Welcome to the 2006 election year

Posted on Sat, Mar. 11, 2006
GOVERNOR'S RACE
Kerry attacker now a Crist backer
A contributor with ties to Attorney General Charlie Crist has given $500,000 to an organization being headed by the same GOP consultant who helped Swift Boat veterans attack John Kerry.

BY GARY FINEOUTgfineout@MiamiHerald.com

TALLAHASSEE - In a sign that the race for governor may become nastier than imagined, the same Republican consultant who helped Vietnam War veterans attack John Kerry in 2004 has put together a political committee in Florida and has already raised at least $508,000.

Almost all the money for the group -- $500,000 -- has come from a single contributor, Cape Coral real estate executive Greg Eagle, a supporter of Attorney General Charlie Crist's bid for governor. Eagle's son Dane is on the payroll of the Crist campaign and travels with Crist to campaign events.

Yet the Crist campaign maintains it knows nothing about Floridians for a Better and Brighter Future, which according to Internal Revenue Service records was organized in late December, and whose president is Christopher LaCivita, a veteran GOP consultant and strategist.

Crist ''does know Greg Eagle and he is a supporter and a friend, but he didn't know he had any specific contributions,'' said Crist spokeswoman Vivian Myrtetus.

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