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Plate I · The Office, Lit
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The Lead · Politics · Statewide
From Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, 16 donors gave Byron Donalds’ PAC $100,000 or more each, $3,575,000 in all; Big Sugar, GOPAC and the auto-insurance agency wrote $1,250,000 of it (Division of Elections; our sums). Then the state’s Oct. 9 matching-funds distribution sent Democrat David Jolly six times what it sent Donalds (Florida Department of State; our arithmetic).
Byron Donalds, the Republican nominee for governor, took 16 checks of $100,000 or more into his political committee in the four days from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, $3,575,000 in all, from donors including GOPAC, U.S. Sugar’s PAC, the Florida Chamber of Commerce Alliance, Associated Industries of Florida, Mosaic and a Miami Gardens auto-insurance agency that wrote $500,000 (Division of Elections; our sum). Then the state’s Oct. 9 matching-funds distribution, public money the law backs with state general revenue, sent Democrat David Jolly $241,431.51 and Donalds $38,888.16, about six
times as much to Jolly, with the Nov. 3 vote three weeks out (Florida Department of State; s. 106.32; our arithmetic). The match counts only the first $250 from each Florida…
Old Florida Money desk · Mon Oct 12 · Contribution rows as of about 7 a.m. ET Oct. 12 · Sources: Florida Division of Elections; Florida Department of State; Florida Statutes ss. 106.32, 106.33, 106.35 and 20.121; Florida Office of Insurance Regulation; WESH 2; Florida Politics
Read the full story
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Plate II · The Sealed Presentment
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Money Pulse
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Hope Florida: DeSantis hails the order erasing the report; the court calls Centene’s $10M “never public money”
The 1st District Court of Appeal’s Oct. 7 ruling, not yet final, says Hope Florida passed the $10M as $5M grants to Secure Florida’s Future and Save Our Society From Drugs, which gave to Keep Florida Clean; on Oct. 8 DeSantis called it “probably the biggest judicial smackdown that I have ever seen” (1st DCA opinion; CBS12; WLRN). Rep. Alex Andrade’s IRS whistleblower claim has no reported finding, and State Attorney Monique Worrell said Oct. 7, before the ruling, that her office is reviewing the money (WLRN; Bay News 9).
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Amendment 3 goes local: Seminole’s vice mayor calls Rep. Berny Jacques “the shame of Seminole”
Jacques’s legal threat over the city’s Amendment 3 web page got links pulled at a Sept. 30 special meeting, and Vice Mayor Chris Burke said he is “not our representative” (Tampa Bay Times). Statewide, Florida Realtors remain the only donor to Vote Yes on 3, at $19.5M, and the yes side has outspent the two no committees about 22.4 to 1 through Oct. 2 (Division of Elections; our arithmetic).
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Ken Griffin’s reported $1.1B Wynwood land buy is headed for a Carnegie Mellon campus
Griffin’s $3B Carnegie Mellon gift puts $2B, land value included, toward a Wynwood campus and $1B toward Pittsburgh (AP; CMU; Refresh Miami). On Oct. 7 he gave Baptist Health $25M more, $75M in all, and his Miami Beach helipad goes to the Planning Board Nov. 3 (Baptist Health; Miami Herald).
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FPL’s parent gets its Florida politics memo read only at its lawyers’ offices in Virginia
On Oct. 8 Virginia’s chief hearing examiner let NextEra and Dominion show the 2021 “Robo Memo,” which alleges misconduct tied to Florida political activity and which NextEra says it found no credible evidence for, to opponents of their $67B merger only in person, with no copies (Virginia SCC; Utility Dive). José Javier Rodríguez, who lost a 2020 state Senate race by 32 votes in the ghost-candidate scheme and now runs for attorney general, says it “would absolutely be really relevant to voters” (Miami Herald).
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Boca’s GEO Group sold ICE its Adelanto detention complex for $950M, and keeps running it
The sale of 2,644 beds to Homeland Security signed and closed Oct. 2; GEO expects about $705M after taxes and fees, raised its buyback authorization to $1.25B and says it is in an active process to sell ICE more of the centers it owns, none named (GEO 8-K; Commercial Observer; Bisnow). Its 10-K lists one Florida site it owns for ICE, the 700-bed Broward Transitional Center in Deerfield Beach (GEO 10-K).
