http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050414/NEWS/504140355/1060Democratic fund raising hits decade low
A Florida Democratic Party official says the dismal first-quarter results are simply a post-election "lull."
By JOE FOLLICK
CAPITAL BUREAU
jfollick@earthlink.netTALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Democratic Party has started 2005 with its worst fund-raising quarter in recent history, raising about $270,000 in the first three months of this year, compared with nearly $3 million by the Republican Party of Florida.
FDP chairman Scott Maddox was unavailable for comment Wednesday because of a family emergency. Party spokesman Allie Merzer said the downturn was expected after a campaign season in which the party raised millions.
"There's always a lull in fund raising because all the sources are tapped out," Merzer said. "The fund-raising goal for those first few months (after an election) is to raise enough to keep the lights on and the doors open as you start to gear up for the next cycle of elections."
This is the least amount of money raised by the party in any quarter since at least 1996, as far back as the state's online records go.
In similar reporting periods -- the first quarter following an election year -- the previous low came in 1997 when the party raised about $473,000. The previous low in any quarter since 1996 was $352,000 in the second quarter of 2003, shortly after Maddox took over the party.
Maddox is leaving in May, after revealing in March his well-known plan to run for statewide office next year. The former mayor of Tallahassee has yet to say if he will run for governor, attorney general or chief financial officer.
The party's power is at an all-time low in Florida. Democrats hold none of the four statewide elected seats and one of the two U.S. Senate seats that are elected statewide -- Sen. Bill Nelson's. And Republicans control the state House and Senate by a 2-to-1 margin.
Some have criticized Maddox's dual role as party leader and unannounced candidate, saying it hurt the party's ability to raise money from supporters of the two declared Democratic gubernatorial candidates -- state Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, and U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa.
"There's currently a void in the party leadership," said state Sen. Steven Geller, D-Hallandale Beach. "Obviously, people that are supporting either Rod Smith or Jim Davis have been unwilling to raise money for the party. I don't know why (Maddox) hasn't seen this."
Merzer said that's not the case and that Maddox has stayed focused on the party's health. "It really is a symptom of (donors) being tapped out," she said, adding there are no looming elections to use as a sales pitch. "It was a hard sell to sell to fund-raisers."
Both Smith and Davis out-raised the party in the first three months of the year. Smith raised about $350,000; Davis raised about $420,000.
House Minority Leader Chris Smith defended Maddox, saying the GOP fund-raising juggernaut makes it hard for any Democrat to raise money. "I don't think Scott Maddox could do anything about it," he said.
Rod Smith declined to comment on the party's leadership.
"That will be for others to judge, but I think they'll make those judgments," Smith said when asked if Maddox's lame duck role had hurt fund-raising.
"No one is going to be successful running statewide or locally if the party is crippled," Smith said. "It's critically important that we focus the party leadership on the success of the party, that we divorce it from any individual agendas."
Chris Smith saved his outrage for the big bucks given to the Republican Party. Among the big donors so far this year: gambling interests, which gave tens of thousands of dollars to the party as lawmakers consider setting a tax rate for Broward County slot machines. "That concerns me," said Smith, "that the Republican party has just totally given up to special interests."
RPOF spokesman Joseph Agostini called such Democrat feelings "sour grapes."
"My suggestion would be that the Democrats stop their bellyaching and do what we did so successfully," Agostini said, alluding to the Republican takeover of Tallahassee in the past 10 years.
A group led by Geller, Florida Mainstream Democrats, had sniped with Maddox earlier this year, declining to invite him to the group's first statewide meeting.
Maddox called the group, largely composed of pro-Smith, south Florida lawmakers, "liberals" who didn't understand how to win votes in rural north Florida.
Still, the group collected $44,000 in late February and early March and gave it all to the party. Among the biggest contributors -- $25,000 from the Miccosukee Tribe, which is angling to upgrade its casino offerings.
Both Merzer and Geller said the party shares the same goal with the "Mainstream" group of electing Democrats around the state.
The Democrat Party's filing with state Department of Elections this week contained the individualized salaries of the party's full-time staff. Contrary to both state and federal law, that information had not been reported since late 2003, replaced by a lump-sum listing.
This quarter's port showed Maddox is making $3,229.17 per bi-weekly pay period -- about $80,000 per year. Merzer said the party is revising old reports for both federal and state election offices to fix the omissions.
This is obviously one of those posts meant for StatesRights.
Thoughts?
