have the money Funding your campaign is essential to running for office. Having employees paid by taxpayers raising this money would seem to cross ethical lines. Apparently it doesn’t bother Ron DeSantis.
The Florida governor officially entered the 2024 race for president on Wednesday and, according to his campaign, raised an impressive $8.2 million in the first 24 hours of his candidacy. According to an NBC News report, officials in the DeSantis administration have been participating in efforts to convince high-profile Florida lobbyists to shell out campaign contributions.
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Text messages between administration officials and lobbyists reviewed by NBC News show that both members of DeSantis’ office and people in leadership positions at various state agencies were lobbying for contributions.
“The bottom line is that the administration seems to be controlling who is giving, and they are doing it using state personnel,” a lobbyist told NBC News.
The timing of the fundraising blitz is critical, as the Florida legislature is still negotiating the state budget and DeSantis enjoys veto power over items. Lobbyists who spoke to NBC News said they fear the apparent lack of support for his campaign could jeopardize his projects with the state.
Using his government staff as campaign support isn’t the only surprising move in the early days of DeSantis’s campaign. The day after the launch of a disastrous and flawed campaign on Elon Musk’s Twitter, the governor signed into law a bill that would shield spacecraft manufacturers, including Musk’s SpaceX company, from liability in the event of an accident. SpaceX participated in lobbying efforts to secure passage of the bill.
That DeSantis would set up his office to favor, or punish, companies based on how they treat him is not an unfounded concern. The governor is currently embroiled in a messy lawsuit with Disney, one of the largest corporations in the state. The company argues that the DeSantis administration launched a “government retaliation campaign” against them after they publicly opposed anti-LGBTQ legislation implemented in Florida.
And since the governor’s office is reportedly aware of who is donating to his campaign, it’s no surprise that lobbyists are panicking. “I have a lot of business ahead of me from the DeSantis administration,” a lobbyist told NBC News. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
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