West Palm Beach-based Florida Crystals Corp. contributed the maximum $25,000 this week to Gov.-elect Rick Scott’s inaugural festivities. And three other entities listing the same Clematis Street office suite address as Florida Crystals kicked in $25,000 apiece as well.
The four $25,000 contributors from the same office suite are Florida Crystals Corp., Sun Corn Inc., Agro-Industrial Management and Florida Pioneer Investments.
Florida Crystals’ rival, U.S. Sugar Corp., contributed $25,000 to the inaugural. During his GOP primary against Bill McCollum, Scott blasted the state’s $197 million purchase of 27,000 acres of U.S. Sugar land for Everglades restoration and slammed U.S. Sugar’s contributions to McCollum.
Other local contributors to the inaugural include the Palm Beach Kennel Club, which donated $5,000, and Palm Beach Credit Adjustor Inc., which gave $10,000.
Florida Crystals executive José “Pepe” Fanjul and his wife, Emilia, will host the event at their Palm Beach home on Sept. 14. For a $10,000 check made payable to the Republican Party of Florida, you can get into the VIP reception.
Now referring to the political establishment as “statesmen,” Scott held a fundraiser at the Associated Industries of Florida office in Tallahassee this morning with some of the state’s top lobbyists. He has another money event this afternoon at the Johnson Blanton firm, which lobbies for Bank of America, Florida Power & Light, Florida Crystals and a host of health care companies.
UPDATED with quote from Tea Party in Action leader….
Republican governor candidate Rick Scott announced late Wednesday that he’ll be outside the South Florida Water Management District headquarters in West Palm Beach this morning with a group called Tea Party in Action to protest the proposed U.S. Sugar buyout.
That prompted an e-mail blast in the wee hours of this morning from South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson questioning the Tea Party in Action group and Scott’s involvement.
Wilkinson, it should be noted, is personally supporting Bill McCollum in the GOP governor primary, though he says his endorsement has nothing to do with the South Florida Tea Party.
Says Tea Party in Action leader Marianne Moran: “Everett Wilkinson spends a lot of time telling reporters who he says are ‘real’ tea party members as if he’s the sole authority. He spends the rest of his time endorsing career politician Bill McCollum. Tea Party in Action wants to kill this corporate bailout of US Sugar. We welcome Rick Scott and any political candidates willing to join this cause.”
Read Scott’s announcement and Wilkinson’s statement after the jump…..
The New York Times story hinted the change was meant to benefit U.S. Sugar and its law firm, where Crist’s ally, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, was a partner.
Alan Farago of the group Friends of the Everglades says Crist abandoned the Bush plan because of science.
“Gov. Bush is quite critical of the U.S. Sugar deal, but in fact, the plan that he advocated and committed a billion dollars to was also based on very, very uncertain technologies and investments,” Farago said. “For instance, the largest man-made reservoir in the world, which is now sitting off U.S. 27 in a state of half-completeness.”
Environmentalists are upset that the story targeted Crist’s ties to U.S. Sugar, but failed to highlight the connections involving Crist’s opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
The WFSU story quotes our blog item pointing out Rubio received more than $14,000 from Florida Crystals, one of the main opponents to the Everglades deal. We updated that number to $24,200 in a blog post yesterday.
Marco Rubio is attempting to do just that with this web video released today, just hours before the South Florida Water Management District takes another critical vote on the Charlie Crist-backed plan to buy up U.S. Sugar land in the name of Everglades restoration. Crist has called the deal one of the biggest accomplishments of his term in the governor’s office.
The video compares the Sugar deal to the stimulus package and the cash-for-clunkers program and also cites a Palm Beach Postarticle pointing out that Crist has received $103,987 from U.S. Sugar executives plus their families, attorneys and lobbyists.
When that same standard is applied to Rubio, however, his campaign received $24,200 from Florida Crystals Corp., Sugar’s rival and one of the loudest critics of the deal. Put another way, 1.15 percent of Crist’s campaign collections so far are from Sugar-related interests, while 0.71 percent of Rubio’s campaign can be traced back to Crystals.
