Fried files ethics complaints against DeSantis’ state staff over political fundraising

The leader of the Florida Democratic Party filed ethics complaints against three top Gov. Ron DeSantis staffers who asked lobbyists and lawmakers for donations to the governor’s presidential campaign.

Party chairperson Nikki Fried said she filed complaints with the state’s Commission on Ethics and the Florida Elections Commission.

“These allegations represent a gross violation of state laws and ethics and we could not in good conscience ignore them,” Fried said in a statement. “If true, they are yet another example of Ron abusing his public office for personal gain.”

The governor’s office has defended the fundraising, saying that the staffers did so on their own time. DeSantis press secretary Jeremy Redfern said in a statement Wednesday that he was adding the complaints “to the list of politically motivated attacks.”

“If the executive team wants to fundraise, knock doors, or volunteer their free time, more power to them — they have First Amendment rights like every American,” Redfern said.

Fried, citing news reports, filed the complaints against three top DeSantis officials, who each earn six-figure salaries as government employees: Chief of Staff James Uthmeier, Legislative Affairs Director Stephanie Kopelousos and Policy and Budget Director Chris Spencer.

The fundraising was first reported by NBC News, which wrote that DeSantis officials were asking lobbyists to donate to the governor’s White House campaign.

The fundraising, which was confirmed by the Herald/Times, was considered a surprising breach of norms even for the boundary-pushing governor. DeSantis had not yet signed the state budget — and therefore could have vetoed spending in which lobbyists’ clients could benefit.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, citing unnamed sources, reported that DeSantis’ staff also asked state lawmakers to donate to DeSantis’ presidential campaign. (When DeSantis issued his vetoes last week, a GOP senator from Sarasota accused the governor of targeting his district because he endorsed former President Donald Trump in the presidential primary.)

Fried’s complaints say that if the reporting “is true,” the officials might be misusing their position and violating a state law against state workers participating in a political campaign for elective office while on duty, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

In March, Fried filed a different complaint against DeSantis and his state campaign committee, accusing him of accepting gifts from his committee in violation of state law.

The complaint alleged that $235,000 the campaign spent for DeSantis’ three-day Palm Beach retreat in February at the Four Seasons with donors and Republican lawmakers didn’t serve the purpose for which the committee was created: to serve his campaign for governor.

DeSantis and his committees received another complaint on Wednesday, filed by the advocacy group End Citizens United with the Federal Election Commission. The complaint alleges that the transfer of $82.5 million from DeSantis’ former state committee to a super PAC backing his presidential campaign was prohibited under federal law.

Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau reporters Ana Ceballos and Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report.