If it's being done just to hide their real vote, I don't think that's the way to go. I find it kind of hard to imagine that there would be that many people that would be fooled by it.
People are still going to meet in restaurants. They may just have to pay their own way.
I just don't think businesses spend money like that just in the interest of good government and helping people get their ideas out. I think they're looking for a return on their investment. They're shopping in this case for a governor -- somebody willing to give them access.
It's kind of typical campaign finance in Florida. You find these wealthy special interests who are giving to committees and candidates, people with power to help them. . . . They're doing it as an investment, hoping for a return on their investment.
I think we've seen in this session and in past sessions a kind of an arrogance from the legislature that they know best rather than the people. They don't trust the people to make decisions in their own interest.
We had hoped that the people of Florida would have an opportunity to speak on this question, whether they want self-interested politicians drawing their own districts. We just have to go back to the drawing board.
The whole idea behind public financing was to hold down the cost of campaigns and encourage more people to participate. Now they've escalated campaign fund-raising to levels we've never seen.
The losers are the people of Florida. We were trying to get a chance to take some of the power away from the politicians and put it in the hands of the people.