Republican Gov. Charlie Crist‘s Senate campaign responded to a jab from primary rival Marco Rubio, who called the Everglades land buy a “bailout” for U.S. Sugar: From Crist spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg:
“Marco Rubio is being supported in this campaign and in previous campaigns by Florida Crystals sugar company, who is the number one opponent to this Everglades restoration purchase. What else would you expect from a lobbyist who is bought and paid for by special interests?”
Rubio has received more thank $14,000 from the Fanjuls family, which owns Florida Crystals, and Gaston Gantens, the company’s chief lobbyist. The company and its subsidiaries gave anotehr $4,500 to Rubio during his nine years in the state House.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio said a New York Timesstory has raised “troubling new questions” about the U.S. Sugar purchase negotiated by his primary rival, Gov. Charlie Crist. From Rubio’s press release today:
“This deal is nothing more than a massive taxpayer-funded bailout for a top Charlie Crist campaign donor and a profitable bonanza for Crist’s inner circle.
“Once again, Charlie Crist has put his political ambition ahead of the people of Florida, and once again the results are disastrous for taxpayers. In fact, this bailout plan is the second most expensive photo op Charlie Crist has ever staged.
“Charlie Crist’s bailout plan will require higher taxes and increased debt, and it does nothing for the Everglades. In fact, it actually halts real restoration projects started by Jeb Bush, which were already underway.
“Charlie Crist simply can’t be trusted to go to Washington to fight massive government spending because, more often than not, he’s the one proposing it.”
In a Feb. 17 memo circulated Friday the consultant said the South Florida Water Management District — the agency Gov. Charlie Crist tapped to finance the purchase — “must make some very difficult decisions,” including big cuts in operations and maintenance of its 16-county water supply and flood control system.
The reason: deficit projections of $89 million and $110 million in 2011 and 2012.
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 by Michael C. Bender
Crist today will reappoint Shannon Estenoz and appoint Anne “Sandy” Batchelor-Robjohns, chairwoman of The Batchelor Foundation, and Weston attorney Glenn Waldman
With a March 11 vote scheduled on whether to extend the contract expiration date for the US Sugar deal, Waldman and Batchelor replace Paul Huck, who recused himself from voting on the Sugar before he resigned, and Mike Collins, who was the only governing board member to oppose the deal twice.
Crist said he made the appointments with an eye on the Everglades deal.
“We’re going to keep firing the canon and doing the job,” Crist said.
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 by Michael C. Bender
UPDATED:Story reflects version published in the Feb. 18 print edition of The Palm Beach Post.
Locally affected special districts:
South Florida Water Management District
Health Care District of Palm Beach County
Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County
Children’s Services Council of Martin County
St. Lucie County Fire District
Source: Florida Community Affairs Department
TALLAHASSEE — The power to raise property taxes would rest solely with elected officials under a constitutional amendment proposed for the November ballot.
The amendment would revamp the supervision of hospital and children’s services districts across the state and make the South Florida Water Management District, which covers 16 counties and includes about 7 million people, the biggest voting district in the state and among the largest in the country, according to the National Association of Election Officials.
Objections were raised Wednesday by the special district officials who argued the districts were created — in most cases voter-approved — specifically to avoid electoral politics.
“You will change fundamentally how these water management districts operate,” Audubon of Florida’s Eric Draper told the committee.
Should voters elect governing board members of the South Florida Water Management District?
Yes (61%, 79 Votes)
No (39%, 51 Votes)
Total Voters: 130
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Draper reminded the House panel that another Palm Beach County lawmaker, former Senate President Phil Lewis, D-Riviera Beach, led an “extraordinarily thoughtful legislative process” that asked voters to approve water districts along hydrological lines instead of political boundaries.
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 by Michael C. Bender
Three-quarters of Floridians support Gov. Charlie Crist’s $536 million bid to buy farmland from U.S. Sugar Corp. for Everglades restoration, according to a poll commissioned by the deal’s backers.
The Everglades Foundation’s poll of 600 likely Florida voters found that of the 75 percent who support the deal, 41 percent “strongly support” it, said pollster Jim Kitchens, of The Kitchens Group.
