A new report from a nationwide campaign watchdog shows spending by shadowy independent political organizations has spiked in Florida, with one Tampa address serving as home for many of these cash machines.

The National Institute on Money in State Politics found that political spending by electioneering communications organizations (ECOs), sometimes dubbed 527 committees, has climbed 53 percent from 2006 to 2010 in Florida.

During last year’s elections, $48.2 million was spent by groups, with the largest being Gov. Rick Scott’s own Let’s Get to Work ECO, which poured $17.5 million into helping him defeat Democrat Alex Sink.

In federal races, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year in the Citizens United case helped kick the door open for corporate spending. Florida already allowed business interests to contribute in state races, so the ruling hasn’t directly affected elections for the Legislature, governor or Cabinet posts.

But Florida corporations are increasingly anteing up big bets in state races — behind the cover of vaguely named organizations, the institute report shows.

“Nearly 300 independent spending committees have been created since 2005, with innocuous names like ‘Let’s Get To Work,’ ‘Florida’s Working Families,’ and ‘Floridians for Truth and Integrity in Government,’ with little or no identifying information,” according to the report. “Yet many of these committees are registered to a small group of people. Of the $96.8 million of total independent spending during the study period, $38.8 million, 40 percent of the overall total, was routed through ECOs controlled by just four individuals.”

Nancy Watkins is one of those guiding the cash. The Tampa accountant’s office at 610 South Boulevard is the address for 88 different political committees.

The institute’s report is here: http://bit.ly/sjK3Gj

Following the latest firefight between Democrats and Republicans, the GOP-dominated House OK’d legislation Friday that would bar state and local governments from collecting payroll deductions for union dues.

Rep. Chris Dorworth, R-Lake Mary, in line to become House speaker in three years, if Republicans hold the majority, sponsored the measure (CS/HB 1021), which he said would keep the state out of “partisan politics.”

“There are other ways for unions to collect their dues that don’t involve state resources,” Dorworth said. On the Senate side, a former Florida Republican Party, Sen. John Thrasher, is sponsoring the measure.

The House approved the measure in a mostly party-line, 73-40 vote. The Senate bill (CS/SB 830) has at least one more committee stop before facing a full vote.

“Do not put lipstick on this elephant,” said Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, adding the measure, “is about silencing the voices of working men and women.”

The measure also allows public employee union members to demand a refund of dollars spent on any union political activity with which they didn’t agree.

Thrasher, who last year guided the state’s GOP to campaign victories that tightened the party’s grip on power in Florida, has said the measure is designed to “empower unions” by making them collect their dues rather than the state. Automatic payroll deductions for union dues has been a common practice by state and local governments, including school boards, for decades.

Union representatives have said it is part of a national effort aimed at scuttling the political influence of teachers, police, firefighters and public employees’ organizations, which campaigned for Democrats last fall and are leading demonstrations against Republican policies this spring.

Unions, including the Florida Police Benevolent Association and Florida Education Association, poured millions of dollars into Democratic campaigns last fall.

Unlike Wisconsin and Ohio, where state capitals have been engulfed in opposition to efforts aimed at ending collective bargaining, union membership in Florida is voluntary.

The Florida Constitution shields workers from being forced to join a union. The constitution, though, also guarantees workers’ right to collective bargaining, a provision Republican Gov. Rick Scott last month said he would like to see repealed.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos made a last-minute change to tomorrow’s floor session, adding a 4 p.m. session to the Senate calendar Wednesday afternoon.

The Senate will override at least one of Gov. Charlie Crist’s vetoes during the late afternoon session – HB 1207, legislation that would revive so-called leadership funds, strengthening the hand of House and Senate leaders from both parties in raising campaign cash. Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, sponsored the legislation. The House is expected to override the veto earlier in the day.

Both chambers could also override Crist’s veto of HB 7103, a measure that allows owners of properties with an agricultural exemption to retain the tax break regardless of the sales price.

The House is expected to veto them earlier in the day.

Candidates for governor could rake in up to $10,000 in individual contributions – currently capped at $500 – under campaign finance measure approved by the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee this morning by a 7-5 vote.

