Florida in Five: A backdoor way special interests are buying influence in the Governor's Office

Five stories to read from the past week in Florida politics.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

This is Seeking Rents, a newsletter and podcast devoted to producing original journalism — and lifting up the work of others — about Florida politics, with an emphasis on the ways that big businesses and other special interests influence public policy in the state. Seeking Rents is produced by veteran investigative journalist Jason Garcia, and it is free to all. But please consider a voluntary paid subscription, if you can afford one, to help support our work. And check out our video channel, too.

Welcome to another installment of Florida in Five: Five* stories you need to read from the past week in Florida politics.

It turns out there was a billionaire lurking behind the curtain in Ron DeSantis’ failed campaign for president last year: Elon Musk.

The Wall Street Journal revealed last week that Musk, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform commonly known as Twitter, spent $10 million in support of DeSantis’ presidential bid.

Musk’s money was laundered through a dark-money nonprofit called “Faithful & Strong Policies,” the Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. That nonprofit then poured millions into a Super PAC supporting DeSantis, who ended up getting steamrolled by former President Donald Trump in the Republican primary.

Musk, you may recall, also helped DeSantis kick off his presidential campaign with a glitch-filled livestream on Twitter on May 24th of last year.

What you may not remember, though, is that the very next day, DeSantis signed a bill that Musk’s SpaceX lobbied for — a bill shielding SpaceX and other spaceflight companies from employee lawsuits in the event of a launchpad explosion.

Or that, just a few weeks later, DeSantis signed another bill making it all but impossible for Floridians to buy electric cars directly from automakers like Honda or Ford. That bill was written by lobbyists for monopoly car dealers desperate to keep a stranglehold on car sales — but it also included a special carveout sought by lobbyists for Musk’s Tesla.

Of course, ultimately not even Elon Musk’s money was enough to drag DeSantis to the White House.

But while the Florida governor may have ended his national campaign, records show he continues to cash national checks from donors getting favors from his administration.

In early May, for instance, a lobbying group for the credit union industry — the League of Southeastern Credit Unions — gave $50,000 to “Fight Right,” a Super PAC set up by DeSantis strategists during his doomed presidential bid.

The check was written after some of DeSantis’ senior aides personally intervened to help the credit union lobbyists pass a bill that will steer more banking business to credit unions. DeSantis’ super PAC deposited the $50,000 donation just four days after the governor signed the bill.

There’s more. In mid-June, a children’s dental company called Pediatric Dental Anesthesia Associates gave $10,000 to another DeSantis-controlled PAC called “Restore Our Nation” (which is also known as “Ron PAC”).

That contribution came shortly before DeSantis appointed the company’s managing partner — an anesthesiologist and anti-abortion activist named Hector Vila — to the Florida Board of Medicine, a powerful state agency that licenses and disciplines doctors.

And on June 30, a former top executive at Rite Aid Corp. — Thomas Sabatino Jr., who was the pharmacy company’s senior legal officer until this summer — gave $50,000 to Ron PAC.

DeSantis just put Sabatino on Florida’s Health Care Innovation Council, a new state board established earlier this year to recommend healthcare policy changes and advise on a $50 million public loan program for healthcare companies.

It’s all a reminder of the many ways that deep pocketed special interests are buying influence in the Governor’s Office right now.

But it’s also a reminder of why it’s so important that everyday Floridians Make A Plan to Vote.

*To paraphrase Barbossa, five is more what you’d call a guideline than an actual rule.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the date on which Ron DeSantis launched his presidential campaign.

Ugh

Tropical Storm Milton Is Expected to Bring Heavy Rain to Florida (New York Times)

The most important issue in Florida

Whistleblowers claim insurance companies shortchanged some Florida homeowners after Hurricane Ian (CBS News/60 Minutes)

See also: ‘An empty feeling.’ At Helene’s Florida landfall, few have insurance to help rebuild (Miami Herald) ($)

When manmade disasters follow natural ones

They lost everything in Helene. Now, their landlord is kicking them out (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

See also: Florida criminalized homelessness. Then Hurricane Helene hit. (Vox)

See also: Conservative Project 2025 Would Leave Hurricane Helene Survivors with Little Aid (Scientific American)

‘Extreme rainfall events are becoming more common’

How Helene became a ‘worst case scenario’ (The Washington Post) ($)

See also: Helene’s powerful storm surge killed 12 near Tampa. They didn’t have to die (Associated Press)

See also: Time ran out for Pinellas residents who didn’t evacuate for Helene (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

See also: Florida politicians’ climate denial draws destructive response from Helene (Florida Phoenix)

See also: Florida can handle storms. It's climate change that's the problem. (Palm Beach Post) ($)

A related story

Revealed: how the fossil fuel industry helps spread anti-protest laws across the US (The Guardian)

‘There were big-money interests behind the scenes’

A fake Florida candidate scheme was broad. Does ex-senator’s conviction end the case? (Miami Herald) ($)

See also: Guilty verdict of bit player shows how FPL tried to sway a Florida election (Florid Times-Union) ($)

Perspectives

How ‘dirty money’ warps Florida politics — and what to do about it (Miami Herald) ($)

Irresponsible. Orlando wants to hastily annex a Baltimore-sized piece of land to sate developers (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

On sex-ed, Florida turns its back on its own kids (South Florida Sun-Sentinel) ($)