Earlier this week, Sachs Media posted a graphic on Florida House campaign spending.
The total spent on House races: $1.6 million
Districts with candidates at least spending a dollar: 93%
Districts with unopposed candidates making expenditures: 56%
State Rep. Michelle Salzman (R-Cantonment) is the second-highest campaign spender with $46.1K, behind Rep. Dennis Cooley (R-Ellington) with $112.5K. Democrat Francine Mathis has filed to run against her and has raised no money for her campaign, according to the Florida Secretary of State.
Shame on those donors that is supporting a candidate that called for the deaths of all Palatines. And who refused to help a community that’s dying from an environmental tragedy because there democrats and 98% democrats. District 1 we need and deserve better representation. And I may not have the money but I have a heart for the people and will and represent all of District 1.
A fascinating class project for some political science students at UWF would be to download all of the campaign finance data for all of the candidates for all local and state elected offices in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County and then identify who is giving how much to each candidate and try to assess what they may want in return. Voters would be repulsed if they knew who candidates were soliciting for money. Tallahassee lobbyists donate to state house and senate campaigns and then give elected officials the text of bills to propose benefiting the corporations paying the lobbyists. Investigative journalists do uncover and report some of the shady backroom dealings but nothing much ever changes. In January 2016, a local Pensacola real estate developer coordinated the donation of a big bundle of campaign contributions to a state representative in exchange for having a law amended to benefit the real estate developer’s pet project. A city council member who regularly met in secret with the real estate developer told me all of the gory details. I did verify the many donations using the state’s database and on the same date as I was told. The law was then changed. That’s how Tallahassee “works.” The same real estate developer also coordinated the bundling of money to a city council candidate in 2016 who immediately sponsored a 2017 change in a city law that benefited only the real estate developer. The council ignored that the change openly violated state law. If anyone wants to see who donated to Salzman here’s the series of links: https://dos.fl.gov/elections/ > Candidates, Campaigns, & Committees > Search Candidates and Races Database > General Election – 2024 Election – View List > State Representative > District 1 > Salzman, Michelle Lynn > Campaign Finance Activity > Submit Query Now. Up pops the list of campaign contributions to date. If you want to see how she’s spending the money, go back to the Campaign Finance Activity page and select “Expenditures” on the Select Detail Type pull-down menu. Then hit – Submit Query Now. Most of Salzman’s money comes from outside of her district. Why would Councilwoman Allison Patton who lives in downtown Pensacola give Salzman $250? Why would Dr. Ed Meadows who lives in Andalusia, Alabama give Salzman $500? Why would the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association in Tallahassee give Salzman $1000? What do they all want? Perhaps someone in the media should simply ask them.
Salzman seems reckless and irresponsible with her words and her money. What an embarrassment to Pensacola. It looks like she’s living off her campaign donations.