the money itself, though he has given few specifics as to how he would curb the power of special interest donations that he says threaten the Legislature's independence.

"People who believe that I might not be interested in wading into those shark-infested waters, because they might, in fact, impact me, grotesquely underestimate my veracity for reforming this government," Lee told reporters at a recent press conference.

When he became Senate president, Lee used his new authority to demand that legislators use Internet Web sites to promptly publish contributions to the soft money accounts they control. He pushed for a law requiring lobbyists to disclose their fees, which went into effect Jan. 1 as part of the same bill that banned lobbyists from giving gifts to lawmakers.

But the home builder from Valrico made a decision three years ago that has, at least to some, undermined his claim to the moral high ground in the debate over special interest money.

Lee created a special account, known in campaign-finance parlance as a 527 for the clause in the federal tax code that permits the accounts, so he could raise money to protect fellow Senate Republicans from political attacks.

The fund, Floridians Uniting for a Stronger Tomorrow, was a soft money magnet, drawing $1.1-million from health maintenance organizations, insurance companies, racetracks, teacher unions and others.

But the attacks against the GOP majority never materialized. Now the money sits in the bank unspent, and Lee has inflamed his critics by saying he might consider using the money in his CFO race.

"I'm going to avail myself of the tools that are legal under Florida law in an election," he said. "I realize the cynicism out there. Being critical, yet partaking, plays right into the hand of that cynicism."

Nonetheless, he said, "I want to be competitive."

Lee also has raised another $937,000 for his CFO campaign in a typical campaign account, for which contributions are limited to $500.

Lee's refusal to close down his 527 account is "outrageous," said Lee's Republican primary opponent, Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration.

"I'm playing against someone who's raising money in $100,000 increments," Johnson said. "It's depressing."

Johnson sent two letters to Lee in recent months, calling on him to support a change in campaign law to prevent diverting 527 money to a campaign. Lee has not responded.

"He says he wants election reform," Johnson said. "He had an opportunity, and he refused to make it happen."

Lee refuses to return the money, which he likens to "unilateral disarmament," as long as his opponents could benefit from 527s later in the campaign.

"I'm not taking a knife to a gunfight," Lee said.

Ben Wilcox of Common Cause, a critic of special interest influence, understands Lee's position.

"He has demonstrated himself in the past not to be a real insider, and is someone who I believe is sincere about trying to bring about some reform," Wilcox said. "It's rare that candidates will do that, and rarer still are the ones who go on to win."

For much of the past five years, it has seemed that Lee has been raising money while criticizing the practice at the same time.

After barnstorming the state, raising $7-million for a fund that secured his Senate presidency, Lee gave a Senate speech in 2004 in which he deplored "the power and arrogance of special interests."

He also created a charity, the Senator Tom Lee Foundation, that has raised nearly $500,000, with more than half donated by people or groups with ties to Tallahassee.

In addition, he's one of three founders of another 527, Partnership for Economic Freedom, which has raised $183,750.

Lee said the group exists mainly to benefit the political aims of his successor as Senate president, Ken Pruitt of Port St. Lucie.

Lee denied directly soliciting money from lobbyists. Rather, he said, employees at the Republican Party of Florida often make calls.

Lobbyist Brian Ballard, who is backing Lee for CFO, said he has received those calls, often seeking help for a Senate "victory fund." Though Lee may not have had his hand out, Ballard said, the message was clear that lobbyists were expected to ante up.

"It's a convenient rationalization so you don't appear to be in bed with the people you're in bed with," Ballard said. "If I'm just driving the getaway car, I'm still involved with the crime."

Lee is not the first Florida politician to push a populist message while taking lobbyists' money. Democrat Lawton Chiles was elected governor while capping contributions at $100, though his campaign fundraisers aggressively "bundled" donations from law partners, co-workers and relatives.

Running for statewide office is expensive, and Lee has by now worn out his welcome with some of the lobbyists who are important to financing campaigns. Even home builders, who would be considered his natural allies, view him with growing disdain.

Wayne Bertsch, political affairs director of the Florida Home Builders Association, urged Lee to return the $1.1-million, including $20,000 from the Florida Home Builders PAC. "We sure could use the money to help elect some other folks to the Legislature," Bertsch said. "But he has not been forthcoming."

"I get a kick out of these guys who come into office," Bertsch said. "After a term or two, they've decided they're going to walk on a higher ground, and make us look like the bad guys. If these guys really want to walk a higher ground, don't take our money."

Writing in Florida Insider, an online political newsletter, Gary Reese said Lee faces a "monumental choice: Does he spend the fat sum of soft money accumulated in his 527 account, in order to buy the statewide name recognition he doesn't now have? Or does he adhere to the lofty ethical standards he has championed(?)"

It's a question that, so far, Lee has not answered.

"I've been around the culture of the inner sanctum of Tallahassee. I know how it poisons your thinking," Lee said. "If the moral of the story is that you can't take on the system without the system destroying you, we will not soon see another official take it on."

Lee wants to win the CFO race. But on that subject, too, he is anything but the typical candidate. "I'm not going to contrive myself into something I'm not, in order to be successful," Lee said. "I don't have that kind of passion to succeed in politics."

-- Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.

[Last modified January 23, 2006, 00:59:12]