TALLAHASSEE - Already lagging in the polls and facing possible ethics violations, Republican Tom Gallagher suffered another setback Friday, finishing dead last in fundraising among the four candidates for governor.
Gallagher's $45,740 in so-called hard dollars raised during July trailed fellow Republican Charlie Crist by nearly $290,000 and leading Democrat Jim Davis by about $150,000. Democrat Rod Smith raised twice as much as Gallagher.
Friday's news raised fresh speculation among Republican insiders about whether one of Florida's longest serving politicians will drop out of his fourth and likely last run for governor.
Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, is trailing by double digits in polls and last week the state Ethics Commission found probable cause that he violated state law when he bought stock in four companies that either had state contracts or were regulated by his office. A hearing will be scheduled in the weeks ahead.
Tom, do what's best for the GOP and drop out. Help Crist save money to take on the Dem winner. There's no reason to waste all of the GOP funds on a messy primary.
By STEVE BOUSQUET, KRIS HUNDLEY and ALEX LEARY
St. Petersburg Times
Published June 30, 2006
..."TALLAHASSEE — Republican candidate for governor Tom Gallagher owned stock in St. Joe Co. last year when he voted to rank some of the company’s vast land holdings as a priority for state acquisition."...
.."Gallagher, the state’s chief financial officer and elected member of the Cabinet, didn’t disclose his 4,000-share stake in St. Joe when the Cabinet voted on the land rankings Feb. 16, 2005. The $270,000 investment was Gallagher’s biggest gamble by far since he began playing the market using an online brokerage account four years ago."...
.."Gallagher declined to answer questions about the St. Joe matter."...
...."Ben Wilcox of the watchdog group Common Cause Florida said Gallagher should have disclosed his stock or abstained from voting on matters affecting a business in which he had a financial stake."...
...“I think the public probably would have some concern over that,” he said. “There’s the appearance that he either had inside knowledge or is acting in his own personal best interest.”
..."Gallagher is the subject of an investigation by the Commission on Ethics because he owned insurance stocks in 2002 while he was the state’s insurance regulator, and he owned stock in an energy company in 2004 when he voted in favor of the company’s project as a Cabinet member."..
Gubernatorial Candidate Cheated On First Wife, Used Marijuana
Associated Press
June 19, 2006
...."Gallagher said he did not recall exactly when he used marijuana, but that it was the only illegal substance he had ever tried."...
....."court record from 1979 when Gallagher's ex-wife, Ann Louise Gallagher, sought a restraining order.
Gallagher admits he cheated on first wife
By Aaron Deslatte
CAPITOL BUREAU
Tallahasse Democrat
June 19, 2006
..."The documents are partial transcripts from hearings during his 1979 divorce from Ann Louise Gallagher when he was a member of the Florida House of Representatives.
In the transcripts, a lawyer for Gallagher's ex-wife alleges the candidate, while intoxicated, broke into their Dade County home, nearly hit his mother-in-law and stole the family dog."...
Gallagher admits long-ago affair and marijuana use
By JONI JAMES
St. Petersburg Times
Published June 19, 2006
..."hearing appeared to have ended with the judge admonishing Gallagher, a Coconut Grove state house representative at the time, to stay away from the marital home, “You are a public figure. You don’t need any adverse publicity.”
There is also a partial deposition of a woman, Stephanie McBee, who acknowledges having an affair with Gallagher starting in 1978 that took place whenever Gallagher was in Tallahassee."..
Gallagher apologizes for 'bad choices'
By Brian E. Crowley
Palm Beach Post Political Editor
Monday, June 19, 2006
..."In one of those 1979 documents, a legislative aide testifies that she "began to date" Gallagher, then a state representative, in June 1978. The woman said she was living in a condominium owned by Gallagher at the time. Gallagher's wife at the time, Anne Louise Gallagher, found out and filed for divorce."....
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
Miami Herald
June 20th 2006
......"In a copy of a September 1979 deposition of McBee obtained by The Miami Herald, the former girlfriend testified that during 1978 and 1979, she traveled with Gallagher to Atlanta, Texas, California, Miami, Orlando, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware and Nassau in the Bahamas. She stayed at his Miami home for three days when his wife was in Michigan, and he gave her gifts."...