The bill (SB 1690), sponsored by freshman Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, would recreate the state’s pre-1991 tiered campaign contribution caps.
Under the proposal, individuals, political committees or CCEs could contribute a maximum of:
-$10,000 to a candidate for governor;
-$5,000 to other statewide candidates;
-$2,500 to state House or Senate candidates or other multi-county offices;
-$1,000 to candidates for county-wide offices or judges, including judges up for merit retention.

Lawmakers did away with the tiered system in 1991 after the state created public financing for candidates.

Diaz de la Portilla said the change is necessary because campaigns are so expensive.

“It’s a reality that you need to raise money in order to run for office,” he said. “By raising the limits back to a tiered system, I think those candidates for public office can spend a lot less time making phone calls for contributions, keeping track of contributions and more time talking to voters.”

A House committee Friday urged lawmakers to override former Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto last year of legislation that would revive so-called leadership funds, strengthening the hand of House and Senate leaders from both parties in raising campaign cash.

The 11-4 vote by the State Affairs Committee broke on party lines, with Democrats opposed. Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, were powerful advocates for the fund-raising accounts last year, but were snubbed by Crist.

The governor’s veto may have marked the beginning of his crumbling relationship with fellow Republicans, which concluded with him breaking with the party in April.

But Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, said the legislation is needed to improve “transparency.”

“I think the bill is long overdue in our fund-raising process,” said McKeel.

Republican leaders pushed the legislation last spring amid a fund-raising scandal at the state Republican Party.

Former GOP Chairman Jim Greer, who had been ousted only a few months earlier, was accused of badly damaging the party’s finances with his freewheeling spending and side dealing, which included allegedly secretly earmarking a portion of party funds for himself.

Leadership funds were banned 20 years ago by Florida lawmakers following newspaper reports drawing links between legislation approved and cash flowing into accounts controlled by party leaders.

The new proposal would allow legislative leaders from both parties to continue raising unlimited amounts of campaign cash. But instead of pouring the funds into the state party, they would maintain control.

Supporters, though, said the new step will result in more disclosure, because the leadership funds would be subject to campaign reporting requirements.

Ben Wilcox, of the League of Women Voters, disagreed. He testified Friday that reinstating the funds would feed a “pay to play,” environment in the Legislature.

No longer called leadership funds, the accounts would be dubbed “affiliated party committees,” under the measure (CS/HB 1207).

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Florida will not appeal a federal court decision that removed spending restraints from Republican Rick Scott’s already record-breaking gubernatorial campaign, a Florida Secretary of State spokeswoman said Wednesday, leaving further appeals to Scott’s political rivals.

But some experts said the state’s decision to acknowledge problems with its taxpayer-funded campaign finance program could also expose Florida’s $500 contribution limit — already the lowest in the country — to a similar challenge.

“I’m surprised there hasn’t been a challenge already,” said University of Florida political science professor Clifford A. Jones, a campaign finance law expert.

Story here.

Florida will not appeal a federal court ruling that put a temporary hold on a program that offers taxpayer assistance to statewide candidates competing against wealthy, self-funded competitors.

“In analyzing our options and with the desire to have some finality on the issue, we felt it was the best choice not to take any further steps,” Secretary of State spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis told The Palm Beach Post.

It sounds like the state sees little chance to win a rehearing from the same judges in the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s other option would be to appeal to a Supreme Court that last year dismantled much of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws.

A couple interesting offshoots:

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Breaking news from the News Service of Florida:

A federal appeals court in Atlanta has reversed a lower court ruling that upheld the state’s public campaign financing system. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of candidate Rick Scott, who had challenged the constitutionality of the matching money system in Florida.

The ruling means publicly financed candidates will still get a dollar-for-dollar match up to $250 from the state for every donation they receive from a Floridian. Candidates will not be able to get money if a non-participating candidate breaks the cap.

Essentially, that means GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott can continue to spend his personal fortune without triggering a windfall of cash for Republican Bill McCollum and possibly Democrat Alex Sink.

Background here. Read the ruling here.

Rick Scott’s Republican gubernatorial campaign has another $3 million from his wife, Anne. The couple have now put at least $33.9 million of their own money into the primary race against Attorney General Bill McCollum, shattering all kinds of money records in the state.

