Senate President Mike Haridopolos is paying former state Sen. Carey Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, up to $89,000 a year as a special consultant.

Baker, who served alongside Haridopolos before leaving office due to term limits last year, will make $175 per hour – up to $7,500 per month, or $89,000 annually – for working with senate committees, subcommittees or research organizations established by the legislature, according to his contract.

Baker ran briefly for state agriculture commissioner but dropped out of the race eventually won by Adam Putnam.

The year-long contract between Haridopolos and Baker’s consulting company, Country First Consulting, was signed on Nov. 9 and started on Nov. 3. Baker’s consulting business was created the day before the contract was filed, according to the state division of corporations Web site.

Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, cleaned house at the Senate before even officially taking over the chamber in November. He consolidated a variety of positions and did not rehire several high-ranking committee staffers for what he called about $1 million in savings from the Senate budget.

The tussle between a gun shop-owning senator and the former president of the National Rifle Association is heating up over a controversial driver license handbook.

And the prospect looks bleaker every day for the vendor who prints the driver license handbook for free in return for the exclusive ability to advertise his “National Safety Commission” driver education courses.

First, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles chief Julie Jones canceled Ken Underwood’s controversial contract with the state effective at the end of the year.

Then an effort by a seemingly unwitting Sen. Carey Baker that would have given Underwood a leg up on a new contract went nowhere after a senate committee balked at the proposal, saying it appeared to be aimed at rescuing the sole source vendor.

Enter ultra-powerful NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer.

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Sen. Carey Baker’s effort to rescue the vendor who has printed the state’s driver license handbook for five years went nowhere today and seems to be destined for the cutting room floor.

Baker had originally proposed a bill (SB 2342) that would keep Ken Underwood in the running for a contract with the Department of Motor Vehicles and Highway Safety which he now prints for free in exchange for advertising his National Safety Commission driver’s ed schools.

Baker, R-Eustis, rewrote the bill to appease opponents, including Underwood’s competitors, but he asked the Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee to skip a vote on it today, as he did last week, because it was clear the revisions didn’t pass critics’ muster.

DHSMV chief Julie Jones, who canceled the contract after the end of the year, told the committee that “We need to overcome the perception of an endorsement of one company.”

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NRA lobbyist and political heavyweight Marion Hammer’s targeting a bill that ostensibly has nothing to do with weapons except that the bill’s Senate sponsor Carey Baker owns a gun shop.

A controversy over the state’s drivers license handbook has the former president of the National Rifle Association loaded for bear.

Baker, R-Eustis, is backing a bill (SB 2342) that would force the state to extend a contentious agreement with Ken Underwood, the Ponte Vedra Beach owner of a driver ed school, in which he prints the drivers license handbook for the state’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for free.

In return, Underwood gets to advertise his businesses in the handbook.

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Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate Scott Maddox’s campaign didn’t get off to a slow start although he didn’t begin collecting money until yesterday.

The former head of the state Democratic Party put off raising campaign cash until Sept. 1 – nearly two months after he jumped into the race – for a reason: that’s when matching public money kicks in.

“But today is not just the first day of our fundraising campaign, today also marks the first day that you can more than double your impact! If you contribute today, the State of Florida will match your donation on a 2 to 1 basis up to $250! If you give $50 dollars, the state will match with an additional $100. If you give $100, the State will match an additional $200, and if you give $250, the match will be an additional $500! Please help us take on this challenge and make a difference for Florida’s consumers…and watch your donation grow!” reads an e-mail Maddox sent to supporters yesterday.

Maddox is faces two other contenders in the Democratic primary. Former state Rep. Rick Minton, a Ft. Pierce realtor, and former Suwanee County Commissioner Randy Hatch both want the job. Audubon of Florida lobbyist Eric Draper dropped out of the race after Maddox stepped in.

Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, also a former state House member, from Bartow is the favorite in a GOP primary. Putnam was one of the youngest politicians elected to Congress in 2001 at the age of 26. Opponents in the primary include state Sen. Carey Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis.

Current Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson is leaving office because of term limits.

From campaign finance reports due today (Contribution totals are for the 2nd quarter of the year and cash on hand is a total for the race):

Republicans

Adam Putnam: $258,523 raised, $672,982 on-hand.

Carey Baker: $61,787 raised; $230,964 on-hand

Democrats*

Eric Draper: $35,125 raised, $31,965 on-hand

Rick Minton, Jr.: $13,815 raised, $9,531 on-hand

Thad Hamilton: $4,600 raised, $4,297 on-hand

Randy Hatch: $3,300 raised, $1,643 on-hand

*Former Florida Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox recently said he will enter the race.

Eric Draper, first from left, said today he’ll run for state agriculture commissioner.

Eric Draper, lobbyist and policy director for Audubon of Florida , said he will file papers today to run for Florida agriculture commissioner.

“I’ve spent most of my life working to keep our water clean and the state green and to me this is a continuation of that effort,” said Draper, a third generation Floridian.

Other Democrats in the race include former state Rep. Rick Minton Jr. of Fort Pierce and former Suwannee County Commissioner Randy Hatch. Republicans running include U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow and state Sen. Carey Baker of Eustis.

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Here are the top fundraisers so far for 2010 state elections (italics notes an incumbent and click here for a collection of all contribution and expenditure totals from On3 Public Relations):

State CFO:

Democrat Alex Sink: $1.12 million

Commissioner of Agriculture:

U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow: $486,458

State Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis: $120,655

State Senate

1.) Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman, Republican (SD 12): $250,850

2.) Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami (SD 38): $235,335

3.) Former Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach (SD 8): $220,441

4.) Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic (SD 26): $208,250

5.) Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise (SD 34): $177,554

State House

1.) Miami attorney and former Apprentice contestant Jose “Pepi” Diaz, Republican (HD 115): $112,945

2.) Assistant State Attorney Andrew Jones of Oviedo, Republican (HD 33): $103,306

3.) Republican Italo Andres Zanzi, a 2006 Republican U.S. House candidate in New York (HD 119): $102,085

4.) Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Orlando (HD 35): $99,426
5.) Army JAG Corps Captain and Tampa attorney Greg Stuebe, Republican (HD 67): $61,142