FILE - FL Gov. Rick Scott 2-8-18

Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks at a Connect Florida Reception Thursday, February 8, 2018.

The U.S. Senate race between three-term incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican challenger Rick Scott, Florida’s two-term governor, will exceed an estimated $200 million in campaign spending, which would make it the most expensive Senate contest in history.

But it will be Scott’s finances – both personal and campaign-related – that Democrats will make into an issue, as they did when he was first elected governor in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.

Even before announcing in April he would challenge Nelson, Scott – the multi-millionaire co-founder and former CEO of Columbia/HCA, the nation’s largest private for-profit health care company – was being sued by a top Obama fundraiser for allegedly violating the state’s financial-disclosure requirements.

Scott’s attorneys are scheduled to appear before an appeals court on July 17 to respond to allegations that he has not complied with the state’s “Sunshine Amendment,” which requires elected officials to disclose details of their personal finances.

A November lawsuit filed by Tallahassee attorney Donald Hinkle claims Scott uses a blind trust to hide much of his holdings, stocks and individual assets.

Scott’s attorneys insist the whole point of a blind trust is to avoid conflict-of-interest allegations by placing assets under the management of independent trustees in the blind trust.

A financial disclosure statement Scott filed in 2017 listed his net worth at $149.3 million, with $130.5 million in the blind trust.

“Gov. Scott has failed to fully disclose his financial interests by not disclosing the underlying assets in revocable trusts and various partnerships,” Hinkle’s lawsuit maintains. “Gov. Scott also attempts to include in a ‘blind’ trust assets that do not qualify and to which he is not ‘blind.’”

Scott’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing financial disclosure matters are more appropriately heard by the Florida Commission on Ethics rather than in the courts.

“The circuit court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the underlying action because the subject matter of the complaint below is committed to the jurisdiction of a separate administrative body: the Florida Commission on Ethics,” Scott’s attorneys petitioned.

In February, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers denied the motion in a three-page order, stating “four corners of the complaint sufficiently state a cause of action.”

Scott’s attorneys in March petitioned the 1st District Court of Appeal to dismiss the lawsuit. On June 5, the court declined to set aside the suit and scheduled the July hearing to hear Scott’s arguments why the case should not proceed.

The lawsuit – whether valid or not – sustains the continuous nettling by Democrats that Scott is not only hiding assets, but profiting from his status as governor.

According to the Florida Democratic Party, “Scott has taken numerous actions that benefit himself financially to increase his wealth by at least $46 million” during his time in Tallahassee.

A petition drive paid for by American Bridge 21st Century PAC, founded by pro-Clinton super PAC Correct the Record founder David Brock, asks state residents to demand Scott “come clean to Floridians about his investments and his outrageous conflicts of interest.”

A key date that could temper, or aggravate, allegations about Scott’s finances is July 15, when federal candidates must file campaign finance disclosures. Because he did not declare his Senate candidacy until April, it will be the first such federal disclosure Scott will have to file.

Waiting in the wings for that information will be End Citizens United, a Democrat-supporting PAC that has already filed a federal election complaint against Scott, claiming he created and managed a PAC in May 2017 to raise money for his Senate run and then resigned before formally announcing his candidacy the following April, skirting federal campaign finance laws.

On April 15, the last federal campaign finance reporting date, Nelson’s campaign disclosed $10.6 million in contributions. About the same time, Scott was telling supporters he hoped to raise $110 million for his Senate campaign.

According to Advertising Analytics LLC, Scott has already spent at least $17 million on TV ads, including Spanish-language ads, while Nelson has spent no more than $3 million.

The conventional wisdom is Nelson is following a traditional strategy of laying low in the summer before launching a multi-media blitz after Labor Day. Undoubtedly, the messaging will feature broadsides targeting Scott’s finances.

That may explain why Scott is hitting the airwaves early and often now in an attempt to set the campaign agenda before Democrats make his finances – both personal and campaign-related – the issue instead of the issues facing Florida and the nation.