A.G. Gancarski
There are no polls, as far as I know, in the all-important Duval County Republican Executive Committee race. But based on an email going around this weekend, it’s fair to assume that state Rep. Lake Ray III might have the inside track in Monday night’s election.
With the party poised to pick its third chairman in less than a year, after the departures of Rick Hartley and Robin Lumb, the head position in the Duval County Republican Party has not been the watchword for stability. The email, sent from a “Marshall Feltman” with the email address “[email protected],” played on those fears regarding Representative Ray:
“When Lake Ray tells you he wants to run for Chairman of the Duval County Republican Party, he proudly does so with emails that carry a banner of his picture and his title as an elected member of the state Legislature.”
Well, that sounds good so far. But wait, there’s more.
“What he fails to mention is that his responsibilities as a sitting State Representative will take him to and keep him focused on Tallahassee for a minimum of 4½ months during this election cycle, and there are already calls for at least 2 additional special sessions in 2016.”
When contacted on Sunday, those “calls for” two special sessions next year were news to Ray.
The email continues.
“What he also fails to mention is that during all general and special sessions, he is legally prohibited from fundraising. Will this have an effect on Duval County? Absolutely! How do we know?”
The email then includes an excerpt from a Tampa Bay Times article “which discusses the hardship in fundraising that elected State Representative and RPOF Chairman, Blaise Ingoglia, has experienced.”
Since January, when new chairman Blaise Ingoglia took over, the party has raised just $7.2 million. While well ahead of the Florida Democratic Party’s $4.3 million year-to-date fundraising efforts, the numbers are more than $1 million shy of what party fundraising was heading into the 2012 presidential election cycle. Most years, the RPOF has raised at least $8.4 million by July.
Ingoglia has been hampered by the fact that he is also a member of the Florida House of Representatives. When the Legislature is in session, the Spring Hill Republican is barred from raising money by legislative rules. The Legislature met from March to May, then again in special session in June. More specials sessions are on tap this month and in October.
Ingoglia said the special session in June definitely got in the way of him rebuilding the party’s financial infrastructure, one of his goals when he took over.
The email was not news to Ray.
“A friend just sent me this email. Looks like there is no mystery that Karyn [Morton, an opponent for chair] is sending this around. I think it’s interesting that there have been calls for 2 special sessions in 2016. I haven’t heard of anyone suggesting special sessions next year let alone one being called,” he wrote.
“First, it would be unusual for even one but especially three special sessions to be called before the Legislature even convenes its regular session as special sessions are called when the legislature is unable to complete its business during the regularly scheduled time,” Ray continued. “That is the case here and I am unaware of any special session being called for 2016.”
Ray went on to “suspect that whoever is spreading such misinformation either does not understand how the legislature works or has a political agenda that they are pushing! Shocking I know that there would be politics in politics.”
Regarding the fundraising issue raised in the article excerpt, Ray was unconcerned.
“I have raised money for myself as a candidate, other candidates and the party now for almost twenty years and have learned that the most important thing in fund raising is getting your phone calls returned. The donors in this city know me, trust me and will return my calls and ultimately work with me as Chairman to help build and grow our local Republican party.”
