Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, will now have greater say in funding the campaigns of their fellow legislators, thanks to a vote Thursday to override the veto of former Gov. Charlie Crist.
Crist vetoed the measure last year, but supporters of the law wanted to instill greater transparency in campaign funds. Republicans, reeling from the recent embezzlement scandal involving former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer, especially wanted to override the veto to avoid such blushes in the future.
What happened was we had a rogue chairman. This bill would prevent that because you would know where those dollars went, said Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.
The law allows legislative leaders to set up their own campaign funds, which lets donors see where, how, and in which campaigns their contributions are used. While supporters of the law say it leads to greater transparency, opponents have scoffed at the claim, saying that because leadership fund contributions arent required to be reported in 10 days as current contributions are, it will lead to greater campaign fund shenanigans.
Thats not increasing transparency, thats taking it away, said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, speaking in opposition of the bill, even though the law gives her more control over campaign funds as Minority Leader in the Senate.
Other legislators also questioned the timing of the veto override, saying that freshmen legislators did not get the opportunity to have a say in the creation of the law.
Our concern is the timing of it. We have so many new members that didnt have a chance to vet this bill, said Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale.
Some have raised eyebrows in Haridopolos direction over the law, as it gives him greater sway over the campaigns of fellow legislators and increases his ability to raise money at a time when hes gearing up to do battle with other GOP members in what is expected to be a crowded race for the U.S. Senate Republican primary in 2012.
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fort Myers, is expected to announce his candidacy for Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelsons seat Friday. His father, U.S. Sen. Connie Mack III, held the seat before Nelson won it in 2000 when he retired.
In a press conference after the vote, Haridopolos refused to comment on the Senate race, saying hes focused on the current legislative session. He did state that while the new law gives him greater power in theory, hes delegated the running of Senate campaigns to Gaetz, who is slated to be the next Senate president.
Rich also took the opportunity to chide Republicans for attempting to reduce the political speech of unions while allowing businesses to flood campaign coffers. Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have held that campaign contributions are akin to political speech, protected as free speech under the Constitution. The new law allows for unlimited total amounts to be collected for campaigns, but does not alter the caps for individual contributions.
Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, is sponsoring a bill that would eliminate the practice of automatic union dues deduction for government workers, and require annual approval of dues to be used for political purposes. Thrasher said his bill merely removes government from doing the dues-collecting work unions should be doing, and doesnt limit their political speech.
Im not sure that the taxpayers of Florida want us to be in the business of collecting union dues, weve got enough other things we need to be doing, Thrasher said.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
