Texas trial lawyer spent $1.2M on Florida governor’s race

In the final weeks leading up to Election Day, Houston plaintiff’s attorney Steve Mostyn pumped another half million dollars into the Florida governor’s race.

Charlie Crist, Florida’s former Republican governor who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat this year, was the recipient of the recent $500,000 donation from the Mostyn Law Firm, campaign records show.

Known as “Hurricane Mostyn,” the trial lawyer made hundreds of millions in attorney’s fees in the wake of Hurricane Ike by filing thousands of lawsuits against the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association – the lone provider of windstorm insurance for Texas gulf coast residents.

In his home state, Mostyn is one of the top funder of Democrats, using the money he reaped from hurricane suits to donate more than $3 million to the Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate – Fort Worth trial lawyer and state Sen. Wendy Davis.

In the gubernatorial race in Florida, Mostyn contributed a total of $1.2 million to Crist’s campaign, with the most recent donation of $500,000 coming Oct. 7, campaign finance records show.

Even contributions from Crist’s firm, Morgan & Morgan, failed to match Mostyn’s total, as donations from the Orlando civil litigation firm and its founder, John Morgan, combined for $275,000.

Other donations from Mostyn to Crist include: a $100,000 donation on July 31; a $200,000 donation on March 31; a $300,000 donation on Feb. 26; and two donations totaling $100,000 on Nov. 30.

Mostyn’s personal reasons for funding the former Sunshine State Republican governor remain a matter of speculation, as the trial lawyer refuses to comment on any article written by media outlets owned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, including The Southeast Texas Record.

Crist’s PAC, Charlie Crist for Florida, raked in $30 million in contributions, meaning Mostyn accounted for 3 percent of the candidate’s funding.

Crist lost to GOP Gov. Rick Scott by a narrow margin on Nov. 4. Scott hauled in 2,861,390 votes for 48.16 percent of the vote, while Crist captured 2,795,263 votes for 47.95 percent.