Exposed: Geller’s Not-So-Secret Campaign Weapon
Ever hear of Floridians For A Stronger Tomorrow?
You could be hearing a lot from the committee if you live in Southeast Broward.
Floridians For A Stronger Tomorrow is former state Sen. Steve Geller’s not-so-secret weapon.
State Senate Democratic Leader Geller
Geller has around $100,000 sitting in the committee.
I expect he will be using that money to slice-and-dice County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger in their 2010 campaign.
Geller is fighting to take the southeast Broward county commission seat that Gunzburger has held since 1992.
Floridians For A Stronger Tomorrow is filled with soft money. That means folks who love Geller could donate any amount of money. There are no limits.
Money contributed directly to a campaign has a $500-per-person or entity limit. Those donations are called hard money.
The no-limit soft money was raised when Geller was the Senate Democratic leader, 2006-2008.
The biggest contribution: $50,000 from HCA Good Government. That’s the political arm of HCA Healthcare, a for-profit hospital corporation that has more than 40 facilities in Florida
Another big contribution: $30,000 from Mardi Gras Gaming Hall in Hallandale.
Geller reported $17,022 in donations on December 31 to his campaign, which must adhere to $500-per-person donation limits.
But that really meant he had $117,022 to spend.
Gunzburger filed papers showing $82,104 in donations to her campaign account.
Details of Geller and Gunzburger’s fund raising in the quarter ending March 31 should be released this week.
Remember. When you see those figures, you can add $100,000 to Geller’s total.
Details of Floridians For A Stronger Tomorrow are here.
I expect a Gunzburger supporter pro-Sue lobbyist Bernie Friedman, who has a history with such committees? to form a soft money vehicle to back her re-election at some point.
This should be a wild, wooly and well-financed campaign.
April 5th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
The interesting thing is for all these years he was up there in Tally on our behalf and we had no idea how sleazy he was. The minute he runs for local office all the lights get turned on and we see him for real. The more I hear about this guy the less I have any interest in supporting him. For anything.
April 5th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Before people like “The More I Hear” throw brickbats at Steve Geller, it would be good to remember that the racing industry is one of the biggest employers in southeast Broward where this race is being contested. It is natural that this industry would participate in the election in this area. Not only is it a major employer. Thousands of seniors enjoy the games daily. As far as the hospital group, Ms. Sobel, who replaced Steve Geller in the Senate, was put there by the medical association (doctors) who spent $1 million on her race.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:51 am
oh geez, the latest Buddy/David Brown spin…
Obviously, Geller didnt raise much this last quarter, after claiming he was going to out-raise Gunzburger. So now we get this latest: “remember, he has $100K more than it says on paper.” ROFL!!!
What will the next one be, are we going to learn that Geller has a plan to go door-to-door to every voter in the district???
April 6th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Who cares who raises what or how much. Bunch of nonsense. How much can one candidate actually spend on this race?
I would just like a commissioner to actually do something for Hollywood. Sue has done nothing for our city, even after she was a city commissioner. She has forsaken us.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:17 am
The only way Geller could make it door-to-door to every voter in the district is if it was Halloween and the voters were giving away candy!
April 7th, 2009 at 5:48 am
We don’t have to worry about the Geller vs Gunzburger race. The FBI will decide the winner, and then Sue will be unopposed. FBI will be knocking on Steve Geller’s door regarding Mutual Benefits very soon. Any day now. And that will be his end.
April 9th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Dirty Dirty Dirty must be Ron. The only two people who actually follow that dead end are Ron and Bob Norman.
Bob hasn’t produced anything more than an introduction. He doesn’t once mention that all of MB’s legislative bills were sponsored by Republicans.