Atwater's Retail Federation bundling...

...is something else. Check out State Sen. Jeff Atwater's 4th quarter campaign donations and you'll see $500 contributions from the FRF General Ratailers PAC, the FRF Grocery Council PAC, the FRF Home Furnishings PAC, the FRF Merchants PAC, the FRF Pharmacy Council PAC, the FRF Quick Service Restaurant PAC, FRF Retailers & Merchants PAC, the FRF Specialty Retailers PAC - eight CCEs that share the same address as the Florida Retail Federation.

Maybe it's time we stop pretending Florida caps campaign contributions?

Comments

[Mabel]

Jeff is a Republican and he has good genes. Jeff's great-grandfather, Napoleon Broward, was Florida Governor in the early 1900s. Jeff deserves tribute. He is Florida royalty not like these upstart Yankees that come down here.

Since when is this worthy of posting? Slow Day I Guess...
There are many grps that bundle money and have doz of PAC/CCE's and both R's and D's benefit from those contributions. Of course they would ALL love to be acknowledged in a similar manner- this is the kind of PR special interest grps love....

Hope he enjoys counting that money.
Too bad he wont be Senate President

www.skipcampbell.com

Home Builders were on the cutting edge of this back in 1998. There bundling went so far that they were dragged in front of the Elections Commission on charges of money laundering.

All in all, legislators should end the shell game and allow for unlimited contributions, but require 24 hour reporting on both the giver and recipient. The days of distributing money to different groups, washing it and then collecting under different names needs to end.

At least then we will know who is for sale and for how much!

Home Builders were on the cutting edge of this back in 1998. There bundling went so far that they were dragged in front of the Elections Commission on charges of money laundering.

All in all, legislators should end the shell game and allow for unlimited contributions, but require 24 hour reporting on both the giver and recipient. The days of distributing money to different groups, washing it and then collecting under different names needs to end.

At least then we will know who is for sale and for how much!

I think it is time we stop pretending that caps on campaign contributions are going to be effective at reducing the power of money in politics. All the caps do is shift power from individuals or companies that can write $10,000 checks to those who can network, i.e. bundlers. Either way we have created a system that concentrates power and influence in the hands of a small group of people. The only way to solve the problem is to move toward a fully publicly financed campaign system, period.

http://districtofflorida.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/public-financing/

Alex Villanlobos must be laughing himself to sleep at night

[Bill]

We stopped pretending there are contribution caps a long time ago!

The 1 million dollars raised by Atwater for a state Senate race borders on obscene.

The only people who can afford to get elected to office are those that have connections to lobbyists and businesses that can bundle $500 contributions on ever larger and larger groups.

Our campaign laws are a joke - and so is Atwater.

Bill sounds bitter. I don't hear you griping about campaign finance laws that allow Hillary Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama from collecting checks for the general election in 2008 now.

maybe it is time the media accepts that their job is to REPORT where the contributions come from and where they go then let us decide what importance to place upon it. That's what the law allows by being so transparent. Itr actually assumes people can make up their own minds. Crazy.

[cynical idealist]

Bosquet still has not learned lobbyists and the money we dole out are not "the" problem in politics.

The problem is the failure of "Joe Lunchbucket" to particpate in the political and legislative processes.

But, since trashing lobbyists and campaign contriubtions is more sexy and sells papers, Steve and his brethern will never let go of the issue.

If "Joe Lunchbucket" participated the way the Founding Fathers envisioned, lobbyists would no longer be necessary.

So...when push comes to shove, the media should be blamed for failing to educate the populace about the importance of political involvement; because, goodness knows, as a lobbyist, I try to educate my group about it...

[terminator]

cynical idealist:
that is merely an oversimplification if I ever heard one.

we have plenty of Joe Lunchbuckets who contribute and are involved with our union.

what this exemplifies is how many politicians are bought and paid for by special interests such as in this case with the retail federation.

usually you can look at campaign contributions and see who's paying the bills and which way the legislator, commissioner, school board member will vote based on who's buttering their bread.

this is what's turned off Joe Lunchbuckets who have become disgusted, alienated and then disenfranchised.

we need some serious campaign finance reform in DC and Tally lest our Democracy fail us and we turn into a dictatorship of multi-national corporations.

the tide is turning. the question is: will it turn in time to save us from the greed and corruption that has permeated our society over the past several decades?

the looming national recession and Florida's economic malaise can be directly attributed to the "sell out to the highest bidder" type mentality.

