Florida Democrats are on to Bill McCollum's cyber crime fighting.
According to the those who see the world more blue than red, the AG's "...long-running television ad promoting awareness about Internet predators"...looks suspiciously like "...a thinly disguised campaign commercial using state funds."
Per the Miami Herald's Political Currents:
The same Philadelphia-based firm that worked on McCollum's 2006 campaign got two no-bid contracts totaling $1.4 million to produce the ad and buy television time statewide.
''Our cybercrime unit is doing everything possible to catch these predators, but we need the help of parents and grandparents -- your help,'' McCollum says in the ad, before directing viewers to his website on Internet crime at www.safeflorida.net. It's not unusual for politicians to appear in public service announcements, but McCollum's use of his longtime campaign ad man raised hackles among some Democrats.
''He's using money that should be promoting public safety to promote himself,'' said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff.
Asked to respond, McCollum, a Republican, said, ``I think they're thinking too much about politics and not enough about kids and families.''
Really, Bill? How about the politics swirling about kids and families sequestered by Florida's state, local and hyperlocal residency restriction laws? Or do those citizens count?
There's more. (Isn't there always?)
And better yet, the Herald takes a slap at Bill's "fuzzy" statistics.McCollum's chief of staff, Joe Jacquot, said the office could hire McCollum's former campaign media consultant, Chris Mottola, without competitive bids under an ''artistic services'' exemption for state contracts.
State Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Palm Beach County Democrat and potential candidate for attorney general, said McCollum is relying on a rarely used loophole meant to apply to works of art.
The 30-second ad features McCollum speaking directly to the camera, with children walking school hallways and using a laptop in the background.
`GRAY AREA'
''It's a gray area whether the artistic exemption should apply. That's something the Legislature should revisit,'' Aronberg said.
Jacquot said Mottola obtained a 5 percent discount from TV stations. Mattola's cut amounted to 10 percent of the cost of the television time, plus about $38,000 for production. That means Mottola earned about $136,000 on the deal -- more than the $87,511 he was paid by McCollum during the 2006 campaign.
The ad is scheduled to air for two weeks starting Wednesday from Miami to West Palm Beach in English and Spanish. It ran in South Florida for part of January and all of February, and for six weeks over the summer in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Panama City and Gainesville.
Kyra Jennings, a spokeswoman for Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, said, ``The state is in the midst of a budget crisis right now, and the CFO is concerned that spending state funds on television ads at this time may not be the most appropriate use.''
Seventy-seven million children go online every day. One out of seven will be solicited for sex.''
That sounds like 11 million kids are getting propositioned every day. But McCollum is melding numbers from two different sources: a U.S. Department of Justice estimate of children online nationwide, along with a survey of 1,500 children backed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that found one in seven had been asked for sex online over the past year.
But the BEST BEST part was the Herald's mention of a certain study that might take a bite out of Bill's cyber crime political run for any office he is potentially considering.
A recent report by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University said bullying by peers is the most common threat to minors online.
In a written response to the study, McCollum said it was based on outdated research and a lack of input from law enforcement. The study ``minimizes the actual risks children currently face online, even though the sexual solicitation of children online is still rampant, distribution of horrific pornography involving small children remains enormous, and the unlimited spread of materials most parents would find harmful to children of all ages is completely unfiltered and prolific.''
Yep. As evidenced by that teen now lives as a sex offender for sexting. That--in any other century proceeding this one--would be considered....bullying. Which of course, proves the point of the Berkman report.
D-OH! Send Bill McCollum home to his own little world.
