Transparency in Campaign Fundraising

Campaign Finance Reform

The people of Orange County ought to know who is contributing to the candidates running for the most powerful positions in local government. Unfortunately, state law that allows contributors to hide their identities, and circumvent the $500 contribution limit.

It is common in the development industry, for example, for individuals to set up what are called Limited Liability Companies (LLCs). It makes good business sense for developers to set up a separate LLC for each property they own, but when business owners use these LLCs to contribute to campaigns, it makes it easy to disguise the identity of the person behind those contributions. And when one developer sets up 10, 20, even 50 or more LLC's and makes contributions from each, it certainly gives the appearance that there is a "pay to play" system in Orange County.

I've seen the damage this system has done to the trust our citizens have in their government -- and I'm not alone. When State Attorney Lawson Lamar raised concerns about the influence these large campaign contributions have on our government, I proposed several options for local legislation. One option was to limit contributions to one per heartbeat. Another option was to require contributing shell companies to disclose the names of individuals holding a significant interest in the company.

Unfortunately, the County Commission was unwilling to adopt such limits or transparency requirements. Those opposed to this proposal argued that any candidate could self impose these limitations. But the problem with self-imposed limitations is that if all candidates don't adopt them, those that do will likely raise significantly less money to get their message and platform out to the voters, hindering their chance to win. So those candidates willing to abide by a higher level of transparency, would likely be at quite a disadvantage.

So much for "May the best man (or woman) win."

However, I assure you that I will continue to fight for a system in which the people have a right to know who has contributed to each candidate and the true amounts of those contributions. To compete on a somewhat level playing field while providing you crucial information about the sources of my contributions, I have provided, below, a direct link to the Orange County Elections' website, where you can view all contributions and expenses for my campaign. I will also provide links to the Division of Corporations' websites, where you can obtain all public information available on each corporation.

Orange County Supervisor of Elections –
http://www.ocfelections.com/Elections/announced_2010_county_candidates.htm

Florida Department of State Division of Corporations –
http://www.sunbiz.org/corinam.html