Backroom Briefing: DeSantis Defends Staffers

Weekly political notes from The News Service of Florida

By Jim Turner

The News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday defended three of his top staff members against ethics complaints related to his presidential campaign.

“I’m confident it was 100 percent totally compliant with anything, and I think it’s just a great testament that people understand we need to change some things in this country,” DeSantis said when asked about the issue during an appearance in Tampa.

DeSantis also said his staff’s support for his campaign is a “a very positive thing” and described as “totally frivolous” the complaints filed by Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried, a longtime DeSantis foe.

Based on reporting by NBC News, the complaints filed Wednesday at the Florida Commission on Ethics and Florida Elections Commission targeted DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier, legislative affairs director Stephanie Kopelousos and policy and budget director Chris Spencer.

“Public officials are employed to serve the people of Florida, not line Ron’s pockets,” Fried said in a statement.

“Any reasonable person could infer from the reporting that our governor was holding the state budget hostage in exchange for political endorsements and donations — actions that are both unethical and illegal,” Fried added. “This corrupt scheme to generate fake support for his failing presidential campaign is both a major threat to our democracy and a sad look into the psyche of a man whose ambitions have driven him and his sycophants to lives of crime.”

The governor’s office has said the staffers engaged in campaign activities in their private time, an explanation that DeSantis backed on Thursday.

“They’ve called friends. Asked for support, donations, all this other stuff,” DeSantis said. “They have every right to do that. They don’t use state resources to do it. Of course not. But you have every right as a private citizen to be engaged and to be involved.”

VETO TOTALS

DeSantis’ veto pen pinched all but 10 of the 139 lawmakers who got local projects and programs into a state budget approved last month by the Legislature.

For some of those 10, it helped to have local projects geared toward hurricane recovery.

Left unscathed were local proposals by House Republicans Carolina Amesty of Windermere, Mike Beltran of Riverview, Adam Botana of Bonita Springs, Stan McClain of Ocala, Lauren Melo of Naples, Kiyan Michael of Jacksonville and Kevin Steele of Dade City and House Democrats Dan Daley of Coral Springs, Susan Valdes of Tampa and Katherine Waldron of Wellington.

In all, DeSantis vetoed $510.9 million from what was a $117 billion budget when passed by the Legislature.

Botana secured $101 million for 18 projects in the Lee County area, topped by $57 million for repairs to the Sanibel Causeway corridor. Hurricane Ian caused massive damage in Lee County and other parts of Southwest Florida when it made landfall in September.

Melo got 21 projects approved, collectively seeking more than $83 million. Most involved storm-hardening efforts, topped by $13 million to build an emergency operations center in Everglades City.

Beltran and Valdes each landed just a single item under their names in the spending plan. Waldron had two.

On the other end, 10 senators had 10 or more items vetoed, topped by Sen. Tom Wright, R-New Smyrna Beach, with 21 projects vetoed carrying a combined total of $18.95 million.

The biggest hits from a dollar perspective were suffered by Sen. Ed Hooper, a Clearwater Republican who had $39.6 million in spending vetoed, and Rep. Randy Maggard, a Dade City Republican who had $37.95 million vetoed. The two jointly sponsored a vetoed $30.8 million land-acquisition project.,

Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, Rep. Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota, and Rep. Chase Tramont, R-Port Orange, took nine vetoes.

In a series of tweets Friday, Fine noted he had secured $33.6 million for 19 projects and that “you can’t get everything you ask for.”

A FINAL MISSION

Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez on Monday joined the state’s soon-to-close business-recruitment agency Enterprise Florida to open the Florida pavilion at the 2023 Paris Air Show.

Nuñez also attended the Aerospace Industries Association’s U.S. reception and meetings with officials from Embraer, Lockheed Martin and ST Engineering, a Singaporean multinational technology and engineering group.

On Tuesday, she met with additional companies before an Enterprise Florida event that included Aura Aero and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University signing a memorandum of understanding that is expected to result in about 20 new jobs and internships for student pilots in Volusia County.

“Our presence at the Paris Air Show sends an important signal to this targeted industry that Florida is a leader and has the right talent, infrastructure, and business-friendly climate to support and assist business development and expansion,” Nuñez said in a statement from the governor’s office.

Lawmakers and DeSantis this spring approved a plan that will fold Enterprise Florida’s operations into the Department of Economic Opportunity, which on July 1 will become the Department of Commerce.

The air show is held in odd years, though this year’s is the first since 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Florida has hosted a pavilion for three decades.

TWEET OF THE WEEK: “Damn those elites with their golf simulators and private jet flights. DeSantis donor supplied golf simulator for ‘Governor’s Cabana’ and private flights.” — Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson), after The Washington Post reported wealthy donors and supporters lent a golf simulator to the governor’s mansion and provided private flights to DeSantis.