Bud Chiles Goes After Special Interests

Independent gubernatorial candidate Bud Chiles, looking to catch up with Democratic nominee state CFO Alex Sink and Republican candidate Rick Scott, ripped into interest groups on Thursday morning as the campaign trail took him to Tampa. Standing in front of an office which is the address of more than 60 current or defunct political organizations, Chiles called for more transparency for PACs, CCEs and 527 groups.

Our campaign finance rules have essentially legalized money laundering, said Chiles. Im a strong believer in free speech, but I also believe Floridians have a right to know who is speaking.

Chiles said, if elected, he would back a law requiring every person or group who donated more than $500 to a political organization to be listed in every ad the organization ran -- a cumbersome idea, to say the least, for a 30-second TV commercial or a flyer sent in the mail.

This is a fair, commonsense remedy that promotes political speech because it provides more information to voters, said Chiles.

Chiles contrasted financial backers of political organizations unfavorably to the Founding Fathers.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence used their real names, even knowing full well that it might cost them their lives, said Chiles. I believe they would be appalled to see todays politicians hiding behind front groups simply to avoid public scrutiny.

Maybe not, Bud.

While John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison did not sign the Declaration of Independence, they did write a large number of essays backing the proposed Constitution -- and signed it Publius. It was actually quite common for politicians not to have their names on documents and the practice went on for decades after the Declaration. My own personal favorite battle of anonymous politicians took place back in 1826 when President John Quincy Adams used the name Patrick Henry to bash his vice president John C. Calhoun on the way he presided over the U.S. Senate. Calhoun responded as Onslow and the nation was treated to the spectacle of its two top leaders arguing under fake names.