Gov. Scott and others keep quiet about hunting trips paid for by big sugar. (Photo via JAXPORT)

Gov. Scott and others keep quiet about hunting trips paid for by big sugar. (Photo via JAXPORT)

By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting

The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald published an investigative story this week about the secrecy surrounding a series of hunting trips frequented by state lawmakers that were almost completely paid for by sugar companies.

According to the Times/Herald, Gov. Rick Scott and other state lawmakers have taken part in trips to King Ranch in Texas that “were financed all or in part with contributions from Florida’s sugar industry, right down to the hunting licenses.”

However, when asked about these trips, Scott and others have not answered questions.

Michael Van Sickler and Craig Pittman with the Times/Herald reported this week:

Scott won’t answer questions about his trip. After weeks of requests from the Times/Herald, his campaign staff released a one-paragraph statement on Friday saying he had gone to King Ranch “in support of his political fundraising efforts.”

Also keeping mum: state House leaders who have accepted similar trips in the past three years, ever since U.S. Sugar leased 30,000 acres at the ranch and built a hunting lodge amid its rolling hills.

The urge to keep details about the trips confidential is so strong among Florida’s elected officials that Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s press secretary shut a door in the face of a reporter asking about King Ranch.

“You’ll have to talk to the Republican Party of Florida, since it was their fundraiser,” Putnam said as the door closed.

Yet Florida GOP officials either said they don’t know about the King Ranch trips or they won’t talk about them. Sugar industry officials declined to comment.

The King Ranch trips don’t show up on Scott’s or Putnam’s official schedules, or in any RPOF fundraising documents.

A Times/Herald analysis shows that since late 2011, U.S. Sugar paid more than $95,000 to the Republican Party of Florida for at least 20 weekend trips — destinations unspecified on public documents — within days of more than a dozen Florida politicians registering for Texas hunting licenses.

By not disclosing their King Ranch trips, officials and sugar lobbyists have avoided any scrutiny of their private dealings with each other and whether their relations influence decision making on state agricultural issues, including the future of the Everglades.

Besides Scott and Putnam, a couple of former and future Florida House Speakers, as well as the House’s appropriations chair, have confirmed being part of these outings. Others, including current Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, have not confirmed taking part in these trips.

However, the Times/Herald did spot that Weatherford applied for a Texas hunting license in past three years—and so did incoming House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island.

State Rep. Matt Hudson’s campaign committee reported a $600 expense at Hibler Wild Game, a taxidermist near King Ranch, about three months after he applied for a Texas hunting license. But, Hudson, R-Naples, is also not confirming a trip to King Ranch.

What underlines the importance of these hunting trips is the scope of big sugar’s influence on state and federal politics. The industry has received pressure from environmentalists for years for their pollution, but that kind of pressure has not come from politicians, as well.

One of the ways big sugar has maintained an influence is through campaign donations. As the Times/Herald reports, “during the 2014 election cycle, U.S. Sugar and its officers, lobbyists and corporate entities have contributed $2.2 million to Republicans state candidates, and $132,000 to Democrats.”

However, gift laws don’t make contributions as clear as cash donations.

As the Times/Herald reports:

Neither state nor federal law requires political parties to specifically describe contributions made as gifts of goods and services, otherwise known as “in-kind contributions.” It’s acceptable to report, for instance, a flight worth $4,200 as “air travel” without specifying the destination.

However, by comparing the dates of U.S. Sugar’s non-cash contributions to the RPOF with the dates when Florida politicians registered for Texas hunting licenses, a pattern becomes clear.

From November 2011 to March 2014, U.S. Sugar made in-kind contributions for air travel, lodging and meals to the RPOF valued at more than $95,000 for at least 20 weekend trips. Each one was scheduled within days of more than a dozen Florida politicians registering for Texas hunting licenses, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department records.

• On Feb. 11, 2013, someone registered Gov. Scott for his Texas hunting license. Four days later, the RPOF paid U.S. Sugar $1,029 for travel, meals and a hunting license, the only time in the past four years the party paid the company back. Records don’t explain the one-time payback and Hepworth would not answer questions about it.

Scott would not sit for an interview about his trip requested by Times/Herald reporters, and his press secretary referred all questions to the RPOF.

However, reporters hit many roadblocks once they were referred to RPOF. In fact, Susan Hepworth, RPOF’s spokeswoman, “refused to discuss documentation for King Ranch trips, telling a reporter, ‘Do your own job,’” the Times/Herald reports.

In short, most lawmakers, when asked, referred reporters to communications staff. In turn, the Van Sickler and Pittman got very few– if any– of their questions answered, which is a problem not unique to Florida reporters.