For 14 months, from November 2014 through January 2016, casino interests plowed more than $3.2 million into political parties and the campaign war chests of leading Florida legislators, starting with Joe Negron, president designate of the Senate -- but including dozens of others. All in the hope they would get bills passed to expand gambling in Florida.
Recipients' names and monies paid into PACs and to political parties are part of the public record. Admittedly, the information isn't always an easy find, especially in the year before an election when new PACs sprout like mushrooms.
Stakes were high. Thirty-one gaming entities lavished cash on Florida legislators, most of them committee leaders or members of committees charged with deciding their fate. Here's the list of contributors, including the total they bestowed on lawmakers:
- Fontainbleu Hilton Resort Hotel ......................$573,000.00
- Seminole Tribe of Florida D/B/A Seminole Gaming ...... 391,000.00
- Hartman & Tyner Inc. ................................. 372,500.00
- Resorts World Miami, LLc ............................. 265,700.00
- Sheldon G. Adelson ................................... 250,000.00
- West Flagler Associates LTD .......................... 237,500.00
- Palm Beach Kennel Club ............................... 198,067.28
- Isle of Capri Casinos INC ............................ 151,242.50
- Calder Race Course/A Churchill Downs Company ......... 121,000.00
- Jacksonville Kennel Club ............................. 113,000.00
- Delaware North Companies INC .......................... 95,500.00
- Ocala Breeders Sales Co. INC .......................... 85,000.00
- Florida Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Assoc. PAC ..... 78,000.00
- Derby Lane St. Petersburg Kennel Club ................. 54,500.00
- Melbourne Greyhound Park LLC .......................... 32,500.00
- Draftkings INC ........................................ 30,000.00
- Fanduel INC ........................................... 26,000.00
- Gulfstream Park Racing Association INC ................ 26,000.00
- Florida Greyhound Association INC ..................... 23,500.00
- SSE Gaming LLC ........................................ 6,576.00
- Boyd Gaming Corp ...................................... 5,000.00
- Florida Standardbred Breeders & Owners Assoc .......... 4,000.00
- Hazel Park Harness Raceway ............................ 2,000.00
- Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room .............. 2,000.00
- Shoma Development LLC ................................. 2,000,00
- Washington County Kennel Club Inc ..................... 1,000.00
- Dania Entertainment Center LLC ........................ 1,000.00
- Coastal Florida Holdings LLC .......................... 1,000.00
- Gaekwad Manisha ....................................... 1,000.00
- Sarasota Kennel Club .................................. 1,000.00
- Casino Miami .......................................... 929.06
Negron, R-Stuart, is the biggest gaming profiteer among legislators. He's the money king. His leadership committees picked up more than $150,000, including $60,000 from the Fontainbleu Resort; $25,000 from Hartman & Tyner (Racing Corp. of West Virginia DBA Mardi Gras Casino); $10,000 from Delaware North (a Buffalo, NY-based casino food service company); $10,000 from Calder Race Cource (also known as Churchill Downs); $10,000 from Palm Beach Kennel Club; $5,000 from the Seminole Tribe of Florida; $5,000 from Boyd Gaming; $2,500 from West Flagler Associates; and $2,500 from Southwest Florida Enterprises Inc. (DBA Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Racing & Poker).
Sen. Rob Bradley, Regulated Industries chairman, got into the weeds early on the gaming bill. That was his job -- to be point guy in the Senate on gambling. Tough days, tough nights but great rewards for the Fleming Island Republican. Virtually every casino interest scrambling for a piece of the Florida action drenched his leadership committee in gold: $30,000 from Hartman & Tyner; $25,000 from the Fontainbleu; $15,000 from West Flagler Associates; $7,000 from the Isle of Capri; $5,000 each from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Palm Beach Kennel Club, Resorts World, Delaware North, Ocala Breeders Sales and Florida Breeders and Thoroughbred Owners; $2,500 from Derby Lane St. Petersburg Kennel Club; and $1,000 each from Hazel Park Harness Raceway, Dania Entertainment Center and Coastal Florida Holdings.
But Negron strolled in and used his clout to rewrite Bradley's gaming bill. Negron's version made it more about giving casino and track owners what they wanted and where they wanted it, than about securing the Seminoles' $3.1 billion agreement over the next seven years.
Negron's Senate bill virtually mandates decoupling, but then the horse racing industry -- all except Thoroughbred breeders -- didn't pay enough to play anyway. A $4,000 bribe doesn't get you far in today's Florida Capitol. The Thoroughbred folks ponied up a little (pun intended), and in each gambling bill they were promised no immediate decoupling -- heck, even increased purse incentives. Not that their money bought special favors, that would be illegal ...
