Backroom Briefing: Radio Wars

TALLAHASSEE --- Gov. Ron DeSantis’ re-election effort bought ad time to counter the new Latino Media Network, which is seeking to acquire a pair of Miami stations and is backed by an investment group linked to liberal billionaire George Soros.

Republicans have long railed against Soros, and the DeSantis campaign quickly took aim at the new network.

“The Soros-funded radical left is running a scheme to manipulate local media in Florida to push their Marxist agenda on voters,” the DeSantis campaign said first to Fox News Digital. “In Florida, we reject the professional left and their attempt to infiltrate our state and will always stand for truth and freedom.”

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In an ad running on Radio Mambí and WQBA-AM, DeSantis warned Spanish-speaking voters of “leftist disinformation” and said that in the “fight against socialism in America,” the left and Soros “are coming with their ideological agenda.”

The TelevisaUnivision network plans to sell 18 of its Spanish-language radio stations, including the ultraconservative Radio Mambí. The buyers are a group headed by Democratic activist Jess Morales Rocketto and Stephanie Valencia, who was a Latino outreach director under former President Barack Obama. Among those providing financing is Lakestar Finance, an investment group tied to Soros.

“In the Latino community, radio still plays such an important part, and in places like Florida it obviously plays a critically important part,” Valencia told WLRN.

The sale, which also includes stations in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, requires Federal Communications Commission approval. It isn’t expected to be completed until after the 2022 elections.

DEMS SEEK ELECTIONS OVERSIGHT

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried want federal oversight of Florida’s elections.

In separate letters to the U.S. Department of Justice, Crist and Fried expressed worries about issues such as new state laws altering voting procedures, a redrawn congressional map pushed by DeSantis and the views of new Secretary of State Cord Byrd, who oversees the Florida Division of Elections.

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“America has come a long way from poll taxes, literacy tests and open intimidation and suppression of minority groups,” Crist wrote. “But in the Sunshine State, what were whispers of Jim Crow-era voter suppression have become a foreboding roar.”

Fried called the new congressional map “discriminatory” and described Byrd’s views as “radical far-right.”

DeSantis last month appointed Byrd, a former Republican lawmaker from Northeast Florida, to succeed former Secretary of State Laurel Lee, who stepped down to run for Congress.

Byrd later said voters should be confident in the state’s voting process, including when they cast ballots by mail. He also contended other states had voting “irregularities” and refused to say whether President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

DeSantis tweeted Sunday that the state is putting more than $14 million into efforts such as election cybersecurity and creation of a first-of-its-kind office to investigate alleged voting irregularities.

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“Proof that in Florida, we take election integrity seriously,” DeSantis tweeted.

TARGETING TRAFFIC JAMS

On Monday, DeSantis supported some above-ground public transportation to alleviate congestion in Central Florida’s Interstate 4 corridor.

Asked about trains, buses and even subways as potential ways to reduce traffic jams, DeSantis first dismissed the idea of anything below-ground as something that “would not necessarily be a prudent use of tax funds.”

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The private Brightline passenger-rail service drew $15.9 million in federal matching funds last week for expansion plans between Orlando and Tampa. DeSantis said traffic congestion isn’t good for commuters’ time or the overall economy.

The subway question was posed before Fort Lauderdale city commissioners Tuesday night voted to pay Elon Musk’s Boring Company $375,000 to determine how much it would cost --- $100 million has been estimated --- for two underground tunnels where people could circumvent Las Olas Boulevard traffic in Teslas.

A TADDEO BUMP?

After Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, exited the gubernatorial race to run for a South Florida congressional seat, the Fried campaign said it expects a bounce.

Matthew Van Name, a Fried strategist, said in a statement Wednesday that Fried jumped 7 percentage points in internal polling when Taddeo was removed from the candidates.

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“When undecideds start breaking, we believe it’s closer to a 10-15 net gain,” Van Name contended. “That is enough to break 50 percent and get to our win number.”

Aggregator Real Clear Politics has Crist up by 19.3 percentage points based on results of polls.

TEXAS TALKING POINT

DeSantis, while in Fort Myers on Wednesday, said he has asked staff members to look into an issue that has become a national GOP talking point: kids at drag shows.

With the issue drawing attention because of a video from a Dallas-area gay bar, DeSantis said he opposes what he described as a push for “gender ideology in elementary schools.” But DeSantis also acknowledged Florida already has “child protective statutes on the books. We have laws against child endangerment.”

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The question was posed because Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Howey-in-the-Hills Republican who is running for Congress, announced on his campaign website the start of a petition drive calling for an emergency special legislative session to “ban drag shows aimed at Florida’s children.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK: “Earlier, I tweeted at @AnnaForFlorida in a way that was disrespectful. For that, I am sorry. It’s worrying to see her support a self-described pro-life Republican, but this wasn’t the way to do it. I’ve deleted the tweet. The focus should be on exposing Charlie and beating DeSantis.” --- Keith Edwards (@KeithEdwards), communications director for Nikki Fried’s gubernatorial campaign, responding to an earlier tweet where he called Orlando Rep. Anna Eskamani an “off-brand AOC” after she supported rival gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist.

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