Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum — locked in an increasingly tough Republican gubernatorial primary with former hospital CEO Rick Scott — could be about to find his campaign in some legal trouble, according to the St. Petersburg Times. That’s not be the best situation for the state’s top law-enforcement officer to find himself in while be battles for position on the campaign trail.
From the Times’ report, based on “documents obtained” by the paper:
McCollum is using his name to solicit contributions for the Florida First Initiative, which is airing attack ads against rival Rick Scott…despite his campaign’s suggestion that they are not affiliated.
The paper reports that McCollum’s finance director’s name appears on an email solicitation for the Florida First Initiative, along with the implication that McCollum’s campaign is soliciting funds for the supposedly independent 527 group.
That “flies in the face” of Florida election law, according to the Times.
A spokesperson for McCollum “wouldn’t answer questions other than to say Florida First Initiative ‘is not run by our campaign,” the paper reports.
Should the connection prove to be illegal, it would be only the latest scandal to grip Florida politics this year, especially on the Republican side. But it could prove especially embarrassing to McCollum, who the Times reports “prides himself on his public disclosure record.”
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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