Attack ads on Jim Davis financed by Big Sugar

[seasat]

(LINK to Howard Troxler Article)

I'm talking about a sleazy mail piece aimed at Jewish voters with the headline, "Jim Davis Fails to Condemn Attacks Against Israel."

The brochure was sent by a group with the name of "Florida's Working Families Inc." Sounds noble, doesn't it? Working families.

But if you look it up, you'll find that the group has been bankrolled this year by a $50,000 contribution from U.S. Sugar and another $50,000 from a U.S. Sugar subsidiary, both based in Clewiston.

....

U.S. Sugar wants Smith to be the Democratic nominee instead of Davis. By itself this sets off warning bells and whistles.

Here's the reason the sugar corps support Smith. He ranked 39th out of 40 senators in the Florida Senate on his environmental voting record. (LINK) He is a friend of Florida's corporate farms. After all these years of Jebbie stymieing the Everglades restoration, gutting environmental oversight for developers, and other environmental atrocities, we don't need a Democrat that is just as bad (if not worse) in the governor's mansion.

[madfloridian]

1. Isn't that a rather convoluted assumption...big sugar did it for Smith?

Troxler assumes it, you assume it. Is there any proof on it?

[seasat]

3. There's also this from the Tampa Trib and Orlando Sentinel

(TBO)

Florida's Working Families, the committee that mailed the flier this week attacking Davis, is financed primarily by U.S. Sugar Corp., a company traditionally at odds with environmentalists, especially regarding the pace of Everglades clean-up and limits on farm runoff.

It's the second time U.S. Sugar has helped finance independent campaigns aimed at helping Smith. During the spring, U.S. Sugar and its citrus company, Southern Gardens Citrus, poured $295,000 into a political committee called Floridians for Responsible Government, which mailed out fliers praising Smith's record. The committee has since disbanded.

(Sentinel Political Buzz)

First, the industry steered thousands of dollars in contributions directly into Smith's campaign account -- including at least $14,000 from employees, family members and affiliated companies of the state's two largest growers, U.S. Sugar Corp. and Flo-Sun/Florida Crystals.

Then, U.S. Sugar and a pair of subsidiaries plowed $205,000 into a separate political group that paid for mailers and phone calls on Smith's behalf.

And now this: U.S. Sugar and a subsidiary pour $100,000 into another group that attacks Smith's rival in the Democratic primary, Jim Davis.

Smith's campaign says agri-businesses are natural supporters given his background growing up on a family farm. But the contributions have more than a few environmentalists and Everglades activists worried that the candidate may be too sweet on the sugar industry.

This is part of the reason why the Sierra Club endorsed Davis over Smith. Smith is very weak on environmental issues. His legislative record shows him supporting agriculture over environment. Smith would definitely be an improvement over Jebbie, but he won't get my vote in the primary. I think he should, at least, denounce this ridiculous attack on Davis.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. There will be plenty of missed votes to attack him over

If he wins the primary, the GOP will harp on his voting record.