Veterans' Group asks Rick Scott to return $500K contribution

Group asks Rick Scott to return $500K contribution
Tampa Bay Times
Katie Sanders, PolitiFact
Florida Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 10, 2013

A liberal veterans group called on Gov. Rick Scott to return a $500,000 campaign check from St. Petersburg mogul (and Vietnam veteran) Bill Edwards, saying Scott should not take the money following news of Edwards' company being hit with a record fine for violating the “Do Not Call” telemarketing rule.

“Surely Governor Scott will not willingly retain political contributions -- totaling a half-million dollars -- derived from funds that may have been the fruit of misrepresentations to veterans,” VoteVets.org Florida chairman Pablo Pantoja said in a statement. “He should return these tainted contributions immediately. Quite simply our veterans deserve better.”

Update: Pantoja, a 33-year-old veteran of the Iraq War, made headlines last year when he left his post as Hispanic outreach director for the Republican National Committee. He became a Democrat because he grew uncomfortable with the GOP's embrace of tea party positions, and he did not see the party as inclusive, he said.

A representative from Scott’s political committee could not immediately be reached.

It was the second time news of the FTC penalty came up Wednesday. Pinellas County School Board member Linda Lerner brought it up at a mayoral forum hosted by Suncoast Tiger Bay in St. Petersburg.

In June, the Federal Trade Commission announced a civil penalty of $7.5 million against Mortgage Investors after the agency said the company called more than 5.4 million phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry about home loan refinancing services to current and former members of the military.
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