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How ‘dirty money’ warps Florida politics — and what to do about it | Opinion
To understand how “dirty money” works in Florida, consider House Bill 789.
Filed ahead of the 2024 state legislative session, the bill would have protected polluters from property damage or personal injury lawsuits if the event that caused the harm was duly permitted by government.
So if permitted discharges from, say, a mining operation caused harm, those harmed would have little recourse. That would have been a huge benefit to mining firms like phosphate giant Mosaic.
Mosaic, in fact, doled out $177,500 in political donations on Jan. 8, the day before session began. It gave $5,000 to the “Heavens to Ocean” political action committee, affiliated with Republican Rep. Toby Overdorf,— sponsor of the bill.
Another $3,000 went to the “Friends of Tommy Gregory” PAC; Gregory co-introduced the bill. Sen. Danny Burgess sponsored the Senate version of the bill, SB 738; his PAC, “Defending Conservatism and Democracy,” got $1,000.
Thousands more went to other legislators and their PACs. In addition, the Republican Party of Florida got $25,000 from Mosaic, and another $10,000 went to the Florida Democratic Legislative Campaign — just in case.
Still, HB 789 faltered before the finish line. But it may return next session, and don’t be surprised if Mosaic jumps in again. with additional campaign cash.
This is a modest example of a major problem in Florida, where special interests give millions to politicians at the federal, state and local level with the goal of hopefully influencing policy. Often it works like a charm. And that keeps the money flowing, in obscene amounts.
VoteWater’s newly published Dirty Money Project tracked donations from polluting industries such as Big Sugar, the broader agricultural sector, the phosphate mining industries, the state’s biggest utilities, the “sprawl” industry and “polluter PACs,” committees which get significant funding from these industries.
Working with students from the Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at the Stetson College of Law, we determined that since 2018, Florida’s sugar industry has spent $36.7 million on political giving. That includes more than $300,000 to outgoing Florida Senate. President Kathleen Passidomo and her PAC; incoming Florida Senate. President Ben Albritton and his PACs got some $372,000.
Big Sugar’s largesse is exceeded by Florida’s biggest utilities; collectively, TECO Energy, FPL/NextEra Energy and Duke Energy have spent more than $55 million on political giving since 2018.
These figures don’t include lobbying costs or “dark” money spent on groups to help special interests smear opponents or influence policy.
Indeed, this is but the tip of the “dirty money” iceberg. This money warps our politics, ensuring that special interest priorities become legislative priorities while workaday Floridians see their priorities — like property insurance reform — get shunted to the back burner.
There are remedies. Floridians can visit VoteWater.org, find out how much their local south Florida politicians received from polluting special interests — and vote accordingly.
Already, some Floridians have decided that politicians too cozy with special interests should be punished at the polls.
In Manatee County voters recently ousted two commissioners deemed to be too close to developers. In Martin County, 24-year county commissioner Doug Smith, seen by many as a tool of developers, lost decisively even though his campaign raised $169,284 to his opponent’s $23,282.
Imagine if this became a trend, if campaign cash lost its potency. Imagine if we made “dirty money” so toxic no one would accept it.
Who knows? Floridians might even get their government back.
Gil Smart is Executive Director of VoteWater, a clean-water advocacy group headquartered in Stuart, Florida.
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