With a $536 million, 73,000-acre state purchase of land from U.S. Sugar in the balance, Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday filled three vacancies on the nine-member South Florida Water Management District board.
The board approved the purchase on a 4-3 vote last year, but the deal faces additional votes.
Environmentalists say Gov. Charlie Crist’s latest deal to buy U.S. Sugar land is better than nothing, but Post staff writer Paul Quinlan reports that some South Florida Water District leaders think the latest proposal is still too costly.
So sweeping were today’s criticisms that they provoked a sharp ultimatum from U.S. Sugar Corp.
“This latest rendition is the last and only chance to complete this transaction,” U.S. Sugar senior vice president Robert Coker said in a news release immediately afterward.
Gov. Charlie Crist holds a press conference in front of a ginormous (his word) backdrop of the Everglades that the Department of Environmental Protection printed for the occasion. He's flanked by Highwayman paintings that normally hang in his office. (Bender | Post)
New deal with U.S. Sugar:
• The price: $533 million, down from $1.34 billion
• The land: 72,500 acres south and west of Lake Okeechobee, down from 180,000 acres
• Other terms: The state has 10 years to decide whether to buy the remaining 107,500 acres. Through 2012, the state can match anyone else’s offer to purchase U.S. Sugar land between the Miami Canal and U.S. 27.
• Closing Date: Sept. 25
Reactions:
State Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid: “It’s a much better deal. It gives the company time to decide what their direction is and residents time to plan. It was the not knowing that was the scariest thing for the residents.”
Florida Crystals Vice President Gaston Cantens: “The issue is whether or not the governor is going to be able to get the flow-way. How will he acquire it? We own the land he needs for the flow-way. … It doesn’t appear they will have the money to buy more.”
Gov. Charlie Crist this morning confirmed details we reported last week (here and here) that he’s hoping to buy 75,000 acres from U.S. Sugar for Everglades restoration instead of 180,000. He said he could announce details as soon as tomorrow or Thursday.
“My goal is to be able to hit the sweet spot, no pun intended, and really target in on the acreage that’s important to be able to be successful in reconnecting the lake to Florida Bay, to the Everglades and then maintain an opportunity to expand on it when the economy turns around,” Crist said today.
“I think we’re on the path to that. But we should be able to let you know tomorrow or Thursday for sure.”
With property values dropping and taking property tax collections along for the ride, there has been a lot of speculation on what that would mean for Gov. Charlie Crist’s plan to buy U.S. Sugar.
Crist acknowledged this afternoon that the deal is in fact being modified.
“The facts have changed, the economy is what it is,” Crist said.
“And I think we all need to be cognizant of those factors, whether it relates to the Everglades preservation deal or any other fact. And we may have news for you on that front in a few days.”
Sen. Gary Siplin, an Orlando Democrat and chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Everglades Oversight, uses his blackberry from the dias to try and find a quorum. (Bender|Post)
A meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Everglades Oversight was canceled this afternoon when several members were late arriving. The panel was supposed to hear an update on Gov. Charlie Crist’s plan to buyout U.S. Sugar, but sounds like there was going to be little news committed.
Ernie Barnett, the director of policy for the SoFla Water Management District, said after the meeting was canceled that discussions are ongoing to modify the deal, but there was little he could say about it publicly.
Florida Environmental Protection Department Secretary Mike Sole said in an interview that “not a day goes by” without him hearing from or speaking to folks at Florida Crystals, which may be looking to become a partner in the deal.
“We’re continuously looking for ways to make sure this deal works,” Sole said. “The governor’s vision has been very clear in trying to acquire as much Sugar land, as much of this property as we can to get that connection. We’ve always said – always said – that we don’t need all the acres.
“We’re working everyday to make sure this thing works.”
Putnam, 34, said the state needs to consider whether the deal would jeopardize its partnership with the federal government in Everglades restoration. He also said the state needs a more detailed plan for the communities that could lose thousands of agricultural jobs.
“While, over the long haul, renewable energy has great potential to be a part of the economic base, it’s not ready for prime time,” Putnam said. “So that increases the pressure if this is going to proceed to have in place plans for an inland port or something similar that will alleviate the economic harm that will be done to the communities.”
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