I say "off with their heads". time to bring out the pitchforks and torches boys.

time to terminate the corrupt capitalists/politicians who aide and abet them and pluck their remains like the turkey vultures that feast on roadside carcasses!

The last comment was deleted. Are you going to close comments to this entry soon? Looks like someone is afraid of what will be said on this entry.

[Publius]

Deleted because some would rather control the debate than have full and free political debate. The Constitution does say Congress shall make no law--but then let us career politician and entrenched bureaucrats change that language and lets regulate it so the if anyone dares says something, off to jail you go. So much for free speech.

[The Bill of Rights]

Are you all aware that when the ratification of the constitution, and then the bill of rights (which included 13, not ten, and our 1st Amendment was acutally no. 3) included the most liberal enfranchising ever without property qualifications etc. even blacks and women voted in some states to elect the delegates. This constituting meant something and it means something. If you start limiting speech, and regulating political speech (the most vextions of all?) then say bye bye to American expecptionalism.

[Fascist Politician]

You mean I can limit speech and control who can get the message out with rules and regulations that my liberal fascist minions will rule with an iron fist as a powerful bureaucrat. Then that means I can limit who can challenge me in a race. That means I will be elected forever. And we all know how stupid the electorate is. Then let's do it. Make criminal political speech and limit all the fundraisers so that the incumbents and bureaucrats can have all the power and be like the European Union. All hail the bureaucrats!!

Well said, terminator. Now get back to bundling those communist teacher union contributions!

Well said, terminator. Now get back to bundling those communist teacher union contributions!

[Skip Campbell]

Im coming to get you jeff..get as much money while you can!!

[Bob A,]

Props to the press for keeping an eye on the story behind every story at the legislature.

Groups with money buy friends and access while groups that don't doll out checks have little influence. (which includes any normal person with a job and family who doesn't do political work for a career)

The answer is to overturn the Buckley SCOTUS decision or to amend the federal constitution. Money should not equal speech. We need to place meaningful limits on PAC's and ECO's and limits on what candidates can spend and until we have those limits in place we need a meaningful pubic finance system. Right now FL's is a joke thanks to what they did three years ago.

Public financing isn't enough though. It doesn't move us away from the fact that wealthy donors rather than average joe's are the one's cutting the fat checks.

Lobbyist and special interest groups aren't innocent but they're playing the game that they're allowed to play. Until we have a systemic change they would be idiots not to use their financial muscle.

Not a great system though.

It'll take another big scandal to wake up the public.

[Paul D. Harvill]

At the link below includes contribution totals of some of these committees:

http://forum.tallahassee.com/viewtopic.php?t=31327&highlight=

[Paul D. Harvill]

He is Florida royalty not like these upstart Yankees that come down here.

Posted by: Mabel | January 12, 2008 at 08:52 PM
..............................

Mabel,

You brought a big smile to my tired and haggard face.

Paul

[Paul D. Harvill]

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/

Check out who gave it and who got it - for yourselves.

This database is wonderful !!!!!!!

Open-minded bunch here. "Special interests" are any groups that are organized to try to influence policy other than the one to which you belong yourself - at least by your definition.

[Why do we have special interest]

because government has decided to get involved in every aspect of American life so you had better well get involved and make sure the party in power or the bureaucrats in control don't deem your busy something that they don't like and will pose regulaton upon regulation. Government does not foster competition. Government only knows that it has a monopoly on coercive force an power.

If no special interst--then dictatorship?

Mabel, you are an idiot.

[Anti-Free Speech Police]

http://ezralevant.com/

[Anti-Free Speech Movement]

Business people have forfeited their right to speak on these issues and there is no debate on global warming. The Al Gore Brigade is right and everyone else had better get that through their heads or else they will have to go to jail once we pass our laws restricting speech. Only approved speech may go forth.

[Al Gore for World President]

Al Gore is very smart and he states that the debate is over and will start restricting speech that dares question this moral statement because that speech is very damaging to our very existence. We should amend the constitution so that the bureaucrats can control the debate and we can become like Europe and the EU where the people really don't matter. Its the bureaucrats who are college educated and very smart and they should have all the power. Business people are jsut that--greedy people into themselve who disrupt things by donating money to political causes and getting certain free market messages out that need to be curtailed because they are destructive to a united world government.