Florida’s GOP establishment continues to rally around Attorney General Bill McCollum, making big contributions to organizations supporting him against Rick Scott in the Republican primary for governor.
The News Service of Florida reports that both House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon and Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos have recently channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars to shadowy groups linked to Stafford Jones, the Alachua County Republican chairman through their own campaign committees:
Haridopolos’ Freedom First Committee recently took in $500,000 from three Broward County companies, but quickly transfered most of the cash to another political committee whose leaders are supporting McCollum in the Republican primary for governor.
Freedom First transferred $350,000 to the Citizens Speaking Out Committee, which lists Jones as its treasurer.
Cannon, meanwhile, contributed $150,000 to the Florida First Initiative, another group connected to Jones that has run ads against Scott. More from the report:
After Cannon’s check went out, the Liberty Fund was replenished two days later with a $100,000 contribution from the Florida Retail Federation Political Action Committee.
This time around, the committees Cannon and Haridopolos steer were each on the receiving end of $500,000 in contributions last week from three South Florida companies led by a pair of doctors, Paul Zimmerman and Gerald Glass.
