Democrat Alex Sink has opened an electioneering committee that can receive unlimited donations, but she is still deliberating on whether to accept taxpayer money to help pay for her campaign.

“The campaign has not made a decision on whether we’ll be accepting public funds,” Sink spokeswoman Kyra Jennings said.

By our quick math, Sink is eligible for about $4 million in tax dollars to supplement her campaign for governor.

She accepted about $1 million from the state for her CFO campaign in 2006. But this year her Republican opponent, Rick Scott, has turned the public financing program into a political issue. Scott, a wealthy Naples businessman, doesn’t need any help from taxpayers. He poured $50 million of his own money into his primary race.

Scott successfully sued to stop Bill McCollum, his primary challenger, from receiving a windfall of tax money that state lawmakers intended to use to help level the playing field for candidates facing wealthy opponents. In his primary race, Scott accused McCollum of “feeding at the public trough” for participating in the public financing program during a 2006 run for attorney general.

While that suit was being decided, Scott opened his own electioneering committee, known as Let’s Get to Work, in order to skirt spending limits for his own campaign account. Sink’s 527 group is known as “Let’s Hold Them Accountable.”

She signed the papers for the committee on Aug. 31. Two days later, Sink was less than transparent (here and here) about whether the committee had been created. But she promised to be transparent about reporting the donations.

Tags: 527s, Alex Sink, Rick Scott

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