Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violated campaign finance laws by advising a super PAC to fund his bid for president on ads to run, a nonpartisan watchdog group alleged in a new complaint.
The Republican challenger and his team are accused of illegally coordinating with Never Back Down on PAC messages supporting his run, according to a complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center Monday.
The DeSantis campaign was also “knowingly accepted as prohibited [in-kind] contributions in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act” from the super PAC, the group said in the document.
Never Back Down, which is supposed to be an independent entity from the DeSantis campaign, has spent more than $100 million in support of the governor’s White House bid, making the group crucial to his campaign.
The Campaign Legal Center says the super PAC has crossed the line that legally separates it from the Republican commander-in-chief’s nomination.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to guests during the Scott County Fireside Chat at the Tanglewood Hills Pavilion on Dec. 18, 2023 in Bettendorf, Iowa. Getty Images
“When a super PAC like Never Back Down illegally coordinates its election spending with a candidate’s campaign, the super PAC effectively becomes an arm of the campaign,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Law Center.
“That bypasses federal contribution limits and reporting requirements, and gives super PAC special interest supporters, including corporations and very wealthy individuals, an alarming level of influence over elected officials and policymaking.”
The complaint cites reports from several news outlets detailing the alleged endorsements and the blurred lines between the DeSantis campaign and the super PAC — including that the latter often takes on tasks normally performed directly by a candidate’s campaign.
The super PAC promoting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis displays informational sign-up sheets and pledge cards for Iowans attending DeSantis’ Iowa Republican congressional fundraiser on May 13, 2023, in Sioux Center, Iowa. AP
Another example of an alleged illegal relationship cited in the complaint is DeSantis and his wife’s request to bring back the Never Back Down ad that was aired but defeated against his opponent Nikki Haley.
DeSantis campaign denier Andrew Romeo denied the allegations in a statement to the Associated Press, calling the watchdog group’s complaint “baseless” and full of “unverified rumors and innuendo.”
Romeo did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
DeSantis and his wife’s request to bring back the ad, Never Back Down, was aired but rejected against his opponent, Nikki Haley. Never Back Down
But the legal concerns aren’t the first scandals involving PACs that support Florida Republicans.
A string of top executives at Never Back Down have either resigned or been fired over the past few weeks amid allegations of infighting among team members and issues of mismanagement. Three were fired, while the chief executive and board chairman resigned in a staff shakeup that began in late November.
The latest change came this weekend when the PAC’s chief strategist, Jeff Roe, announced he was resigning because he was unhappy with the group’s chairman’s statements to the press about recent firings.
With Postal wire.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
