It's one of the many small stories that's been running under the radar in the mucho-dinero Senate race between Republican Rich Tarrant and independent Bernie Sanders: Sanders' acceptance of a $500 campaign donation this spring from the Florida Crystals Political Action Committee and the Tarrant campaign's obsession with needling the Congressman about it.
Florida Crystals is owned by the Fanjul family and is one of the nation's largest sugar producers. Among its holdings is a plantation in the Dominican Republic that a CBC documentary says has deplorable working conditions and pays cane cutters 16 cents an hour. The Fanjuls' company has also been beneficiaries of major federal susidies over the years.
Team Tarrant thinks Sanders, who rails against corporate welfare, is a phony for taking the $500. Sanders says he's no fan of the Fanjuls but doesn't have time to research the background all 50,000 donors to his campaign.
They both have a point and, given the $12M plus these two guys have spent trying to win this race, a $500 contribution is not that much of a story. Besides, a check with the Federal Election Commission shows that the Fanjul's PAC has given to Republicans like Pres. George W. Bush and Rep. Mark Foley and Democrats like Sens. Joe Lieberman and Diane Feinstein. Heck, even our Senator Jim Jeffords once got a $1,000 from Florida Crystals.
Undeterred, the Tarrant folks established a "Hypocricy Watch" earlier this year and have been counting out the days, now weeks, that Sanders has "refused" to return the money.
The Senate campaign may be winding down, but Team Tarrant is cranking up its attacks on Sanders' sugar money.
Reporters, including yours truly, have over the past week received recycled press releases on the subject, plus items like a pound of sugar, a miniature flag of the Dominican Republic, a full edition of a 1998 Time Magazine containing an article on the Fanjuls. some Sugar Babies candy packets on Halloween and, today, a framed photo of a smiling Alfonzo Fanjul and, I guess, his wife.
Sugar ain't so sweet after all, it seems.
-- Sam Hemingway
