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Florida lobbyists were paid $50 million in January - March

By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 01:46:46 PM EST

The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, a Christian ministry/theme park, paid three lobbyists $30,000 to secure it tax exemptions totalling nearly $400,000 a year.

That's just a small piece of the $50 million pie Florida lobbyists are enjoying so far this year. A new law requiring disclosure of lobbyist fees has brought to light the sheer amount of the lobbying industry in Florida.

"It shows how you can get things done in Tallahassee," said Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan, who estimated that Holy Land would shave $380,000 off its tax bill each year. "I just don't think it's right. In our case, you hire the right people, you can get around property laws."

The park's President and Executive Director counters:

"We were not trying to do anything underhanded," Hayden said. "We were following the system. And we feel the system worked."

And therein lies the problem. When the system works like this, it doesn't work for the public at all.