Anti-retention PACs off to a slow start.

What was promised to be a well-financed effort by two groups to oppose one or both of the Florida Supreme Court justices up for merit retention in 2002 may have fizzled before it started, according to state records.

In the emotional wake of last year's presidential vote in Florida, the groups announced plans to raise money for anti retention campaigns. One group, the Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary, sent out a highly publicized fund-raising letter to 350,000 people. That group announced plans to oppose both Chief Justice Charles Wells and Justice Harry Lee Anstead, who is set to become chief justice next June. (The group also announced it would oppose Justice Leander Shaw, but Shaw faces mandatory retirement because of his age and will not be on the ballot.)

A second group, called Balance to the Bench, announced plans to quickly raise $1 million to oppose Anstead.

Reality has fallen far short of plans. The chair of the Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary has quit, and that campaign may have run afoul of state fundraising laws, in addition to raising little money. And according to state records, Balance to the Bench hasn't even filed papers that would allow it to begin accepting contributions, much less reported raising any funds.

The Take Back group sent out a fundraising letter the week before Christmas asking for contributions between $15 and $1,000 to "beat these liberals and have them removed from the court," referring to Shaw, Anstead, and Wells. The letter was financed by a $150,000 in-kind "loan" from Creative Marketing, a Virginia-based direct mail firm.

But under Florida law, political action committees that become involved with specific candidates may not accept contributions over $500, either in-kind or cash, according to Kristi Bronson, an attorney with the Division of Elections.

"The only time it's not $500 is if you are a political committee that supports or opposes issues only," she said. If a committee supports both issues and candidates, then the $500 limit still applies.

The committee's finances aren't in much better shape. It received a total, not counting the loan, of $69,013.20. Of that, $50,000 has gone to repay Creative Marketing, and another $4,000 was refunded, in eight $500 checks, to those who sent in $1,000 contributions. Another $326 went to miscellaneous expenses.

All that means that after its first mailing, the Committee...