The St. Pete Times John Frank writes this morning that Alex Sink's 527 -Hold Them Accountable, Inc. - was created on August 31, a week after she officially became the Democratic nominee for Governor in Florida. But on September 2, two days after the group was formed, she told reporters that if her campaign opted to form a 527, those contributions "will be fully transparent."
In retrospect, the candidate wasn't being completely forthright. On the Times' website, Frank's blog post is termed, "Alex Sink's Double Talk." The article also says that the Sink camp wouldn't say whether the candidate or her hubby, Bill McBride, would put their own money into the group. These 527's of course allow candidates to raise millions of dollars from all types of groups, and are a legal way of getting around those pesky if obviously ineffectual Florida campaign finance laws that limit contributions to $500 (the lowest in the country by the way).
But is there really much of a story here?
More interesting to note is that Sink has yet to decide whether to accept matching funds legally allowed for her and all statewide cabinets under the state's public financing system. Why wouldn't she accept them? If it's legally available, shouldn't she? Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum certainly did, as did the candidates running for Attorney General.
The only reason why a candidate wouldn't is......hypocrisy? Obviously, that issue went out the window in the primary. Former Governor Jeb Bush, who had derided the public money available for candidates as "welfare for politicians," acknowledged that was what Bill McCollum had to do to compete with Rick Scott.
Sink has not (to this reporter's knowledge) criticized the state's campaign finance laws when it comes to matching funds, so she wouldn't be subject to the hypocrisy charge. Does she not want to take tax-payer funds that are legally available to her because it comes from taxpayers, and that might look bad? But she would go ahead and create a 527 where all types of people with all types of agendas can contribute? One does hope that it will be as transparent as she says she will be, or she would then justifiably be accused of "double-talk."