Scott’s political advocacy group, Let’s Get to Work, which he is a 527 group he’s using to avoid triggering a flood of taxpayer matching dollars for McCollum, also picked up a few big contributors in the past week: Robert L. James, Fort Lauderdale, $25,000; Jack Anderson, Vero Beach, $25,000; and the co-founder of Columbia Hospital Corp., Richard Rainwater, Fort Worth, $100,000.

We detailed in this post on Wednesday some big donations McCollum recently picked up.

Rubio started his underdog campaign on a shoe-string budget, joking at the time that his only campaign aides were “Mr. Garmin and Mr. SunPass.”

But as he’s risen from long-shot to front-runner, so have his expenses.

In the second quarter he spent $402,000 on seven political consultants, two finance consultants, one legal consultant, a compliance consultant and creative consultant for his direct-mail, a Palm Beach Post analysis of Rubio’s expenditures found.

“I thought he was just going from pine tree stump to pine tree stump generating an upwelling to sweep him into the Capital, said Republican operative Mac Stipanovich, who is supporting Crist in the race. “That kind of money for consultants isn’t really consistent with his image.”

Story here.

Don’t look now, but Attorney General Bill McCollum is doing a decent job collecting money for his Republican gubernatorial race.

Nearly all of the money-related headlines have gone to Naples businessman Rick Scott, who, along with his wife, have poured at least $31 million of their personal fortune into the Republican gubernatorial primary.

But by spending his own money, Scott has given McCollum the entire field of the traditional Republican donors, who helped Charlie Crist and Tom Gallagher raise nearly $30 million in 2006.

McCollum and his allies have spent nearly $14 million so far, about $1 million more than Crist spent in the 2006 primary.

On the collection side, McCollum has received $1.3 million from Florida taxpayers as part of the state’s public campaign financing program, which Scott is trying to get a court to dismantle.

And we reported Tuesday that McCollum’s political advocacy group, a 527 known as Florida First Initiative, brought in $500,000 from the U.S. Chamber (the Florida Chamber endorsed him today). McCollum has helped his 527 collect $1.5 million since July 8. Broken down that’s an average donation of $45,000. Or about $77,000 per day.

Meanwhile, McCollum’s campaign has made another big TV purchase, peppering $1 million across the state for the next month. The buy is mostly — if not all — on Fox News and focuses on Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville TV markets.

Scott, however, continues outspend McCollum about 3-to-1 on TV. A report from ad buyers show’s Scott’s 527 group, Let’s Get to Work, will spend another $1.8 million in the next week. Most of that money is spent in Tampa, Orlando and Miami markets.

From the campaign finance reports from the Florida gubernatorial race showing the candidates financial state as of July 16:

Republican Bill McCollum: Has spent $5.7 milion, has $542,865 in the bank. (The McCollum campaign expects to pull in another $2.5 million from state matching money. McCollum also has several political advocacy groups that have spent another $5.3 million for him.)

Republican Rick Scott: Raised $415,126, loaned his campaign $23 million and has spent $22.6 million. McCollum will get a dollar-for-dollar match for anything Scott spends beyond $24.9 million.

Democrat Alex Sink: Has raised $7.3 million. She has $5.7 million in the bank.

While attorneys for the top two Republican gubernatorial candidates debate the merits of campaign spending caps, the candidates themselves are still spending and collecting money at a feverish pace.

Rick Scott will air $2.2 million in television ads starting today and for the next week, a source told The Palm Beach Post. That total brings the amount of television spending for Scott’s campaign and his 527 political advocacy group, Let’s Get to Work, to an astonishing $23.2 million over the past three months.

Meanwhile, McCollum’s campaign was down to just $800,000 on Saturday. But McCollum’s 527 group, the Florida First Initiative reported two big new checks: $100,000 from Progress Energy and $50,000 from Florida Phosphate, a political advocacy group run by Mosaic Fertilizer lobbyist Mark Kaplan.

(On potentially related a side note, incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has sent $15,000 to the Committee for Responsible Representation, a political committee controlled by Stafford Jones. Jones, who is running the Florida First group, did not return a call for comment.)

That’s more than the previous record for a Florida U.S. Senate candidate in a single quarter, which was set by then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist when he raised $4.3 million in the opening days of his campaign.

Rubio has raised more than $11 million for his campaign.

