Global Courant 2023-05-26 07:29:04
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Officials working for Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration – not his campaign – have sent text messages to Florida lobbyists asking for political contributions to DeSantis’ presidential bid, a violation of traditional norms that has raised ethical and legal questions rise and left many here in the capital shocked.
NBC News reviewed text messages from four DeSantis administration officials, including those who work directly in the governor’s office and in leadership positions in state agencies. They requested that the recipient of the message contribute to the governor’s campaign through a specific link that appeared to track who is donating as part of a “bundle” program.
“The bottom line is that the administration seems to be watching who’s giving, and it’s doing it with the help of state personnel,” said a longtime Florida lobbyist. “You are in a prisoner’s dilemma. They remain in power. We all understand that.”
NBC News does not name the specific staffers who sent the text messages because it could identify the lobbyists who received and shared the messages.
DeSantis’ office has not returned a request for comment, but an administrative officer acknowledged that they were raising money for the campaign.
“I’m not sure what every EOG staffer does in their spare time and after hours, with their first amendment rights, but I wouldn’t be surprised if team eog somehow raises more money than lobbyists,” the administrative officer said. in a text message. message, referring to an acronym for the governor’s office. “I can confirm that I (and many other employees) personally donated.”
‘What the hell am I supposed to do? I have a lot of business for the DeSantis administration.
Florida lobbyist
Generally, political staffers are tasked with raising money for political campaigns, and aides on the official side are shielded from those operations.
The legality of the requests depends on a range of factors, including whether they were sent on state telephones or whether they were sent on state property. A long-time Florida electoral lawyer said that even if DeSantis’ aides raise campaign money in a personal capacity, outside the government, it still raises ethical questions.
“Even if they are sitting in their house at 9 p.m. using their personal phone and contacting lobbyists they somehow magically met in a personal capacity and not through their role in the governor’s office smells it’s still dirty,” said the lawyer. said. “There is an abuse of public position here that is obvious to anyone paying attention.”
But the practice was still baffling to those long involved in Florida politics.
NBC News spoke to 10 Republican lobbyists in Florida, all of whom said they couldn’t remember being so openly solicited for donations by state officials — especially at a time when the governor has yet to act on the state budget.
That process where DeSantis uses his veto pen on the rule to cut funding for projects in which the same lobbyists they ask for political money have a professional interest. Most lobbyists said they felt pressure to give to the governor’s campaign.
“What the hell am I supposed to do?” said a lobbyist. “I have a lot of business for the DeSantis administration.”
“The ethics behind this are questionable at best, especially when the budget has yet to be implemented,” said another Republican lobbyist.
“It is very close to what is ethical and possibly legal. They are state employees who use their official position to solicit money from people whose livelihoods depend on access to the state government,” a Florida lobbyist said.
“Using a bundle code makes it look like certain employees are getting credit with the campaign,” the person added. “It’s highly questionable.”
DeSantis launched his presidential campaign on Wednesday, in a Twitter Spaces conversation with Elon Musk that was marred by technical glitches that sometimes overshadowed the event itself.
On Thursday, DeSantis’ campaign announced it had raised $8.2 million in its first 24 hours, a staggering amount.
DeSantis has portrayed much of his political persona as a political outsider whose goal is to “drain the swamp.” His campaign store quickly began offering t-shirts that read “DeSantis Breaking Systems” after Twitter’s failed rollout, which his campaign says was due to such high interest that the social media platform just couldn’t handle it.
“The practice feeds the DeSantis corrupt swampy meme perfect for opponents. For no f—— reason,” said another veteran Florida Republican. ‘Hard to be sir. Break the internet and swamp when you do this. Really dumb.”
Republican consultants and fundraisers in other states told NBC News they had never heard of a similar situation from state employees trying to get political contributions, and it would raise serious questions if their clients tried a similar approach.
“If any of my clients had legislative staff sending donation links, we would have a difficult conversation,” said a Republican fundraiser working on federal elections.
The person added that regardless of the legal implications, the view of taxpayer-funded staff asking lobbyists for political money is bad.
“Whoever tells these kids to do this has gone fucking crazy,” said another Florida Republican lobbyist.
