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Highlands Today

Grimsley, Alexander Raising Big Money

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Candidate signs garnish a yard off of Lake Jackson in Sebring. The primaries are Tuesday.

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: August 25, 2008

Updated:

So far, State Sen. J.D. Alexander has raised $337,000 against Scott Thompson, who has yet to gather $10,000.

In her July 25 campaign finance report, State Rep. Denise Grimsley has raised $107,000 in donations, versus Elton Gissendanner, who has only $100 in contributions.

"We expected it," said Highlands County Democratic Chairman Pat Hogan. "They have fundraisers, and they get a lot of money."

Incumbents have access to better fundraising machinery, said Susan MacManus, a professor in the Department of Government & International Affairs at the University of South Florida.

One political strategy, she said, is to raise lots of money early, to scare off other viable candidates. "People who could up with the money are not going to run."

Both Grimsley and Alexander have picked up $500 contributions from big corporations like beermaker Anneuser-Bush, drugmaker Eli Lilly, and associations like the Florida Hospital Association, the Florida Phosphate political action committee, and the Entertainment Software Association, whose members sell video games.

Florida law permits $500 per election, so contributors can donate $500 in the August primary, and $500 for the general election. Alexander and Grimsley are both Republicans, and neither has an opponent in the Aug. 26 primary. Both will face Democrats on Nov. 4.

But there is no limit on the number of total contributors, MacManus said. "No, because the courts have ruled that campaign contributions are free speech."

Similarly, there's no limit on how much money each candidate can collect, MacManus said. "An overall cap has ruled unconstitutional in some places."

That includes contributions or loans from the candidate. Alexander, an heir of millionaire Ben Hill Griffin Jr. the president and CEO of Atlantic Blue Trust and Alico's largest stockholder, has loaned his campaign $40,000.

Much of Alexander's contributions is political action committee money, but 92 percent is in-state PAC money: $309,587 of the $337,567 total comes from a Florida ZIP code.

The same for Grimsley: 37 of her 307 contributions are from out of state. However, only 85 are from 338xx ZIP codes - which include Sebring, Avon Park, her Lake Placid home - 334xx and 335xx, 339xx, which include Clewiston, Labelle and other towns in the four counties of district 77. There were 60 contributions from Highlands County, and 46 from Tallahassee.

Gissendanner is a retired veterinarian, the former mayor of North Miami, state representative, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources and a top aide of Gov. Bob Graham. He has written two checks to his campaign, totaling $20,000.

"This year, we're seeing a lot of self-financed candidates," MacManus said. "But it's not a new thing."

By putting the campaign contributions and expenditures of candidates on line, the state has made the election finance process more transparent, MacManus said.

Next, she hopes for immediate transparency. Instead of filing quarterly or monthly reports, she hopes the law will change to require candidates to file campaign contributions and expenditures as they're received.

Highlands County Republican Chairman Justine Devlin doesn't blame Grimsley for raising so much money. Much of that money will be spend on mailings, which involves expensive printing and postage costs.

"I guess it says that people like her," Devlin said. "I think she's done a pretty good job. She's responsible, she works hard, and she quietly does her work."

Campaign Finance Database

To find the campaign contributions and expenditures of any Florida candidate, go to http://election.dos.state.fl.us/campaign-finance/c...

In the box "Candidate Search," type the name of any candidate, or the office number.

Sebring is in state representative district 77, Avon Park is in state representative district 66, and Highlands County is in senate district 17.

Gary Pinnell can be reached at gpinnell@highlandstoday.com or 863 386-5828

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