Senate President Jeff Atwater, who thus far has stayed relatively quiet in his bid for chief financial officer against Loranne Ausley, fired back against his Democratic opponent this week over allegations that he was not serious about ethics reform.
Ausley has been throwing shots at Atwater for the past month over his role in the Senate, specifically targeting him over the building of a new appeals courthouse in Tallahassee and for not following through with the states ethics law requiring that lawmakers audit lobbying disclosures.
But Atwater has now fought back, saying Ausley has no room to criticize him on ethics law because she tried to undo a central tenant of the 2005 gift ban law, the part prohibiting lobbyists from buying meals for legislators. Atwaters campaign called Ausley, Free Lunch Loranne, and a hypocrite.
With Ausley, sadly, it's empty rhetoric and free meals from special interests while the rest of us pay the price," said campaign spokesman Brian Hughes.
The former House member had sponsored legislation, HB 1423, in 2008 that would have allowed lobbyists to treat lawmakers to food and beverages, as long as it did not exceed $20. The legislation, however, went nowhere, and failed again in 2009 when introduced by Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, who succeeded Ausley in representing the Tallahassee-based district.
The 2005 law that outlawedthe buying of meals for legislators by lobbyists has been targeted by members of the Tallahassee legislative delegation, including Ausley, since its passage. Restaurant owners say the ban has hurt business in the capital city because lawmakers no longer take lunch or dinner meetings.
Part of the 2005 measure also requires lobbyists to turn in quarterly reports that state the dollar ranges earned for each of their clients. For example, a firm can report that a client paid them between $10,000 and $19,999, but does not have to report the exact amount.
Another requirement is that the Legislature audit those reports, but thus far lawmakers have been unable to generate enough interest from accounting firms to complete the project, and many firms have conflicts of interest and so cant take on the project. Lawmakers also balked at the potential price for the audit, anywhere from $750,000 to $1 million.
Ausley has directly faulted Atwater for the state's inability to complete the audits.
Kevin Cate, a spokesman for Ausley, said there was a big difference and that under Ausleys proposal there would have still been reporting of who was paying for whom. He also said it was aimed at allowing nonprofits and organizations like local chambers of commerce or civic organizations to hold a luncheon and invite a legislator without having to ask the lawmaker for cash.
Theres a huge difference, said Cate. What Jeff Atwater is doing is ignoring the law.
The exchange between the two campaigns has marked a relative beginning for the race to Nov. 2. The chief financial officer race gets little attention compared to the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial contests. This is only the second time Florida voters will cast a ballot for CFO, which is one of the three members of the Cabinet, along with agriculture commissioner and attorney general, who sit with the governor in overseeing many of the states executive branch functions.
The office of chief financial officer was created by a constitutional amendment in 1998 and Tom Gallagher was the first person to serve in the office, elected in 2002, but without opposition. The current CFO, Alex Sink, then went on to defeat Republican Tom Lee in the 2006 race.
A recent poll on the race showed the two candidates in a virtual tie. A Mason-Dixon poll released last week, with a margin of error of 4 percent, showed Atwater at 29 percent and Ausley at 27 percent, with nearly 40 percent of the voters undecided.
