Records show Ron DeSantis took $300,000 from Florida lobbyists
An analysis of DeSantis' fundraising shows that the Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate has raised at least $290,000 from lobbyists seeking favors from his administration.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised at least $290,000 for his presidential campaign from lobbyists seeking favors from his administration, according to a Seeking Rents review of his first fundraising report.
The early DeSantis donors include the top lobbyist for Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest electric company. DeSantis helped FPL get a record-setting rate increase from state regulators.
They also include the lobbyist for lawn-care giant TruGreen who was behind controversial legislation making it harder for local communities to limit the use of pollution-causing fertilizer. DeSantis recently signed that bill into law, despite pleas for a veto from clean-water activists.
And they include a lobbyist for Slide Insurance, the Florida property insurer that recently sent a St. Augustine homeowner a bill for nearly $36,000. That came after DeSantis signed a law giving insurance companies more freedom to raise rates on Florida homeowners without fear of losing those customers to a state-run alternative.
DeSantis, who has raised $20 million in total since launching his bid for president in May, made it a point to pressure lobbyists into supporting his campaign. NBC News reported that taxpayer-paid staffers in the Governor’s Office sent text messages to lobbyists asking them to give money to DeSantis’ campaign — even as DeSantis was still debating whether to sign or veto bills and budget projects that had passed during Florida’s 2023 legislative session.
The Seeking Rents analysis show DeSantis raised at least $78,000 just from lobbyists at Florida’s three highest-grossing firms: Ballard Partners ($29,100), The Southern Group ($23,200), and Capital Cities Consulting ($26,1000).
All three were busy during the 2023 legislative session, which ended just a few weeks before DeSantis kicked off his presidential campaign.
For instance, lobbyists at Ballard Partners pushed a bill on behalf of Major League Baseball cutting minor league players out of the state minimum wage.
The Southern Group helped gas-station owners pass legislation giving gas stations and convenience stores a bigger cut of lottery ticket sales — at the expense of funding for education programs like college scholarships.
And records obtained in a public-records request show that lobbyists at Capital Cities Consulting helped write a corporate tax break that could save millions for homebuilding giant Lennar Corp.
DeSantis signed all three pieces of legislation into law.
DeSantis’ true take from Florida lobbyists is likely much more than $290,000. That total only includes donations directly from lobbyists who are currently registered to lobby the executive branch of government in Florida.
The total swells to more than $400,000 if you also include donations from lobbyists who are registered only to lobby the Florida Legislature; family members of lobbyists; and non-lobbyist employees and partners at lobbying firms.
And that still does not include any money that lobbyists may have collected from clients on DeSantis’ behalf.
A loosely regulated “Super PAC” supporting DeSantis’ campaign — which does not have to abide by the same fundraising limits as candidates themselves — says it has raised another $130 million. But it has not yet had to disclose its donors.
For as much money as DeSantis has raised, it’s still not clear whether it will be enough for DeSantis to catch former President Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination. Polls show the Florida governor trails far behind Trump, and DeSantis’ campaign just fired roughly a dozen staffers.
The money ball has turned US politics into a closed circuit spectacle that only paid up members in good standing get to see. Citizens United was a predictable disaster for democracy.