Sink creates political committee to raise money

Faced with an opponent who has already spent millions of his own dollars on the governor's race, Democratic candidate Alex Sink has created a political committee to raise unlimited funds on her behalf.

Sink filed paperwork last week at the state Division of Elections indicating her direct connection with a committee called "Hold Them Accountable."

The website for the committee indicates that it has raised one $500 contribution from Orlando lawyer and Democratic fundraiser Richard Swann. To date, it lists no expenditures.

Campaign spokeswoman Kyra Jennings confirmed that Sink is responsible for establishing the committee and is now raising money for it. "The campaign is following the rules, and being open and transparent with the people of Florida."

There are no contribution limits for such political committees, on which candidates increasingly rely to get around spending rules for campaigns. Barred from advocating directly for a candidate, the committees tend most often to bankroll negative ads to attack a preferred candidate's opponent.

Sink's opponent, Republican multimillionaire Rick Scott, established his own "Let's Get To Work" committee in June. By the end of the last fundraising period that ended Aug. 19, the committee had raised more than $12 million, most of which came from Scott's wife's trust, while Scott loaned his own campaign $40 million.

Scott's primary opponent Bill McCollum used two political committees, which raised about $6 million.

Since then, Scott's committee
has raised money from more varied sources, included $100,000 from the South Florida Stadium LLC in Miami Gardens and $10,000 from Psychiatric Solutions LLC, based in Tennessee. Scott has said he does not expect to keep spending his own money on the race, but has not ruled out the possibility.

Sink filed the state paperwork for "Hold Them Accountable" on Aug. 31, one day before Lawton "Bud" Chiles III announced that he would drop his no-party campaign for governor to endorse her. Chiles had launched a campaign to fight the influence of monied special interests in politics and slammed the use of such political committees
as "money laundering."

Chiles said Wednesday that Sink had not told him about her committee before he agreed to back her. He was unsure whether that knowledge would have influenced his decision at the time, he said, but he will not yank his endorsement now.

"I'm opposed to it," Chiles said of the role of such committees. "It's not in the best interest of democracy in our state. I understand she's doing what she feels like she has to do to win. It's just a sad comment on the system we have."

Sink has never claimed that she would not open such a committee. Asked by a reporter about the prospect on Sept. 2 during her appearance with Chiles, she made no mention of "Hold Them Accountable" but said, "if my campaign sets up a 527 (political committee), the contributions will be totally transparent."