By MICHAEL FECHTER
The Tampa Tribune
June 19, 2006
...."Another time, Louise said she found cocaine in a drawer in Gallagher’s Tallahassee condominium. She showed it to Gallagher’s father before flushing it down the toilet, she said."...
By JONI JAMES
Published June 19, 2006
...."Asked whether she had ever used drugs with Gallagher, McBee didn’t answer after her attorney objected to the question."...
...."In the McBee deposition, records show attorneys for Gallagher’s first wife asked if McBee had ever used drugs with Gallagher. McBee never answered after her attorney, Tallahassee’s Wilbur Brewton, objected"...
..... "Brewton, who is a longtime Gallagher supporter and associate, declined to comment"....
"By MICHAEL FECHTER
The Tampa Tribune
June 19, 2006
...."remains infamous in the halls of Tallahassee. It came during a 1991 hearing on a sexual harassment allegation against Broward County state Rep. Fred Lippman. A witness testified that Lippman’s accuser claimed to have had sex with Gallagher on the hood of a gold Mercedes."...
"By Joe Follick
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau
.."Gallagher....1994 support of a sales tax increase to build new prisons."
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published July 3, 2005
..."[Gallagher]who used to oppose school vouchers and school prayer?"..
The St. Petersburg Times,
7/3/05; Orlando Sentinel, 5/22/05)
Gallagher, “…a longtime moderate Republican who used to call himself ‘pro-choice’ on abortion…,”
has said prayer in schools “causes a tremendous amount of problems”
By LUCY MORGAN, Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief
Published May 21, 2005
...."Gallagher supported a services tax and suggested getting rid of homestead exemptions."...
By LUCY MORGAN, Times Tallahassee Bureau Chief
Published May 21, 2005
....."Gallagher lost the Republican primary to Bush in 1994 after jointly buying ads that attacked Bush."...
Published Tuesday, February 28, 2006
The Associated Press
..."tax records also showed Gallagher had invested in insurance companies while he was Florida's insurance commissioner and in an airline that had a contract with the state."...
GOP hopefuls spar over school vouchers
Crist has been critical of Gallagher for reversing his views
Aaron Deslatte
news-press.com Tallahassee Bureau
Originally published on July 08, 2006
..."During his failed 1994 bid for governor, Gallagher opposed devoting public dollars to private, religious schools — one of a core of social issues where the formerly moderate-leaning politician has taken a hard right-turn."..
.."Since Gallagher finished third in that 1994 primary behind Jeb Bush and Jim Smith, the outgoing current governor has elevated school vouchers, home-schooling, and charter schools in the Republican Party's agenda.
"Tom has paid close attention to Jeb," says Curt Kiser, a lobbyist and Gallagher's running mate in 1994. "And I've heard him on several occasions say that since '94, he's seen how successful Jeb's been with vouchers."
..."Ralph Haben, a former Democratic House Speaker who once lived with Gallagher during their bachelor days in the 1980s, called Gallagher's transformation "part of what politics dictates."
..."Vouchers are a case in point: Crist supporters say Gallagher has long been an opponent of vouchers, while Gallagher says he's a born-again believer in the role private school vouchers can play
BY WYATT OLSON
New Times Broward Palm Beach
......"United Automobile Insurance Co. of North Miami Beach, a privately held company that provides personal injury insurance that's required for all Florida drivers"...
..."For years, the company has been the bane of policyholders, medical professionals......because of its refusal to pay claims."..
....Gallagher's ties with the company, however, go even deeper. During the 1990s, he earned thousands of dollars working for United Auto as a lobbyist. Last year, the company hosted a fundraiser for Gallagher, held in a skybox during a Marlins game.".....
Enough Experience To Know Better
Published Tuesday, February 7, 2006
The Ledger
..."Tom Gallagher ought to know better.
He ought to know instinctively that there's something wrong with buying and selling stock -- even a relatively small amount of stock -in a company that has business before the Florida Cabinet. And he ought to know that it's neither smart politics nor good government for a public official to spend a great deal of his time engaging in day trading."...
