Is Charlie Crist buying the Democrat Party of Florida?

The August 26th primary nears to pick the Florida Democrat gubernatorial nominee. The race is heating up between Democrats Nan Rich and Charlie Crist.  The question for Democrat primary voters: Who are you going to trust – Nan or Charlie? Perhaps some background and new information will help Democrat primary voters make a decision.

Nan Rich is a life long Democrat. Charlie Crist is not. So how does Charlie become the Democrat favorite? Can you say money? Charlie Crist is inextricably tied to big money. His relationship with the law firm of Morgan & Morgan gave him access to those with deep pockets when he was a Republican and this close relationship continues now that he is a Democrat gubernatorial primary candidate.

According to News Service of Florida:

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and closely aligned political committee raised about $98,000 from July 5 to July 11, while continuing to funnel large amounts of money to the Florida Democratic Party, according to newly filed campaign finance reports.

The committee, known as “Charlie Crist for Florida,” sent $400,000 to the state party on July 8. That came after similar moves in past months, including $400,000 sent to the party in June. Crist’s campaign raised $61,059 from July 5 to July 11, bringing its overall total to nearly $4.2 million.

The committee raised $37,000 during the seven-day period, bringing its total to $10.16 million. Former state Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, Crist’s opponent in the Aug. 26 Democratic primary, collected $5,175 for her campaign account from July 5 to July 11, giving her a total of $408,704. A committee backing Rich, known as “Citizens for a Progressive Florida,” collected $25,000 during the seven-day period, bringing its total to $140,315.

[Emphasis mine]

So is Crist buying the Democrat Party of Florida? It appears so given the largess of the Crist for Florida campaign to the FL party in excess of $.8 million.

Crist is known to use money to make his way to the top. While the leader of the Republican Party of Florida he used and misused donations. In 2010 the Orlando Sentinel reported, “State Republicans moved the three-way U.S. Senate race to a new level Saturday, with party leaders pointing to an audit of their books they say implies Gov. Charlie Crist — now an independent candidate for U.S. Senate — ran up potentially ‘hundreds of thousands’ of dollars in inappropriate charges. Party Chairman and state Sen. John Thrasher said the expenses came to light during the just-completed forensic audit by Alston & Bird LLP — which was the examiner in energy giant Enron’s 2002 bankruptcy. He said the party may sue their former standard bearer to get the money back.”

As George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Crist uses money to get what he wants. At some point, history tells us, Crist will begin withdrawing his investments in the FL Democrat party. Is that what Florida Democrats want in their nominee? We shall see on August 26th.

UPDATE: CRIST COMMITTEE SHIPS ANOTHER $600K TO PARTY

July 25, 2014

A committee closely tied to Democrat Charlie Crist’s gubernatorial campaign raised $221,600 from July 12 to July 18 and funneled $600,000 to the Florida Democratic Party, according to newly filed finance reports. The committee, known as “Charlie Crist for Florida,” has sent a series of large checks to the party recently. Along with the $600,000 payment July 18, for example, the committee reported sending $400,000 to the party on July 8. Overall, the committee had raised a total of nearly $10.4 million as of July 18 and had spent $2.2 million. Updated totals for Crist’s campaign account had not been posted on the state Division of Elections website Friday morning.

Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign and the closely aligned “Let’s Get to Work” committee raised $221,695 from July 12 to July 18, according to the reports. And while the committee did not report spending money on TV ads during the week, it shelled out $213,752 to a Ponte Vedra Beach firm for yard signs. Scott’s campaign raised $200,695 during the period, bringing its overall total to $5,840,775. It also had spent a total of $1,051,206. The committee, meanwhile, raised $21,000 during the week, bringing its overall total to $32,980,927. Let’s Get to Work had spent a total of $19,080,722.

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