David Sirota found "
rich investors donated big money to a political action committee Scott was chairing right after the governor directed hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding in their direction. That sort of transaction is likely illegal thanks to a 2010 federal rule."
Enough to disqualify SCOTT from running for U.S. Senate.
Thanks to investigative reporters David Sirota and Jerry Iannelli and to campaign fund tracking group MapLight.
RICHARD LYNN SCOTT has about as much chance of being elected to the Senate as a hog caught under a gate. Take this in: "
rich investors donated big money to a political action committee Scott was chairing right after the governor directed hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding in their direction. That sort of transaction is likely illegal thanks to a 2010 federal rule."
Gov. Rick Scott Might Have Blatantly Broken Federal Anti-Corruption Rules
In short, Sirota found that a few rich investors donated big money to a political action committee Scott was chairing right after the governor directed hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding in their direction. That sort of transaction is likely illegal thanks to a 2010 federal rule.
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In return, the CEOs of
both investment firms donated
a combined $55,000to Scott's New Republican political action committee during this election cycle. Scott began chairing the PAC in May 2017, though his campaign says he stepped down from that position in February 2018.
But things get slightly more complicated from there: The rule allows investors to donate to "third-party" groups as long as those groups aren't technically affiliated with any actual candidates. But the SEC also stipulates it's not legal for anyone to donate to a third-party group or PAC if that donation is obviously designed to skirt the basic anti-corruption provision — and it sure seems like that's what happened in this case with Scott.
At least one government ethics expert with the group Public Citizen told Sirota and Perez that this instance appears to be a "very clear case of close coordination and circumvention of the pay-to-play rule," but it's basically up to the SEC to decide whether to take action.
Regardless, Scott and his campaign ought to explain to the public just what happened here. Spokespeople for Scott's campaign and the New Republican PAC did not immediately respond to calls and messages from New Times today.
But Scott's New Republican has already been in the news this week, after the group End Citizens United filed a Federal Election Commission complaint alleging the third-party New Republican is actually closely coordinated with the Scott campaign. (PACs are legally supposed to be independent entities working by themselves to support candidates of their choosing.)
Though it's certainly true that PACs for both mainstream Republicans and Democrats are often closely affiliated with candidates' campaigns (even though this is technically not allowed), activists with End Citizens United
say Scott's campaign blatantly and overtly coordinated with New Republican by sharing a mailing address, conducting a pro-Scott poll in March (before he announced his candidacy), and regularly meeting with him until March in order to "run around election law."
Jerry Iannelli is Miami New Times' daily-news reporter. He graduated with honors from Temple University. He then earned his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. He moved to South Florida in 2015.
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