....Complicating Gallagher's case is a 1991 Ethics Commission opinion that indicates it is illegal for Cabinet officials to own stock in companies that have business before their agencies -even small amounts of stock."..
By DIANE RADO Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 8, 1998
..."In August, Griffin got a five-month federal prison sentence for his part in the scheme to funnel $381,885 in illegal contributions to politicians and candidates who could help his insurance company in Sarasota."...
...."Riscorp and its employees gave $109,189 in illegal contributions to Gallagher's 1990 Insurance Commissioner's campaign and his 1994 run for governor. Of the 96 candidates Riscorp helped, no one got more than Gallagher."..
"Gallagher employs subordinate
A fire marshal has run his rental properties for 11 years. A law school
professor says it doesn't look good.
By JONI JAMES and KRIS HUNDLEY
Published June 9, 2006
..."TALLAHASSEE - Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher employs one of his subordinates at the Florida Department of Financial Services to manage his six rental properties in Tallahassee, which
comprise 21 units."..
..."Two of Gallagher's tenants at a pair of triplex apartments off Rumba Lane in west Tallahassee told the Times that Lanway had used his state vehicle to pick up checks, which he does by the fifth of each month."..
.."Lanway, who is assigned a state vehicle"..
.."Under department policy, Lanway can use a state vehicle for incidental stops, such as picking up milk on the way home, but not other personal use."...
..."Under Florida law, state officers and employees are prohibited from "corruptly" using their positions to secure a special benefit. It also bans
conflicting employment and contractual relationships."..
"By JONI JAMES
Published May 26, 2006
..."She said she was leery then of becoming “another notch on the belt” of the divorced former Miami legislator [Gallagher]who long had a reputation in Tallahassee as a lady’s man."...
By JOE FOLLICK
Sun Tallahassee Bureau
May 28. 2006 6:01AM
...."labeled GOP leadership as a ''culture of corruption,'' citing myriad ethical and legal woes among state and national Republicans."...
..."In Florida, Bubriski noted GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher's day trading of stocks in industries he oversaw as a state official"....
By MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com .."TALLAHASSEE - An aide to state CFO Tom Gallagher admitted to recording a conversation between her boss and a Miami Herald reporter Tuesday without permission -- a technical violation of Florida law, according to experts."..
"Questions Plague Gallagher Campaign
Skip directly to the full story.
By WILLIAM MARCH
Published: Mar 11, 2006
...In April 2003, for example, Gallagher bought 30,000 shares of AES stock, valued then at about $140,000 total, during the three days before a favorable decision on the pipeline plan - a vote granting preliminary approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Gallagher bought an additional 10,000 shares after the FERC announcement. He sold all 40,000 shares at a profit.
..."In another example, during November 2003, Gallagher sold AES stock short - in effect, betting the price would go down. The move came just before a negative development in the effort to build the pipeline: The plan was criticized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which evaluated its potential environmental effect."..
....."Joe Ryan, director of research for Brighton Securities Corp. in Rochester, N.Y., calling such trading gambling...."..
And you believe that the newspapers don't have a similar hit list on Crist? They are just waiting till after the primary to launch it. The success of the vetting campaign on Tom will embolden them. Right now, it is a hit a day on Gallagher because he is the most conservative. Tom has not "gone negative" in spite of a lot of advice to do so. He has stayed with a positive agenda, and contrasted that to Charlie's lack of specifics. It is not a negative attack to doubt the sincerity of an AG who wants an "anti murder" bill.
Let me tell you something else that you will never read in the newspapers. That rehash of Tom's ugly divorce in 1979 appeared anonymously, mysteriously on the doorstep of a Tribune reporter overnight. The State does not commonly keep court records like this over this time frame. Attorneys might. The newspaper called Tom and asked for clarification. That is when called a preemptive news conference. You need to see this in the context of the larger war against the power of the trial attorneys. The Republican party of Florida is being set-up.
You can obtain a copy of Tom's NRA questionnaire from the campaign, www.tg2006.com. Tom doesn't support any of those things. And he does support your right to carry your gun to work in your car. Charlie does not.
