U.S. Sugar, Florida Crystals combined gave more than $26 million to PACs since 2018     Day 40 - and where are our legislators? It’s been 40 days of harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee and most elected officials still haven’t weighed in on the crisis. Click on your state legislator’s name below to send an email and ask why they’ve stayed silent on the biggest environmental issue facing their district. Martin County: Sen. Gayle Harrell; Reps. Toby Overdorf and John Snyder; Lee County: Sens. Kathleen Passidomo, Ben Albritton and Jonathan Martin; Reps. Adam Botana, Tiffany Esposito, Jenna Persons-Mulicka, Mike Giallombardo and Spencer Roach. DONATE NOW U.S. Sugar, Florida Crystals gave over $26M to PACs since 2018 “Dirty money” to dirty politicians means dirty water. But what happens when the “dirty money” — campaign cash from polluters — goes instead to PACs, political action committees? As part of our “Dirty Money Project” VoteWater has partnered with the Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at the Stetson University College of Law to dig into the details — and our partners have already found some very interesting tidbits. Specifically, they looked at how much Big Sugar and other polluters have given to PACs over the last few election cycles — and would you believe that since Jan. 1, 2018, U.S. Sugar has given a whopping $13.7 million to PACs, and Florida Crystals $12.6 million? Contributions to individual candidates are capped at $1,000 per donor per election; but there is no limit on how much a donor can give to a PAC. As such, many legislators have their own PACs to Hoover up the money, then dole it out as they see fit. Likewise, big PACs get funding from many different “dirty” sources, and spread that money around very efficiently to keep polluters and their favorite politicians in power. That’s how “dirty money” works — and that’s why we’re tracking it. Read our latest blog post for more on our early results.   READ MORE AT VOTEWATER.ORG VoteWater town hall packs the house in Sewall’s Point Our community event on the discharges from Lake Okeechobee filled the Sewall’s Point Town Hall last Thursday, with dozens of engaged citizens turning out to learn about the problem — and what they can do about it. For a photo gallery from the event, check out our blog. VIEW THE PHOTO GALLERY Discharges to pause, for now The northern estuaries are about to get a break — for two weeks, at least. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced last week it would pause releases to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and Lake Worth Lagoon for a two-week period beginning Saturday, March 30. After that, said Major Cory J. Bell, discharges are likely to resume but at a slower pace “unless there’s significant change,” as in heavy rains between now and then. A pause is good. A permanent pause would be better. Kudos to those who’ve spoken up and demanded the floodgates be closed — the more noise we make, the better the chance someone in a position of power will listen. But even at lower rates, the discharges that resume in mid-April will hurt — and may last all the way through the beginning of the wet season. TAKE ACTION: Ask the SFWMD to reserve space in the STAs for water from Lake O The system is rigged: some 62,000 acres of taxpayer-funded stormwater treatment areas south of Lake Okeechobee are used almost exclusively for the benefit of Big Sugar, and that's a big reason why the northern estuaries have gotten discharges this year. But our friends at Friends of the Everglades are making it easy for you to ask members of the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board to reserve more space in the STAs for Lake O water, reducing the need for discharges. Click here to take action. ICYMI: Check out Friends of the Everglades' 2024 end-of-session review Friends of the Everglades Executive Director Eve Samples and Policy Director Gil Smart (who also serves as VoteWater Executive Director) broke down the 2024 legislative session in a March 21 livestream, detailing some big wins, losses, and a few key things we're already keeping an eye on for the 2025 session. If you missed it, watch the livestream on Facebook, on X or YouTube. WATCH THE ARCHIVED LIVESTREAM BECOME A MEMBER DONATE VoteWater 3727 SE Ocean Blvd Suite 200-A Stuart, FL 34996 | (772) 212-2939 VoteWater | 3727 SE Ocean Blvd, Suite 200-A, Stuart, FL 34996 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!