Jump to content

Desantis is a POS and needs his own thread


Gil Bang

Recommended Posts

'Desantis Using Taxpayer Funds to Campaign Against Abortion Referendum'

https://meidasnews.com/news/desantis-using-taxpayer-funds-to-campaign-against-abortion-referendum

Quote

Ron Desantis has shown he will stop at nothing to get his way. 

He threatens to primary Republicans in the legislature when they draw a redistricting map he doesn't like, he revokes Disney's charter because they criticized him, he removes elected prosecutors he doesn't agree with. Now he is resorting to the same tactics to get his way with Florida's abortion referendum (Amendment 4), which is favored by a strong majority of voters.

First, Desantis tried to block to Amendment from even appearing on ballot in the first place by challenging it through the courts. He complained this week bitterly when his all-Republican state Supreme Court approved the amendment:

Then Desantis pushed through a bogus "economic impact" statement to be placed on the ballot next to the Amendment, which reads like a Desantis propaganda memo. You can read about that here:

Desantis Trying to Rig Abortion Referendum

Then, Desantis sent out teams of investigators from his "election crimes" police force to knock on doors to question whether voters who signed petitions to get the amendment on the ballot committed fraud. These investigators were sent to heavily populated Democratic areas. You can read about that here:

Desantis "Reviewing" Signatures on Abortion Ballot Petitions

But the forth thing that Desantis is doing to fight the amendment is possibly the most brazen and blatantly illegal step he has taken so far. This past legislative session, Desantis slipped into the budget a line for $1 million in funding to go to the state Agency for Health Care Administration for "marketing and outreach" for the state's 'Health Finder' website.

Since the Amendment has been approved, this state public health website has been turned into a Desantis propaganda machine against Amendment 4.  The site began running this ad against the Amendment along with other materials on the website.

This action taken by Desantis appears to clearly violate Florida Statute 104.31, which prohibits any state employee, elected official or appointee from using taxpayer funds for political advocacy.

104.31 Political activities of state, county, and municipal officers and employees.—(1) No officer or employee of the state, or of any county or municipality thereof, except as hereinafter exempted from provisions hereof, shall:

(a) Use his or her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or a nomination of office or coercing or influencing another person’s vote or affecting the result thereof.

(b) Directly or indirectly coerce or attempt to coerce, command, or advise any other officer or employee to pay, lend, or contribute any part of his or her salary, or any money, or anything else of value to any party, committee, organization, agency, or person for political purposes. Nothing in this paragraph or in any county or municipal charter or ordinance shall prohibit an employee from suggesting to another employee in a noncoercive manner that he or she may voluntarily contribute to a fund which is administered by a party, committee, organization, agency, person, labor union or other employee organization for political purposes.

Ron Desantis will stop at nothing to defeat this amendment. That is because he wants to make this a campaign issue when he runs for president again in 2028. He wants to make the case to Republican primary voters that he was able to block an abortion amendment in his state where other Republican governors failed. 

With just over a year year left in Desantis's reign of right-wing madness, his final act just might be the most repulsive.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



×
×
  • Create New...