Ben Wilcox
Ben Wilcox
against battle cancer event fund help hundred raise research year
This exceptional event will help fund research in the battle against cancer. Each year more than a hundred racers come out and raise more than $20,000 in just one day.
allowed bush campaign financing florida funding meant money party public raised stopped
Bush raised money up to that level, then stopped and allowed the party to take over the funding of the campaign and the advertising. After that point, public financing in Florida has not really been doing what it was meant to do in the beginning.
charge issue partisan power
It's not a partisan issue, it's a power issue - who's in charge at the time.
business gets
It's where the real business in Tallahassee gets transacted.
current political power process question
It (the current system) is a question of who's in power and who is able to use the process for political purposes.
behind campaigns cost encourage financing hold levels people public
The whole idea behind public financing was to hold down the cost of campaigns and encourage more people to participate. Now they've escalated campaign fund-raising to levels we've never seen.
build campaign due potential realistic situation war winning
The most realistic situation could be is that potential challengers don't see the possibility of winning due to the campaign war chests that the incumbents build up.
across among consensus lines mean party
That's going to mean that there's going to have to be some consensus across party lines and among independents.
basically discourage protect rigged system
The system has basically been rigged to protect incumbents and discourage competition.
meet pay people
People are still going to meet in restaurants. They may just have to pay their own way.
benefit citizen directly due expected fact jobs leaves outside room standard weak wiggle
I would characterize the conflict-of-interest standard as pretty weak in the Legislature. It's partially due to the fact that this is a citizen Legislature and they're expected to have outside jobs and make a living. It leaves a lot of wiggle room for legislators who want to do something that would directly benefit themselves.
basic booth common conflict draw interest voters voting
When voters go into the voting booth and they read what's being proposed, it's going to be like common sense to them. It's a basic conflict of interest for legislators to draw their own districts.
campaign committees finance giving help hoping interests people power return special typical wealthy
It's kind of typical campaign finance in Florida. You find these wealthy special interests who are giving to committees and candidates, people with power to help them. . . . They're doing it as an investment, hoping for a return on their investment.
committee disclose intent law money parties require spending
It's kind of troublesome. They're getting around the intent of the law to require that parties and committee disclose what they're spending their money on.