Why is the anti-Florida farmers ‘dark money’ group Bullsugar.org endorsing Senator Bill Nelson?

According to PR Newswire:

In the race for US Senate Bullsugar.org endorsed Nelson for his public acknowledgement that Florida’s flawed water management has fueled toxic algae and red tide blooms on both coasts, and for Nelson’s support for solutions that protect the health and safety of waterside communities, as well as the health of Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.

Who is Bullsugar.org?

This is a questions that two Florida newspapers have tried to answer.

TC Palm, part of the USA Today Network, in an article titled “Editorial: Bullsugar should be sweeter on transparency” wrote:

If Bullsugar.org didn’t exist, someone would have to invent it.

The group was formed in 2013, but it came to prominence this past summer as blue-green algae choked our waterways.

[ … ]

Judy Sanchez, spokeswoman for Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar, suggests it’s because Bullsugar and other Everglades environmental groups are working in tandem, likely all funded by the same “out-of-state hedge fund billionaire” (Paul Tudor Jones II) in an effort to push their “anti-farming, anti-rural communities agenda.

[ … ]

And its critics are complaining, we suspect, because Bullsugar has drawn rhetorical blood in its criticism and its activism.

Nonetheless, the secrecy doesn’t reflect well on Bullsugar’s cause. Given the severity of this summer’s algae crisis, it might have been tempting to fight fire with fire, to counter the sugar industry’s political donations funneled through myriad PACs, “grass roots” organizations and, yes, “dark money” groups with similar tactics.

Politico in an article titled “Targets of Bullsugar.org’s criticism wonder where group gets its funding” noted:

Who is Bullsugar.org?

The group supporting a water reservoir to divert and store discharges from Lake Okeechobee has brought harsh rhetoric to the debate on Everglades issues this past year after being formed just two years ago.

Group members have criticized politicians who have received donations from the sugar industry. But the group would not provide a list of its donors when requested by POLITICO Florida.

“OK, so, I can’t really give you a list of our donors,” co-founder Kenan Siegel said. “I don’t think they’d really want to be named.”

Bullsugar.org is a 501(c)(4) organization, which means it doesn’t have to reveal its donors. Such organizations in political circles often are called “dark money” groups.

The Nelson for Senate Campaign in an email stated:

Friends – our campaign has been outspent 5-to-1, and right now our fundraising is falling behind. If we let Rick Scott buy this seat, Democrats have NO chance to take back the Senate.

He and his right-wing allies have already spent more than double what my campaign spent in 2012, and recent polls show this race within a single point – that’s why this fundraising deadline is so important.

Perhaps Florida’s Senator Bill Nelson should come forward and ask Bullsugar to reveal from where it gets its funding in the name of honesty and transparency? Who is buying whose seat?

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