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Watchdog's secrecy fuels its opposition
By Times Staff
Published February 12, 2006
It sure would be ironic if Common Cause's efforts to transform Florida's redistricting system into a less partisan system went down to defeat because voters didn't trust the watchdog group's campaign financing methods. But clearly Republican opponents of the independent redistricting commission concept are reading the same talking points about Common Cause's refusal to reveal who contributed the millions that Common Cause has spent trying to put the proposal on the Florida ballot.
While lawyers last week argued before the Florida Supreme Court over whether the wording of the initiative met legal requirements to get on the ballot, state GOP chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan seized on a St. Petersburg Times editorial agreeing with Jeb Bush that Common Cause should disclose its donors.
"For years, Common Cause has been the self-proclaimed "government watchdog' calling on lawmakers and candidates to support their mantra of transparency - but it seems that all of that was just lip service," Jordan said. "It is now Common Cause that is in the hot seat for blatant secrecy, and they are remaining unusually quiet."
DIVISIVE ENDORSEMENT? When local Republican leaders in Broward County followed the lead of the counterparts in Pinellas and Pasco and endorsed Attorney General Charlie Crist over Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, an uproar ensued. Gallagher's Broward backers are livid over the move, which was not entirely unexpected because Crist's campaign manager, George LeMieux, is a former chairman of the Broward GOP.
"I think it's divisive," said former state party chairman Al Cardenas, a lobbyist and backer of Gallagher's. "They (party activists) are really not serving their candidate as well as they think they are." The end result, the ex-chairman said, will be a "unity challenge" within the party ranks that could make it harder for Republicans to be cohesive come November.
The furor in Broward reached the point where Gallagher himself weighed in on Friday: "We must put the Republican Party's best interests above our own. The Republican Party of Florida made it clear that local Republican executive committees should not endorse candidates to avoid just this type of situation," he said in a statement. "I respect those Broward REC members who chose to endorse my opponent. Just because I am not seeking their endorsement does not mean I will stop working to earn their vote and the vote of every Florida Republican."
ABORTION POLITICS: Both Republican gubernatorial candidates applauded a federal court's decision Friday upholding Florida's law requiring parents be notified when their children seek abortions.
Attorney General Crist noted that his office defended the 2005 law, while Gallagher said he also wants Florida to require a 24-hour waiting period for seeking an abortion.
Why jump on that particular restriction? Perhaps because as a state senator in 1995, Crist cast a decisive vote killing such a measure. Given all the rhetoric, voters could almost forget that Crist and Gallagher used to describe themselves as abortion rights advocates.
COURTING JOAN: The Rod Smith Democratic gubernatorial campaign announced last week Joan Joseph as its new statewide volunteer coordinator. Joseph, a veteran New York political organizer who moved to Palm Beach County nearly a decade ago, was heavily recruited by every Democrat, and initially had been leaning toward going with her old friend Scott Maddox. She speaks highly of Democratic rival Jim Davis , but told us recently that "it was the way they individually approached me" that swung her to Smith.
Davis "approached me with a power trip" saying that his campaign was her best assurance of maintaining her influence in Democratic politics. And Smith? "He said to me, "Joan, you have to make whatever decision is best for you, but when I win this primary you will be my first call."' That sold her.
NEW CAMPAIGN DIGS: The Jim Davis gubernatorial campaign has moved from Westshore Boulevard to new a new headquarters with twice the space. It's now at the corner of Grace Street and Himes Avenue, south of Interstate 275.
Meanwhile senior staff members of the Rod Smith campaign have started working out of a Broward campaign office in Plantation. Those are campaign manager Paul Neaville, political director Todd Wilder, communications director David Kochman, three finance staffers and two other political staffers.
--Adam C. Smith and Steve Bousquet contributed to this week's Buzz. For more political news, check www.sptimes.com/blogs/buzz/
[Last modified February 12, 2006, 00:25:19]
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