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The Rays host Cleveland in ALCS Game 1 Monday; their ballpark’s sales-tax hearing has no date
Drew Rasmussen faces Foster Griffin at 8 p.m. at Tropicana Field after the Guardians beat the White Sox 2-0 in Game 5 (MLB.com; MLB box score). In Hillsborough, the hearing that must come before $360M of the county’s half-cent sales tax goes to the $2.36B ballpark had no new date as of Oct. 11, and bond validation has no firm completion date (Tampa Bay Times; Sports Business Journal).
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Plate III · The Homestead, Held
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This edition, by desk
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On Amendment 3, the yes side has outspent the no side about 22 to 1; in Seminole, the vice mayor called state Rep. Berny Jacques “the shame of Seminole” after his legal threat pulled links off the city website. Larry Ellison is asking a North Palm Beach record $165M for his Seminole Landing estate.
Florida Realtors are still the only donor behind the homestead amendment, now $19.5 million, and two polls put it short of the 60 percent it needs
Ellison and MacNeil split a Manalapan lot for $66.4M, then kept assembling
Open the Houses desk
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Who pays, and who answers for it. Sixteen donors gave Byron Donalds’ PAC $100,000 or more each in four days, $3,575,000 in all, and the state’s Oct. 9 match sent David Jolly six times Donalds’ share. DeSantis hails the order erasing the Hope Florida report; Isaias left Citizens’ $3.56B of Panhandle exposure (Aug. 31) in play; Boca’s GEO Group sold ICE its Adelanto complex for $950M and keeps running it; and FPL’s parent won a lawyers’-office-only reading of its Florida politics memo in Virginia.
The Lead, above
Hope Florida grand jury report ordered erased; appeals court calls the $10M “never public money.” An IRS claim is still open
Isaias came ashore near Destin. Here is who carries the wind bill, and what you pay first
Byron Donalds’ PAC sent Florida’s GOP $24 million in September as his spending passed $100 million
Boca’s GEO Group sells ICE its own Adelanto detention complex for $950 million, and keeps running it
FPL’s parent wins a lawyers’-office-only reading of its Florida politics memo in Virginia
Open the Politics desk
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The Rays host the Cleveland Guardians in ALCS Game 1 at 8 p.m. Monday while Hillsborough still has no date for the sales-tax hearing on their ballpark. The Seminole Tribe’s suit accuses DraftKings of secretly bankrolling years of challenges to its compact.
The Rays host Cleveland for the pennant. Hillsborough still has no date for the sales-tax hearing on their ballpark
The Seminole Tribe sues DraftKings and accuses CEO Jason Robins of racketeering, calling its Florida app an illegal sportsbook
Open the Teams desk
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Ken Griffin paid Moishe Mana a reported $1.1B for Wynwood land that counts toward his $2B Carnegie Mellon campus gift, gave Baptist Health $25M more and has a Nov. 3 Planning Board date for his Miami Beach helipad. Forbes ranks Jeff Bezos Florida’s richest at about $378B.
Ken Griffin’s Miami fortnight: the Wynwood land under his Carnegie Mellon campus, $25 million more for Baptist Health and a helipad fight
Bezos is still Florida’s No. 1 at $378B; the Forbes 400 maps who moves Florida money
Open the People desk
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Advertisement · Oaktree Reserve
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A Florida story. A present-day invitation to plan what follows.
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Watch the film · 0:30
John Ringling had approximately $300 cash on hand at his death in 1936; this was not his estate’s total value. His home and museum transferred to Florida in 1946 after years of estate administration.
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Historical source, imagery and transcript
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Old Florida Money is Oaktree Reserve’s public Florida capital brief: the named checks behind houses, teams, races, and public votes across the state.
Plates are painted illustrations, not depictions of the people named in the stories.
St. Petersburg · Est. MMXXV
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