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US Congress

Big Sugar gives big bucks to Rick Scott

June 20, 2024

“Red Tide Rick” Scott was no friend to the clean-water cause as Florida’s governor. Then he moved on to the U.S. Senate by barely beating incumbent Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson in 2018. Now he’s in a tight race for re-election;…

How ‘Dirty Money’ keeps the powerful in power

November 10, 2023

Here at VoteWater we’re hip-deep in research for our “Dirty Money Project,” and we’ve noticed something interesting: Both sides — that is, Republicans and Democrats — take money from polluting special interests. But the amount they get coincides with the…

Dirty Money: Both Republicans and Democrats are taking it

September 5, 2023

Executive Director Gil Smart gives a preview of what we’re discovering with our “Dirty Money” research – elected officials from both parties have taken plenty of money from Big Sugar and other polluters, there’s no partisan divide on this issue.…

Introducing the Dirty Money Project: Because dirty money = dirty water

August 10, 2023

As a VoteWater supporter, you’ve long known that dirty money = dirty water. Campaign cash from polluting industries buys influence in Tallahassee, Washington, D.C., even your local county commission chambers. This results in laws that protect polluters and prevent progress…

Will technology save us from toxic algae?

February 23, 2023

In a frightening 2009 article titled “Re-Engineering the Earth,” The Atlantic magazine predicted that as the impacts of climate change worsened, mankind would turn to technology for salvation. Perhaps we’ll pump pollutants into the sky, turning it a reddish-orange, to…

The election is over; the fight for clean water is not

November 9, 2022

The 2022 general election has come and gone; how, ultimately, will it impact Florida’s troubled waters? We’ll find out soon enough. Two VoteWater endorsed candidates prevailed last night; Congressman Brian Mast won re-lection to his 21st District seat; in the…

Un-endorsement: Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick said she wouldn’t take sugar money – then did

August 19, 2022

Our survey question to Congressional candidates this cycle was pretty simple: Special interests like Florida’s powerful sugar industry spend lavishly to influence elections, with “Big Sugar,” the phosphate mining industry and big utilities, among others, spending hundreds of millions of…

How Big Sugar hides behind the small farmer

May 19, 2022

The counterattack was inevitable – and utterly predictable. While the billionaire sugar barons haven’t deigned to comment on the “No Big Sugar Money” campaign which launched last week, they’ve sent their surrogates out to spin. Predictably, it’s been picked up…

Why we need to end the influence of ‘Big Sugar’

May 13, 2022

Florida Sportsman publisher – and VoteWater Board President – Blair Wickstrom makes the case: In 2020 alone, Florida’s sugar industry — the home of Big Sugar — put at least $11 million into congressional campaign coffers. This happened on both…

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