Litigation

Judge: FL Candidate Can Get ?Matching? Funds

By Peter Hardin

A federal judge in Florida refused to block distribution of millions of public “matching” dollars to Attorney General Bill McCollum’s cash-strapped gubernatorial campaign, after McCollum’s multimillionaire opponent had sought intervention.

McCollum and Rick Scott are seeking the Republican nomination. Scott contended that Florida’s public financing law for campaigns violates his First Amendment rights because it requires him to curb his campaign spending or face a “trigger” that provides dollars to his publicly funded rival, according to a Miami Herald article.

District Judge Robert Hinkle “concluded that there is a greater public interest in preventing corruption by preserving the state’s public-finance system than in protecting Scott’s First Amendment rights,” the newspaper reported.

A similar provision in Connecticut’s public financing law was struck down by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week (see Gavel Grab), and Judge Hinkle said he couldn’t predict the ultimate outcome of challenges to Florida’s law. A challenge to Florida’s law or another state’s law could end up with a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, he said.

?I?m not at all sure the (Florida) statute will be upheld, especially with given the way the wind is blowing on campaign finance?I can?t end the uncertainty,? an Orlando Sentinel article quoted Judge Hinkle as saying.

A similar provision in Arizona law was upheld, however, by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see Gavel Grab). Judge Hinkle drew a distinction between the Florida statute and those in Arizona and Connecticut. He said Florida’s version for furnishing “matching” dollars to a participating candidate whose opponent exceeds a spending limit was passed in conjunction with a $500 limit on corporate and individual campaign contributions.

Florida’s public financing law “serves a compelling anti-corruption function,” the judge said.

Full post as published by The Gavel on July 15, 2010 (boomark / email).