Federal appeals court sides with GOP candidate Rick Scott in public financing case

In a major blow to Bill McCollum's gubernatorial bid, the 11th District Court of Appeal in Atlanta reversed a Florida court Friday and agreed to Republican Rick Scott's request for an injunction halting Florida's public financing law, saying it violates his 1st and 14th amendment rights.

``We agree with Scott that Davis requires us to subject the excess spending subsidy to strict scrutiny. We conclude that even if the subsidy encourages participation in the public financing system and indirectly prevents corruption or the appearance of corruption, the excess spending subsidy is not the least restrictive means of doing so.

``Like the district court, we think it is obvious that the subsidy imposes a burden on nonparticipating candidates, like Scott, who spend large sums of money in support of their candidacies.''

The decision will put an immediate halt to the matching money McCollum is entitled to when his Republican opponent exceeds the state's $24.9 million spending cap, as expected.

‘Breaking Dawn’ Writer Says She’s Trying To ‘Find Room’ For All CharactersMcCollum says he’ll use taxpayer funds to compete with Scott