Some Democrats are crying foul over a group Democrat Dave Aronberg has used to raise $128,000 for his attorney general primary: “Florida Mainstream Democrats.”

If the name sounds familiar, that’s because it should.

It was first coined in 2004 for a group founded by 18 Democratic state lawmakers – including Aronberg, who served as chairman for about three years – to attract conservative voters to the party and support pro-business, moderate candidates seeking political office outside the traditional liberal enclaves in South Florida.

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Republican Allen West’s campaign will report they collected $1.4 million during the second quarter of 2010, The Palm Beach Post has learned.

That tops the campaign’s previous best quarter, which was $838,000 during the first three months of the year.

The totals mean West has collected a total of $3.5 million for his campaign and has $2.2 million on hand.

U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, reported $2.6 million in cash on hand at the end of the first quarter. He has not yet filed his latest report.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat hoping to win his party’s U.S. Senate nomination, announced today that he collected $1 million in contributions during the second quarter this year. That would bring his 18-month total to more than $6.5 million. He reported about $3.7 million in cash on hand as of March 31.

Meek is in a primary battle with Palm Beach businessman Jeff Greene and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre. The winner is expected to face Republican Marco Rubio and independent Charlie Crist on the November ballot.

About 175 people showed up to see Meek in Delray Beach last night. (story here)

He told the crowd that he was the only “real Democrat” in the race, said he would push to bring troops home from Afghanistan and said the political attacks over his connection to a real estate scandal in Miami has affected him “emotionally.”

“It does affect me emotionally when someone attacks my character when I know otherwise,” Meek said.

A measure in the Florida constitution that has funneled nearly $22 million in taxpayer money to statewide political candidates in the past 10 years is the target of a lawsuit from Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott.

Scott is asking a federal judge to throw out Florida’s public financing law, saying it has “significantly chilled” his First Amendment rights.

Scott has spent $21 million on his campaign since April 9, which means he’s drawing perilously close to the $24.9 million trigger on the state’s so-called Millionaire’s Amendment. Scott’s political opponents will be eligible for a dollar-for-dollar match from the state for whatever Scott spends beyond that limit.

Republican lawmakers support repealing the measure. Sen. Mike Haridopolos, who is supporting Scott’s primary opponent, Bill McCollum, helped write the constitutional amendment on the November ballot (Amendment 1) that asks voters to reverse their 1998 decision to put it into the state constitution.

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Investment bankers, private investors and health care companies are betting heavy on Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott.

Scott collected $98,300 from 12 contributions on June 28, records show. The money went to his political committee, known as Let’s Get to Work. The so-called 527 committees help Florida political candidates avoid state campaign contribution laws.

Scott’s primary opponent, Attorney General Bill McCollum, is affiliated with a pair of similar committees. Those groups have received $1 million that track back to a pair of South Florida doctors, Gerald Glass and Paul Zimmerman.*

Scott, who has already spent more than $20 million of his own money, received a chunk of his latest contributions from Palm Beach sources:

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The political committee set up to help Republican Rick Scott avoid state spending caps in his gubernatorial race will air $1.5 million in television ads starting Friday, The Palm Beach Post has learned.

Nearly $1 million will be spent in the Tampa and Orlando markets, with another $165,000 in West Palm Beach.

Scott’s own campaign already has spent $16.1 million on television alone, which means he’s approaching the $29.4 million cap under state law. If Scott exceeds the cap, his opponents, like fellow Republican Bill McCollum, will get a dollar-for-dollar match from Florida taxpayers. Scott told reporters last week that the “Let’s Get to Work” political committee was being set up to help him avoid the spending cap.

McCollum, who has spent $1.9 million on television, has a pair of so-called 527 groups supporting him. Alliance for America has invested $1.9 million in TV spots and the Florida First Initiative has spent another $1.9 million.

Meanwhile, Scott’s out-of-nowhere, self-funded campaign is ruffling some feathers in state GOP circles. First was this ambush at the state party meetings last week.

Now, a pair of McCollum supporters — Washington County Republican Chairwoman Jennifer Bau and Gulf County Republican state committeeman Allen Cox — are circulating a letter complaining that Scott’s campaign staff “verbally and physically assaulted” Bau and another Republican during a recent meeting in her Panhandle county.