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Florida’s top business lobbies split on gov race; Chamber gives McCollum $500k

Posted Jul 28, 2010 by William March

Updated Jul 28, 2010 at 04:15 PM

Florida’s top two business and industry trade groups have split on the governor’s race, with the Florida Chamber of Commerce endorsing Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination, and Associated Industries of Florida giving a dual endorsement of both McCollum and Rick Scott for governor.

The Chamber backed its endorsement with a $500,000 contribution to an independent political group that’s backing McCollum.

The two groups were choosing between two candidates who would both be likely to be business-friendly—McCollum has a pro-business record in Congress and the attorney general’s office, and Scott is an investor and former CEO of a major hospital corporation.

AIF President Barney Bishop said in a written statement today that its endorsement “has little to do with politics or a particular candidate’s likelihood of winning,” but was done “because we believe that either one would be generally supportive of our positions.”

For the Chamber, the endorsement is an unusual step—it hasn’t previously endorsed a candidate in a Florida governor’s race. Chamber President Steve Halverson of Jacksonville said of its choice of McCollum, “The single biggest thing was trust—we’ve known him for 20 years.”

Halverson wouldn’t make any critical comment about Scott or say whether or why the Florida Chamber board considered him inferior to McCollum—“This is an endorsement for somebody, not against anybody,” he said.

Some Republicans worry that in a general election, Scott could be vulnerable to attack based on his company’s record of having paid a record $1.7 billion in fines and settlements to the federal government on charges of criminal Medicare fraud.

Asked about the AIF endorsement, McCollum noted that Scott is a member of the AIF board of directors—“I think that had something to do with it,” he said.

In an interview, Bishop said Scott left the board about six months ago, but believes AIF members probably were influenced in their decision by his involvement in the organization.

On Tuesday, the Chamber dumped $500,000 into Florida First Initiative, one of several independent political groups backing McCollum, according to the group’s web site.