Jim Kallinger

jim-kallingerJim Kallinger is a former Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives. He served as Chairman of the Business Regulation Committee and as Vice Chair of the Select Committee on Constitutional Amendments. He currently serves as President of the Florida Faith and Freedom Coaltion, which is a 501(c)(4) organization that does not disclose its donors.

Jim Kallinger was also a co-chairman of Consumers for Smart Solar – the campaign created to get Floridians to pass Amendment 1 on the 2016 ballot. It was funded to the tune of $20 million dollars by the monopoly utility companies in Florida: NextEra Energy’s Florida Power and Light, Duke Energy, Southern Company’s Gulf Power, and Tampa Electric. In addition to the utility money, the remaining millions of dollars have mainly come from organizations with close ties to utility and fossil fuel companies, such as the National Black Chamber of Commerce, 60 Plus Association, and Kallinger’s organization.

The Florida Faith and Freedom Coalition contributed a total of $380,000 to Consumers for Smart Solar – a significant amount of money for a tax exempt organization that reported $89,245 in revenue in 2010, according to the latest IRS Form 990 on file.

On election day in 2016, Consumers for Smart Solar’s Amendment 1 failed to reach the necessary 60% of the vote in order to pass. Polls showed that in September, 73% of voters were planning to vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 1. The final total was 4.5 million for ‘yes’ and 4.4 million for ‘no’ or 51%-49%. That’s a 22% drop in support over several weeks.

Why?

On October 18, Mary Ellen Klas for the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times reported on leaked audio obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute and the Center for Media Democracy. The audio catches a local utility-tied Florida think tank staffer essentially admitting Consumers for Smart Solar’s Yes On 1 campaign was a well-designed ploy. Consumers for Smart Solar went on to deny a connection to the James Madison Institute but was caught a few days later scrubbing their social media platforms of nearly every reference to the utility and fossil fuel-funded think tank.

On November 4, the Florida Professional Firefighters (FPF) withdrew their support for Amendment 1 – only after endorsing it in early October. Energy and Policy Institute reported that Screven Watson, a registered lobbyist for FPF, is on the board of Consumers for Smart Solar and has been a primary spokesperson in the press for the Amendment 1. Florida Division of Elections data showed that Consumers for Smart Solar had paid Watson $103,163 since August of 2015 for communications consulting.

The defeat was a major blow to the state’s largest investor-owned utilities.