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Why BP Is Getting Fed Up With Florida Milking It for Advertising Money

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: July 15, 2010 / 5:41 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

BP has managed to plug one gusher: the money hose for Florida to buy tourism ads telling folks their beaches aren't covered in oil. Gov. Charlie Crist is trying to make it look like BP has gone back on its word to provide more money for ads, but if you read Crist's letters it's actually the case that BP is getting bored with Crist behaving like a long-lost relative who's just discovered that you won the lottery.

BP originally agreed to give Florida $25 million for tourism ads in May. Florida has already blown all that money, so Crist went back to the well -- geddit!? -- to see if he could squeeze another $50 million out of BP. The company responded:

... BP sent him a refusal letter. In it BP questions the effectiveness of spending money promoting the entire state, and encourages area advertising.

You can see BP's logic. Why advertise the whole state when only the edges are affected by incoming oil?

Here's the timeline of Crist's request for ad cash. If BP had given in to every begging letter he sent, BP would have spent $75 million, three times its initial commitment:

May 17: BP and Florida agree to a $25 million ad package (in addition to another $25 million in general recovery funds). There is no mention of extra funds for future advertising.
May 25: Crist thanks BP for sending the $25 million.
June 30: Crist requests an additional $50 million in ad money.
July 15: When BP turns him down, Crist writes another letter to BP, whining about "contradictions to previous direction from two high ranking BP representatives, [that] did not take into account the way that Florida has distributed the $25 million that was provided in May."

It's shameless stuff, especially when you realize that Crist also asked BP for $100 million for research into the effects of the oil on Florida; that he already received $25 million to defray Florida's costs and in the same letter that he want another $50 million to defray further costs.

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