Who Owns Our Keys Legislators?

We have probably all had our sneaking suspicions that money flows indirectly into the campaign war chests of just about every politician, and we accept it as a sad reality.  But with the advent of the latest “Internet Cafe” scandal that has led to the resignation of Florida’s Lt. Governor, we thought we’d take a closer look at some local campaign finance reports…and see where that money actually came from.  Let’s cut through the “smokescreen,” …so to speak.

A quick glance at Florida Division of Election reports of former Democratic House Minority Leader Ron Saunder’s contributions during his run for State Senate in 2012 would show countless entries from a variety of political Committees.  For instance, he received $500 each from some fine political organizations such as Veterans for Conservative Principles, Committee Supporting Utilities, Citizens for Housing and Urban Growth, and one of my favorites, Floridians for Preserving Sight.  These all sound like organizations with upstanding intentions, existing to influence legislation for great causes, I mean I support preserving sight, don’t you?  But from where did these organization receive the tremendous funding that they in turn donated to Saunders and others?  Would you believe a very generous organization called  Save Our Internet Access?  These groups received $4,100, $31,000, $95,500 and $44,500 respectively from this entity in 2012.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saving my internet access, but I’m not really sure I would donate money to such an organization to lobby the legislature.  So who does actually contribute to this group called Save Our Internet Access… who by the way slid $500 directly to Saunders as well.  In 2012, there were three major contributors to Save Our Internet Access, and they were… Innovative Entertainment of Ohio ($300,000), Arcola Systems ($110,000) and Frontier Software Systems ($150,000).

Is your curiosity peaked yet?  Well, so was mine.  Arcola was featured recently in a Miami Herald article about the “Internet Cafe” unregulated gambling scandal wherein it states… “Another chain of gambling centers, run by Arcola Systems of Florida, layered at least $864,000 in checks on legislators in the last two years.”  Innovative Entertainment of Ohio, (Also possibly known as Innovative Entertainment of KY) links back through a complex web of corporate docs, and business names and locations in Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, and Minnesota to one Mr. Olah D. Bradley.  That same name is on similar Arcola corporate docs from some of those States as well.  Also, according to CBS Tampa, in 2011 Julie Fess a former legislative aide to then House Speaker Dean Cannon joined Arcola as a lobbyist.  Isn’t that special?

Arcola filed a withdrawal of intent to transact business in Florida on Thursday, March 14, 2013.  (See Here)  Go figure.

For its part, Frontier Software has its contribution address as Piedmont, SC, but is registered with Sunbiz.org as a Georgia company, incorporated in Delaware, and as well in SC as a Delaware corp.  However, business website www.hotfrog.com has this description of a Frontier Software from Piedmont, SC…”Frontier is a leading developer of electronic sweepstakes products.”

There is nothing wrong with a candidate taking money from an organization whose cause they may support, but call it what it is.  Layering the donations to give the appearance that you are getting contributions from Veterans, or other social and humanitarian advocates is disingenuous.  There is a reason we have financial reporting, so that we can clearly see who is influencing our candidates and our elected officials.  Anyone not devoted to that intention has no right to serve in our Government.

So, let’s take a look at State Representative Holly Raschein.  You remember, Ron Saunder’s Senior Legislative Aide who went on to replace the Democrat as a Republican in the State House.  She based a lot of her campaign rhetoric on her experience working for and learning from Rep. Saunders.  Yup, she learned some things… maybe she didn’t use the identical playbook, as it appears she augmented it just a bit.  Like Saunders, Raschein enjoyed support from the Committee Supporting Utilities and Floridians for Preserving Sight, but she added a few of her own that were also funded by Saving Our Internet Access.  To take $1,000 from the Florida Conservative Leadership Fund seems normal, after all she is a Republican.  But add to those a group called Jobs and Prosperity for Florida, and another touching organization…because its all about the children…the Teachers United for Better Schools, a group that took a whopping $43,000 from Saving Our Internet Access (Ultimately Arcola et al) in 2012.

I asked Rep. Raschein simply “Have you ever accepted donations from any of the “internet cafe” gaming or associated companies?”  She bluntly replied “No, I haven’t.”  However, when I then described the money flow into her campaign from the Arcola Gang, she replied extensively.  While not refuting my analysis, she mentioned that she will be voting to close the “internet cafes” statewide.  Raschein also included this… “I received no contributions from any of the Allied Veterans-connected companies in my 2012 campaign, and I deplore in the strongest terms possible the harm those individuals and companies are alleged to have caused.   Some small percentage of the total amount contributed may have originated with those with business interests as you describe, but those companies have not been charged, and have not been a part of this investigation.”

What Raschein did not address was the mask, or any concern for the fact that her campaign did in fact receive funds indirectly from the “internet cafe” gaming companies.  Raschein’s initial response of “No,” would indicate that she either wanted to perpetuate the obfuscation under the confidence no one could make the connection, or she was truly oblivious to the source of her campaign funding.  It was the same well known lobbyist, David Ramba, who was behind most of these pleasant sounding organizations, and didn’t Raschein campaign on the fact that she was well connected in Tallahassee and knew all the players?

Also, as a Republican, Raschein served as the legislative aide to Democratic House Minority Leader Saunders, during the time it was in the news that her direct counterpart for House Speaker Dean Cannon went off to work as a lobbyist for Arcola.  But, but, but the campaign rhetoric says she knew all the players, especially Republican ones in the majority.

In an email, I asked Raschein if she had ever heard of David Ramba or July Fess.  She replied, “David Ramba but not July Fess.”  Realizing I had misspelled Ms. Fess’s name I clarified, asking if she knew a Julie Fess, while reminding Raschein that Ms. Fess was Dean Cannon’s Legislative aide.  I also asked how she knew David Ramba.

Representative Raschein stopped responding to my line of questioning.  I guess it all depends on what the meaning of the word “is” is, and Raschein didn’t want to “fess” up about her connections.

I am sure these fine upstanding glad-handing politicians with the permanent smiles encrusted on their faces will maintain they had no idea who was behind these organizations, and where the money had originated from.  I mean why would Democrat Ron Saunders think it odd he was the only Democrat to receive money from the Veterans for Conservative Principles?  No need to raise an eyebrow on that one.  Also, remember, this was just a quick peek at Saunder’s and Raschein’s campaign Finance Reports, looking into only a handful of the myriad of committees and groups that oil these VERY WELL financed machines.  Who knows what else lurks under the layers of intentional obfuscation?  Both these players are wise enough to know the mask exists, and who is behind their funding.

But hey, it’s nice to know that Representative Raschein’s campaign was financed by dedicated teachers wanting to improve schools such as lobbyists David Ramba and Julie Fess…and unregulated gambling “Internet Cafes,” of course.  I guess they go hand in hand.

That’s the way our system works folks, but we still keep electing these people because they have the flashiest TV ads, and the most roadside signs, regardless of whose interest they truly represent.  Surely it is not ours.