The deal struck by Gov. Rick Scott ($20,000 from Resorts World Miami; $10,000 from Hartman & Tyner DBA Isle of Capri Casinos; and $5,000 Delaware North Companies) , with Bradley on board, preserved the tribe’s right to offer blackjack and other house-banked card games at all of its casinos, two more than those covered under the previous compact that expired in July. It also granted two new slots licenses, one at Palm Beach Kennel Club, and another reserved for the still-unknown venue in Miami-Dade County.
But Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater ($10,000 from Calder Race Course; $10,000 from Palm Beach Kennel Club; $7,500 from Capri Casinos Inc.; SSE Gaming Inc., $6,576; $5,000 from Ocala Breeders Sales Co.; $2,500 from Jacksonville Kennel Club; and $1,200 from Resorts World Miami), said something interesting after Scott's deal was done and dusted. “That doesn’t make sense,” he said of the Scott deal, since voters from five other counties have already approved slot machines at local pari-mutuel sites, yet came up empty in the proposal.
Latvala is chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development. He also is a force on the Appropriations and Regulated Industries committees -- which makes him an important wheel to grease.
As House Regulatory Affairs chairman who sponsored the gaming legislation in the House, Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, got his share of the prize money. But in the end he was upstaged by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach.
Gaetz, who hopes he'll be headed to the Senate later in the year, gutted Diaz's original House bill, added casinos, decoupled everything in sight and left it to the Seminoles to fight their own battles with competition they don't want. Gaetz is House Finance and Tax Committee chair. He sits on the Regulatory Affairs Committee, too. And he has swagger to burn. Casinos probably should have cut him a bigger piece of the pie. Here's what he received, mostly put into his Economic Freedom Foundation: $10,000 from Hartman & Tyner; $7,500 from Resorts World Miami; $5,000 each from the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Calder Race Course; $2,500 each from Florida Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners and Derby Lane St. Petersburg Kennel Club; and $1,000 each from Fontainbleu and Washington County Kennel Club.
Whether by design or over-confidence, Gaetz's bill is bold but probably doomed. He left the $3 billion Seminole Compact in the dust.
Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, Appropriations chair, picked up thousands himself in a handful of checks, notably $40,000 from Fontainbleu, a Miami destination resort wannabe that for now bet big and came away empty. Not so much for Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who sits on Appropriations, was instrumental in negotiating the first Seminole Compact with Gov. Charlie Crist, and probably knows more about the process side of Florida gaming than anyone else in the Legislature. Galvano got $25,000 from the Fontainbleu.
More surprising names you'll see on the greased-palms list are a pair of Democrats -- Rep. Jared Moskowitz and senator-shoo-in Lauren Book.
Book hasn't been elected yet, but it's a mere formality. A sexual abuse victim who founded the hugely successful nonprofit Lauren’s Kids, 30-year-old Book began 2016 with about $1.2 million in on-hand cash across her campaign and committee. That would include the $10,000 from West Flagler Associates, the $2,500 Hartman & Tyner gave to her PAC, Leadership for Broward, plus another $2,000 check from H&T made out to her, $2,000 from Shoma Development LLC, and $1,000 from Derby Lane Kennel Club of St. Petersburg. Her father, top Florida lobbyist Ron Book, represents several gaming interests with which he was involved this session.
Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, called "the animal guy" by many of his colleagues in the House, has been leading the charge in favor of decoupling for the last five-or-so years. "With animal issues I get attention and support in a Republican Legislature," he says.
But Moskowitz's critics in Broward County -- for example veterinarian aide Sandy Blaylock -- call him "a sham." He's worried about a couple of dead greyhounds every year when the Broward animal shelter is killing tens of thousands of unwanted pets. And where is he? Where are the bills to help the people he represents?
Regardless, casinos and track owners looking to expand slots smile warmly on Jared Moskowitz. Even without a part to play in the gaming issue other than his vote in the House, he received $31,000 from Hartman & Tyner, $12,500 from West Flagler Associates, $3,000 from Ocala Breeders Sales Co. Inc., $2,500 from Isle of Capri Casinos, $2,000 from Resorts World Miami and $1,000 from Palm Beach Kennel Club.
Did any of the recipients turn the money back? I haven't found any evidence of that yet.
All this is legal, of course. As long as no one can prove you're selling your vote, as a legislator you're free to take donations and fatten your committee coffers for that run at higher office when the time comes. It's the way things work. But, boy, it sure looks and feels very bad.
Remember, too, gambling is only one issue. At least a third of the bills that come before the Legislature involve issues where there's money to be made -- and thus, donations. Go ahead and call them bribes, because that's what they are.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
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