Why We Can't Win: Because POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES suck. By Geniusofdespair

One thing PAC's are teaching me, WE CANNOT FOLLOW THE MONEY! I am an excellent researcher but even I get bogged down in trying to sift through the money in these PAC's to see where the money finally ends up. It goes into one only to be funneled into another. Where it ends up is a dizzying trail. I stumbled on all these PAC's, in the graphic above, when doing a search on a David Rivera address. You can see mostly all are registered by Nancy Watkins. The same Watkins mentioned by the Orlando Sentinel,"Candidate for governor Bud Chiles took on political spending committees...standing outside Tampa accountant Nancy Watkins’ office and declaring it the site of “legal money laundering.”

I am going to go over some of these PACs but if you hit the links you can review their financial reports yourself. Basically political action committees (PAC's) and their sister, committees of continuing existence (CCE's), are used to both raise enormous sums from one entity and hide money funneling into campaigns for candidates. Also they fund campaigns to squash things we might like that business does not. We can never win in these well funded campaigns because people are not paying attention and expensive sound bites bordering on truth rule, as you can see in the graphic at left. Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy PAC (it had over $7 million dollars) and other pricey PACs led to the defeat of Amendment 4, Florida Hometown Democracy.

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Alliance for a Strong Economy
The purpose and mission of the Committee is to promote economic growth and job creation in Florida through sound fiscal policies, lower government spending and reduced taxation. The Committee is empowered to raise funds for the purpose of furthering these principles; to make contributions from such funds to those persons seeking public office, who by their acts have demonstrated an interest in implementing these principles.

The name that came up in a google search Alex Diaz de la Portilla. $73,000 went to Truth Matters in Miami. A lot of money went to the Republican Party but a lot of money came from the Republican Party. Oh, on Truth Matters, Truth Matters appears to be operated by Richard S. Cole of Miami. In June, the group took $73,000 from a state Senate leadership committee known as Alliance for a Strong Economy (it’s managed by Palm Beach Gardens council candidate Howard Rosenkranz) and sent nearly all of it — $69,800 — to Citizens Speaking Out Committee, another group run by Alachua County Republican Chairman Stafford Jones that is aiding McCollum.

Florida Liberty Fund
The purpose and mission of the Committee is to identify and support candidates, committees, organizations and political parties whose ideals and action reflect American values and responsible government. The Committee is empowered to raise funds for the purpose of furthering these principles.

Rep. Dean Cannon is the only associated legislator. The fund gave $250,000 to Let's Get to Work - our Governor. $650,000 thousand went to the Republican Party but $655,000 came from the Republican Party. They gave $50,000 to a Georgia PAC.

Preserve the American Dream
The purpose and mission of the Committee is to identify, construct and advance solutions to the fiscal challenges facing Floridians today. Runaway property taxes, skyrocketing insurance rates, rising costs of homes, uncontrolled government spending, and inefficient excessive regulation are suppressing the ability of Florida families in achieving their goals.

Norman Braman gave big to this Jeff Atwater PAC, about $25,000. Lots of money went to the Republican party but Public Concepts in West Palm Beach got plenty over $100,000 to do who knows what.

Let's not forget to note Ron Book's PAC, Floridians for a Better Tomorrow, with $594,409. Of that Ron Book himself got $125,000 for consulting. Winner and Mandabach campaigns got $200,000 -- in Santa Monica California?? All the money that came in was from the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

This is a link to a St. Pete Times article on soft money in Florida:

Atwater is one of more than two dozen lawmakers who together have amassed millions of dollars under a continuing anomaly in Florida' political fund raising laws.

While state election law limits individual contributions to candidates' campaign accounts to $500, there is no similar limit on committees of continuing existence or CCEs.