Orlando Sentinel Aaron Deslatte column

Aaron Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel

By Aaron Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

March 14--TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's campaign-finance reform that passed last session is still shaking out in the political playing field.

The law raised the contribution limit from $500 for legislative candidates to $1,000, and to $3,000 in races for governor and Cabinet posts. It also eliminated one kind of political slush fund lawmakers and candidates had used to raise unlimited dollars from wealthy donors.

So far this year, those changes have had largely symbolic effects.

This year, of the 11,400 donors to House and Senate candidates, the average contribution remains $404, and only about 16 percent of those donors gave $1,000 or more. For statewide candidates, almost 15 percent of the 7,230 contributors gave $1,000 or more. Where this change will have an effect is closer to the election, when campaigns can milk donors who would have previously been maxed out.

The elimination of slush funds had little effect, either, because lawmakers simply created a different kind of fund and transferred their dollars into new bank accounts.

One glaring loophole that has had an effect is not requiring that state political parties and "leadership funds" disclose as quickly which companies and causes were filling their coffers. This has been a blow to transparency.

The law required candidates and interest-groups to start filing monthly reports, but the state parties and other funds controlled by legislative leaders don't have to do that. So donors can funnel money through them if they want to avoid disclosing their funding as quickly.

As a result, the deadline for filing February campaign reports last week allows us to see that Southern Wine and Spirits of Florida gave $50,000 to Gov. Rick Scott's "Let's Get to Work" political committee last month. Centene, the Medicaid managed-care company, gave $25,000 to Scott's fund. And Koch Industries wrote $12,500 in checks to state candidates.

But that doesn't tell us how much money flooded into the state Republican and Democratic party coffers in the weeks ahead of the legislative session, when companies, interests and wealthy donors will want maximum sway. What we do see from February data is that party transfers make up one of the biggest chunks of cash being moved from one place to another.

Candidates, their committees and interest groups still have to disclose the party money they received. For instance, the Republican Party of Florida sent $287,000 to candidates, while the state Democratic Party shifted $138,857 to its pols.

We can see Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam's "Sunshine State Leadership Project" ad-buying committee collected $41,000 from the Florida Chamber of Commerce last month, $25,000 from Wal-Mart Inc. and $10,000 from developer and Everglades leaseholder A Duda & Sons Inc.

We can also see Walt Disney gave $250,000 to "Florida Jobs," which later shifted money to Putnam, and Publix Supermarkets gave $100,000 to the chamber group.

As we already reported, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist's biggest check for the month was $300,000 from Steve Mostyn, a Houston trial lawyer famous for taking on insurance companies over hurricane claims who loaned his jet to Crist's campaign. He also banked $100,000 from Pensacola trial lawyer Fred Levin's firm, $50,000 from Coral Gables philanthropist and medical-marijuana supporter Barbara Stiefel, and $50,000 from an energy company out of South Florida called F9 Investments.