CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ADULT ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESSES NOT WELCOME

A lot of things happen in the crush at the end of a campaign quarter, as contributions flood in answering the response to appeals. But if you're involved in the adult entertainment industry and want to contribute to a statewide candidate, your money is generally not welcome.

Such is the case with seven $500 checks sent to support the gubernatorial campaign of Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher from companies affiliated with Penthouse magazine given during the last week of June.

And among 33 contributions above the legal $500 individual limit that Attorney General Charlie Crist has to return are two from Bradenton's Peek-A-Boo Lounge.

Democratic candidate State Senator Rod Smith of Alachua returned checks earlier in the year to the owner of a strip club in his home county.

It seems as though everyone wants to show that they are the purest candidate and most in favour of "family values". Of course, accepting contributions from men's magazines which feature nude women in provocative poses or strip clubs gives many potential supporters the idea that a candidate is somehow "soft" on pornography and not necessairly sympathetic to women, so it is understandable how a candidate would want to return such gifts and/or suggest that the owner make the contribution through another entity. In Gallagher's case, he is not returning 18 other checks given June 23 by real estate companies and other businesses related to or listing the same address as the headquarters for Penthouse owner Marc Bell in Boca Raton.

My question for all of the candidates is this: If one is so concerned about "family values", what are your ideas to improve Florida's public schools and reversing Jeb's work toward eventually privitizing them? Will you reverse many of the tax cuts given to big businesses so that our state can ease it's financial crunch and make improvements to our infastructure and our health system? These and other questions are on the minds of Florida's citizenry.