Under Investigation: The inside story of the Florida Attorney General’s investigation of Wilhelmina Scouting Network, the largest model and talent scam in America.

ISBN-0968713335 Paperback 512 pages $29.95

Charlie Crist Florida Attorney General

Charlie Crist accepted contribution from company under investigation. "Mr. Crist had seen no ethical problem with the fact that he has accepted $500, the maximum individual contribution, from three lobbyists who sit on the Florida Elections Commission that cleared him of two complaints. Last week, The Post reported that Mr. Crist had accepted not just contributions but cut-rate travel from a company that the attorney general's office is investigating."

Source: Palm Beach Post

Charlie Crist follows the money, loses interest in ethics

Palm Beach Post Editorial
September 5, 2002

With each revelation, it becomes clearer that Charlie Crist is unfit to be
Florida's next attorney general. Previously, Mr. Crist had seen no ethical
problem with the fact that he has accepted $500, the maximum individual
contribution, from three lobbyists who sit on the Florida Elections Commission
that cleared him of two complaints.

Last week, The Post reported that Mr. Crist had accepted not just
contributions but cut-rate travel from a company that the attorney general's
office is investigating. We would like to report Mr. Crist's response, but he
refused even to acknowledge questions from the paper's reporter.

The company in question is Advance America, which deals in so-called "payday
loans." Customers who need cash before they get paid write a personal check to
the company and postdate it. They get the cash, and the company charges
interest.

Attorney General Bob Butterworth began investigating Advance America in May
2000 to determine whether the company was rolling over the interest to raise
it beyond the state limit of 18 percent. Advance America has refused to comply
with subpoenas.

At a June 2001 fund-raiser in Fort Lauderdale, Mr. Crist received $1,500 from
Advance America and two other companies at its address in Spartanburg, S.C.
Advance America's lobbyist, who hosted the event, also contributed $500.

In addition, Mr. Crist reimbursed Advance America $57.60 for "travel." The
company would not disclose what sort of "travel," though one presumes it
wasn't for a rental car or a bus ticket.

Mr. Crist has accepted at least two dozen private plane trips over the past 20
months, each time repaying just a fraction of the true cost. It's a way for
someone interested in good government to get around contribution limits.

Someone who takes the office of attorney general seriously would refuse any
contribution that might be a conflict. The other Republicans in the Tuesday
primary have refused money from industries such as tobacco that the attorney
general's office is investigating.

Mr. Crist, who has used his position as lame-duck education commissioner to
campaign, takes seriously only his ambition for yet another office that he is
unqualified to hold.

Rather than hinder Mr. Crist's candidacy, the Republican Party of Florida has
aided it. GOP Chairman Al Cardenas criticized Solicitor General Tom Warner for
running billboards that note Mr. Crist's two-time failure to pass the Bar exam
and his disdain for ethics.

One must presume that since Mr. Crist leads in fund-raising and in polls, the
Republican Party would rather have a winner than an attorney general the
people can trust.

Fortunately, Mr. Warner, a former state representative from Stuart, and state
Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, are well-qualified and respect the office.
For Republican voters, the choice Tuesday is as easy as ABC -- Anybody But
Crist.

___________

See also:

• Take a look at who is giving candidates money
• Crist donations under scrutiny
• Charlie Crist follows the money, loses interest in ethics
• Once critical of free flights, Crist now explains own trip