FLORIDA: Catching the Rabbit

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Florida's William H. Johnston is a broad-beamed, red-faced gambling tycoon who likes to play Santa Claus for a children's hospital, act like a civic leader in Jacksonville, and throw his weight around in the state government. In 1948, with two other moneybags, Johnston tossed $450,000 into the campaign kitty of fun-loving Politician Fuller Warren. At first, this seemed a good bet: Warren was elected governor over a Fort Pierce citrus grower named Dan McCarty.

On a long-term basis, the picture was different. When the Kefauver committee finished nosing around Florida in 1950, it concluded: After making a huge contribution to Warren's campaign, "Johnston and his tracks seem to enjoy immunity from state-level inquiry." Last year, using the Kefauver ammunition, Dan McCarty got elected governor. He wasted no time in framing a proposal that would hurt: an increase in the state's take at dog-racing tracks from 5% to an average of 7.07%, at the expense of the track, not the bettor. Although Johnston's lobbyists almost got the bill killed, McCarty rammed it through the legislature.

Last week the governor signed the bill into law, with the quiet comment that this was "a victory for the people over a group that had more or less its own way for a long, long time." With that, McCarty had about caught up with Johnston's rabbit. The new law will cost the four Johnston dog-racing tracks $417,625 a year.