Florida Dems cut into GOP's big cash advantage

By Aaron Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- The intra-party rebellion that ousted Florida Republican Chairman Jim Greer this month was fueled by images of limo rides, expensive meals, cocktail soirees at ritzy South Florida resorts, even cigars bought by the case.

Meanwhile, Florida Democrats are pinching themselves instead of their pennies.

Heading into a bleak election year nationally, the state Democratic Party raised nearly $6.8 million in 2009, a record total that cuts significantly into the cash advantage Republicans have historically held and helps illustrate why GOP insiders forced a shake-up within their ranks.

Democrats can thank an influx of powerful industries, such as Florida Power & Light, Progress Energy and TECO Energy, which gave a combined $400,000 in their bid to win higher electric rates and ease regulatory burdens from any renewable-energy legislation passed.

For years, big corporations such as these gave only sparingly to the minority party in Tallahassee, which relied on trial lawyers, labor unions and a handful of wealthy donors for money. But times have changed.

"We're a little more open to the business interests and trying to create jobs," said Rep. Ron Saunders, D- Key West, who heads up state House races for the party. "As we've won seats and are poised to win more, that has certainly opened people's eyes."

On the individual level, Republicans continued to outraise their Democratic counterparts: seven of the 10 best-funded candidates last year were from the GOP. Though Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Alex Sink led the pack with $5 million, compared with rival Bill McCollum's $3.27 million, the only other Democrats in the top 10 are Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber, and they're both running for attorney general.

But the RPOF has been rocked by criticism of Greer's spending, which Republican critics blame, along with the recession, for a funding falloff.

"Traditional donors, Realtors, attorneys have been off," said RPOF Vice Chairman Allen Cox, who is resigning after leading the charge to force Greer out. "But there's also less enthusiasm within the party.

"You can see they're raising money, but they're spending it equally as fast as they're raising it."

Overall, however, the RPOF's fundraising -- and spending -- under Greer seemed comparable to previous years.

The RPOF raised $13 million last year, compared with $15 million in the last off-election year in 2007. But that total was distorted by the pending 2008 presidential election. In 2005, the last off-year without a presidential election on the horizon, the party raised $11.9 million.

An Orlando Sentinel analysis of campaign-finance data shows the GOP spent roughly 91 cents out of every $1 it raised last year; by comparison, the Democrats spent 77 cents, one reason for their cash-on-hand advantage. But the GOP spending rate is virtually identical with 2005's, before Greer took over.

Still, GOP fundraisers say the party should be on much firmer financial footing.

Part of the problem was certainly Greer. Late last year, a dozen large donors demanded he resign in the wake of the big-spending charges (summed up by $725,000 in reported credit-card bills.) Critics who ultimately included gubernatorial candidate McCollum said the GOP would be financially hamstrung unless he was removed.

"I think it was frustrating for folks raising money. It seemed to go into a black hole," said lobbyist Brian Ballard, a chief fundraiser for Gov. Charlie Crist. "I think it's an indictment on how the party was run."

But Crist himself hampered party fundraising. When he plunged into the U.S. Senate race in May, the party lost its best fundraiser. And well-heeled business donors, especially utilities, have been furious with the governor's heavy-handed role in urging the Public Service Commission to deny utility-rate hikes.

"There's a lot of people in the business community that aren't happy with Charlie Crist," said Associated Industries of Florida CEO Barney Bishop, whose group gave Crist $200,000 for his 2006 election but has drastically scaled back since then.

Others say the economy was largely at fault. The GOP's top donors for 2009 remained Gary Morse, who owns The Villages retirement development in Central Florida and gave $500,000 to the party, along with utilities (which gave roughly $1 million combined), Blue Cross and Blue Shield, physicians, Walt Disney Corp. and phosphate companies.

But the Florida Association of Realtors' contributions dropped from $546,000 in 2007 to $170,000 last year. FAR Vice President John Sebree said the organization had lost 20 percent of its membership -- 40,000 or so Realtors -- and dues to its political action committee were down.

Last year was a tough year. Most Realtors are more concerned with making their car payments than to the PAC," he said.

Critics of Greer have blasted his active role in Crist's U.S. Senate primary with former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Under Greer, the state GOP shifted nearly $4.3 million into its federal bank account, which is used to pay for salaries, voter registration and other organizing related to federal campaigns. That compares with $1.6 million shifted in 2005, the last time there were open races for both a governor and U.S. Senate.

Greer's critics have questioned whether the money was shifted to aid Crist's campaign. But spending from the federal account is not disclosed until Jan. 31, and Greer did not respond to a request for comment.

"That side of the house was very tightly held by Jim," said Republican National Committeewoman Sharon Day of Fort Lauderdale, who is campaigning to replace Greer and blocked him last summer from steering party resources to Crist.

"We really don't know."

But GOP Executive Director Delmar Johnson said there was no help to Crist.

"There was no additional money spent to help one candidate over another," said Johnson, who is one of the 15 full-time and four part-time employees dismissed last week in advance of selecting a new chairman.

Those layoffs included gutting Greer's operations aimed at youth and minority outreach, as well as the party's field staff, efforts critics said largely failed to make up ground lost to Democrats in 2008.

Democrats amassed a 670,000-vote advantage that helped deliver the state to President Barack Obama, and have grown it to more than 700,000, while GOP critics contend there have been only token efforts to lure younger voters and Hispanics to the party.

Said GOP strategist David Johnson, "The new chairman has much catch-up work to do."