MIAMI.- The governor of FloridaRon DeSantisfaces a complaint of violation of the Campaign Financing Law after being accused of advising a political committee that supports his candidacy on its investments in advertising, as if it were his own electoral team.
The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group, alleged in a complaint filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission that the Republican candidate and his organization had “illegally” coordinated with the Never Back Down political committee the advertising messages they support. his candidacy.
“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 for the plaintiff institution. .
According to Ghosh, this contravenes “the explicit legal requirement that super PACs must remain ‘independent’that is, not coordinating or making contributions to federal candidates or their campaigns.”
DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo said in a statement that the complaint was “baseless” because it is based on “unverified rumors and innuendo.” This is “just another example of how the left is terrified of Ron DeSantis and will stoop to anything to stop him,” he remarked.
In its complaint, the oversight group also stated that the DeSantis campaign “knowingly accepted Prohibited contributions (in-kind from super PAC) in violation of the Federal Electoral Campaign Law.”
Remarks on DeSantis
Figures from agencies such as the AP and some media outlets estimate that Never Back Down has invested more than $100 million to support the governor’s initiative.
According to the complaint, the political committee would have “crossed the line” that legally separates a campaign and a super PAC.
“That circumvents federal contribution limits and reporting requirements, and gives super PAC special interest supporters, including corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals, a worrying level of influence over elected officials and policymaking,” Ghosh said.
The complaint puts into context media reports that detail Possible links and seemingly unclear boundaries between DeSantis campaign and super PAC. This includes the PAC’s performance of typical campaign tasks.
In addition, the requests by DeSantis and his wife to recover an ad that Never Back Down ran against his opponent, Nikki Haley, are mentioned as an alleged example of this “illegal relationship.”
The complaint comes at a time when the political committee supporting DeSantis has been the subject of tensions due to the resignation of some directors, while others have been fired for alleged mismanagement.
