FlaglerLive | May 10, 2018
Joe Mullins, a candidate for the County Commission seat held by Nate McLaughlin, is blurring the line between campaigning and private business in a series of local involvements, a FlaglerLive investigation found.
FlaglerLive | August 23, 2016
Publix contributed at least $306,000 from Aug. 1 to Aug. 12, the latest information posted on the state Division of Elections website. Of that amount, $250,000 went to Florida Chamber of Commerce political committees.
FlaglerLive | May 11, 2016
Democrats Adam Morley and Curtis Ceballos face enormous financial hurdles in their campaigns challenging Republicans Paul Renner and Travis Hutson in November’s legislative elections.
FlaglerLive | April 30, 2015
The 5-4 decision, written by Chief Justice Roberts, upholds a ban in a case started by Lanell Williams-Yulee, who in 2009 sent out a mass mailing asking for campaign contributions during her bid for a Hillsborough County judgeship.
FlaglerLive | April 4, 2015
In all, Paul Renner raised $294,340 and had spent $261,748 for the election Tuesday in a district that includes Flagler County and parts of St. Johns and Volusia counties.
FlaglerLive | January 15, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ultimate decision in the Florida case could have far-reaching ramifications, as 30 of the 39 states that elect judges have some kind of restriction on judicial candidates making personal pitches for campaign money.
FlaglerLive | October 2, 2014
Lanell Williams-Yulee was disciplined by the Florida Bar for violating a rule barring judicial candidates from soliciting money when running for judgeships. The U.S. Supreme Court may reverse that rule, affecting 30 states where similar bans are in place.
FlaglerLive | June 18, 2014
People are more powerful than all of Sheldon Adelson’s and the Koch Brothers’ money combined, argues Stephen Goldstein, so if enough voters see through the barrage of lies and deceptions that engulf them in elections, people-power can neutralize the money peddlers.
FlaglerLive | April 7, 2014
We’ve come a long way from the days of Lawton Chiles, who won his election for governor despite limiting contributions to $10 a pop. There is no longer any bidding limit on the vast auction block American politics has become since, writes Martin Dyckman.
FlaglerLive | February 16, 2014
Sean Noble was a former congressional aide just starting as a political consultant when he was recruited to help run the Kochtopus — Charles and David Koch’s multi-layered political network.
FlaglerLive | December 6, 2013
On-the-clock state employees from a number of agencies have been splitting shifts since Monday to call businesses and use talking points that are indistinguishable from the language of campaign ads to help Rick Scott’s re-election.
FlaglerLive | November 29, 2013
Scott views the missives as a means to applaud individuals and to promote Florida. His critics say some of the messages include language that deviates into campaign talking points. Don’t expect the letter-writing campaign to slow or the questionable language to disappear from such messages.
FlaglerLive | August 22, 2013
“Contributionlink,” the brainchild of lobbyist Brecht Heuchan, gives lobbyists and candidates an edge by mining a myriad of public databases, creating profiles of current and potential donors and showing clients how their money stacks up against the competition.
FlaglerLive | August 18, 2013
Bolstered by huge paydays from some clients, at least six lobbying firms, including the Southern Strategy Group, collected $1 million or more in legislative lobbying fees between April 1 and June 30.
FlaglerLive | June 25, 2013
The “Let’s Get to Work” political committee posted $695,447 in contributions from 91 sources during the time Scott was highlighting the state to foreign aviation interests as part of Enterprise Florida’s June 14 to June 21 trade mission to the Paris Air Show.
FlaglerLive | April 15, 2013
The state says it is justified in requiring disclosures of information about political action committee contributions and expenditures. Plaintiffs, arguing their case before a federal appeals court Tuesday, say they should be free to express themselves on political issues without registering as a committee and filling out campaign documents.
FlaglerLive | March 23, 2013
The proposal cleared the chamber on a 75-39 vote, as four Democrats broke with their party to support the GOP-backed measure. The bill would boost contribution limits, allowing each donor to give $5,000 per election to a statewide candidate and $3,000 per election to local and legislative candidates.
FlaglerLive | February 18, 2013
Lobbyists collected at least $120 million to represent businesses and other clients before the Florida Legislature in 2012, with companies such as AT&T and the gambling industry spending heavily
FlaglerLive | December 23, 2012
A million more Americans voted for Democrats seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives than Republicans. That advantage did not result in control of the chamber. Redistricting and secret money were key to the disparity.
FlaglerLive | October 8, 2012
The last two weeks of September saw Travis Hutson add almost as much money to his treasure chest–$13,000–as Milissa Holland raised in the entire election cycle ($15,502). Sheriff Candidate Jim Manfre has raised $19,000 to incumbent Don Fleming’s $24,000.
FlaglerLive | September 17, 2012
In a surprisingly candid talk framed around the 225th anniversary of the Constitution, Flagler County Attorney Al Hadeed warned of the potentially corrupting influence of money in Florida’s judicial elections, and of the Legislature’s loading of the November ballot with 11 purposefully long and confusing constitutional amendments, a spiteful snub of the Supreme Court.
FlaglerLive | August 13, 2012
As the primary campaign culminates with Tuesday’s vote, the races for Flagler County Court Judge and Flagler County Sheriff have overwhelmed all others in money raised and spent, but with notable exceptions, candidates’ own money talked loudest.
FlaglerLive | July 17, 2012
Sheldon Adelson donated $25 million to the Newt Gingrich campaign and reportedly donated $10 million to a superpac supporting Mitt Romney, but the foreign source of the billionaire’s gambling fortune is raising questions about its financing of GOP contenders.
FlaglerLive | April 23, 2012
Many of the country’s biggest media companies, which own dozens of newspapers and TV news operations, are flexing their muscle in Washington in a fight against a government initiative to increase transparency of political spending.
Pierre Tristam | February 1, 2012
No wonder so many people don’t see the point in voting. While the rest of us play one man, one vote in democracy’s delusional sandbox, a bunch of donors who add up to a cocktail party’s guest list are sealing the campaign’s fate.
FlaglerLive | November 8, 2011
Nearly two years after a U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down key restrictions in campaign finance law, the Fderal Elections Commission still hasn’t begun the process of changing its regulations to comply with the ruling.
FlaglerLive | October 31, 2011
Jason DeLorenzo defended the decision to take the money, one of two of his largest contributions, saying he hadn’t seen it as a conflict nor had he thought about it, but conceding in retrospect that it was “a bad decision.”
FlaglerLive | October 14, 2011
Following a brutal legislative session that brought them to the brink, Florida’s public employee unions are shifting strategy and rewarding moderate Republicans in hopes of re-amplifying their diminished influence in Tallahassee.
FlaglerLive | August 26, 2011
Mayor Jon Netts is leading the money race with $8,600. Charlie Ericksen, his principal challenger, has raised $4,469 so far, with 18 days to go for the primary. Holsey Moorman, whose election isn’t until November, has raised $6,840 so far.
FlaglerLive | July 12, 2011
Super-PACs, anonymous donors, foreign donors, unlimited corporate donations, political fronts masked as non-profit charities: the new world of campaign finance opens the way for scandal and corruption.
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