Two legislators fined for elex violations

Two Tampa Bay area legislators were fined by the Florida Elections Commission for violating election law in their campaigns.

Sen. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, has to pay $1,000 after the FEC found that he violated the $500 limit on donations from a single company in each election. An investigation showed his campaign accepted two $500 checks from Humana before the 2006 primary. The campaign disputed another complaint that it willingly accepted contributions beyond the limit from Plumbers Local Union #519 PAC. The commission agreed and did not fine Justice on that count.

"We cooperated with the commission," Justice said, adding he's already paid the fine. "There was a mistake."

Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, was fined $750 after a complaint that he published an ad for a fundraiser that didn't include a disclaimer. State law requires that advertisements say that the purchase of tickets or contributions made at the fundraiser were contributions to the campaign. The complaint also alleges that his political advertisements didn't include a disclaimer saying that the ads were paid for by his campaign. The commission noted that it considers the allegation a minor violation.

-- Stephanie Garry, Times Staff Writer

Comments

I thought Barry Edwards was a pro?

Ummmm.....didn't Atwater just appoint Charlie Justice as vice chair of ethics and elections in the Senate? Guess he's got some real life experience to offer.....

Just another example of the democrat culture of corruption. I wonder how much money they have hidden in their freezers?

He is a pro in the oldest profession in the world.

[politicarina]

What about the $10k that Diaz de la Portilla was fined????
This has nothing to do with party affiliation.

Meanwhile, the repiggie culture of corruption wants to install another Bush in a national office.

Wow what a scandal.

Meanwhile, has Sansom resigned yet? Has Bush been impeached? Why the heck are we dragging our heels on those two important issues?

Justice is a bafoon.

Wait a minute, didn't the Times' darling, Mitch Kates, consult on the Justice campaign? Pretty amateur stuff...

[Cynical Idealist]

Yawn...how boring. None of these people are "big fish." Clearly, the press goes after the morons when they should be going after the morons...

936, lol that is funny as hell-LOL...funny funny-

it is 500 dollars people. not a big deal.

Mr. Fair Elections Crusader Charlie Justice gets hit with a fine. How ironic! How classic!

Campaigns are about balancing hundreds of small details, tasks, and decisions every day. Getting disclaimers incorrect or forgetting to print them on fundraisers points to a sloppy operation, but is hardly the smoking gun of corruption.

The job of the consultant is to get the details right, so yeah, tsk tsk tsk on that, but overall we are not talking about earth shaking violations here.

Accepting over the limit on contributions is a little more serious, though. That should have been caught, but it sounds like it was corrected.

I put all the comments on this page myself :)

I bet I fooled all of you!

[matt]

Justice's campaign mistake isn't a big deal. Donors often do not know the 500 limit or were unaware someone else at the Company made the gift. But it's the campaign's job to identify this stuff. It's just a simple mistake it wasn't found.

Wow, an HMO giving more money than allowed! Shocking! HMOs are notorious liars and cheats! Taking a check from an HMO should be outlawed! Ask Brown-Waite. She took a gravy job from one years ago. So did a Boyd. Look at the board appointments given out by HMO's to former legislators and government bureaucrats. Its all a scam. HMOs should not be allowed to give jobs prior to, during, or after a person is in office. Just like a community college. Look at who representz Humana now. An HMO with a tax lobbyist. Since when do taxes have anything to do with healthcare. Sounds like a political favor. What a joke.

go away Ray! go to Miami.

You are supposed to take the job after your term like Marco did. We watch the left hand while the right hand is working on the job but don't announce on the day you are sworn in buddy.

[WHO'S THE CROOK HERE???]

Justice...$500 donation
Rouson...missing disclaimer.

Sansom...$25,110,000 changes hands in sweatheart deal for himself and future employer.

Lots of envy going on in the blogs. Sansom isn't going to resign, are you don't name calling, pouting, stamping your feet yet? Its getting boring.

[John]

The Justice mistake was just that...a mistake not by Justice or Mitch Kates. It was a small mistake by a campaign treasurer...and Justice is no baffoon.

What did Liz McCallum get fined for?

Looks like she was busted for 8 violations:

http://www.fec.state.fl.us/results/November08.pdf

[A fan]

Justice is a great guy...very honest and in this process for the right reasons.

It's hard to find people like that these days. I'm proud that he is my senator.

Charlie Justice is a good man and works hard for his constituents. Thank you, Charlie, for everything that you have done for us.

STP: You should go after real crooks like Brian Blair!

[Tabatha]

Sansom is a natural crook.

Let's see, take tax dollars, award them to his "future" employer and then use those tax dollars to give himself a six figure additional income. I feel as though I've been scre@@d and didn't even get a "Thank You" or flowers.

Flowers would be nice. I like daffodils.