TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration quietly changed state guidelines. It was essentially giving its approval for a state level political committee he ran in the past to transfer millions of dollars to a Super PAC supporting his presidential campaign.
Years ago, election officials stated that such a transfer would not be permitted. In March, just months before DeSantis officially launched his presidential bid, officials at the Florida State Department (the DeSantis administration entity responsible for state elections) changed their handbook so that such transfers were allowed.
It is noteworthy that the timing of this announcement is significant because a state political committee DeSantis has led for five years, Friends of Ron DeSantis is expected to transfer more than $80 million to a federal Super PAC, Never Back Down, which is supporting his newly launched presidential bid.
The handbook stated that, at least for the 2016 election cycle and beyond, state election regulators were not in favor of transferring funds from state committees to federal ones. In the “frequently asked question” section of the handbook, this issue has been addressed every election cycle.
The pasthandbooks responded “No” to hypothetical questions regarding state-to federal transfers. “A Florida Political Committee must use its funds exclusively for Florida political activities. . That is,. Depositing contributions and making expenses, which are by definition under Florida law for the purpose of influencing only Florida election.
The answer to the question was the same for the four future versions of the Handbook covering the 2016, 2018,, 2020, and 2022 electoral cycles.
The answer was changed in the 2024 version that was published in March. The document now states that these transfers are permitted, citing the 2010 Citizens United decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which lifted the ban on unions and corporations making independent expenditures. This ruling paved the path for super PACs such as Never Back Down which will spend more than $200 million to help DeSantis win the White House.
The updated answer reads: “A Florida Political Committee may make contributions only to out-of-state entities that are engaged in non-coordinated spending.” This is a strange election term for super-PACs which cannot coordinate directly with the candidate campaigns they help.
The new answer specifically refers to the Citizens United ruling when describing the previous advice of the department as “no more tenable” regarding contributions to groups who’s expenditures aren’t coordinated with candidates.
The department said it is updating its guidelines because of the 2010 decision.
An official at the State Department did not respond to a question about why it is taking 13 years to make the change after the Citizens United decision. DeSantis’ office did not also respond to a comment request.
Cory Byrd is a DeSantis appointee, and an ally of DeSantis. He refused to say if Joe Biden would win the 2020 elections.
In a text, a Florida veteran campaign finance lawyer, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the issue, stated that “Citizens United” was decided nearly thirteen years ago. Since then, the Florida Legislature amended the campaign financing statute at least five different times. “Until 2 months ago, no one seemed to be concerned with how our state laws would fit in with the supreme court’s decision,” a veteran Florida campaign finance attorney said via text message.
The person continued, “but now, miraculously, we’re here,” referring to DeSantis presidential campaign.
Federal Election Commission officials have not clarified the issue despite some arguing that transfers of this nature are in conflict with federal election laws. The Federal Election Commission has not provided clarity on the issue, even though some have argued that such transfers are in conflict with federal election law.
DeSantis disassociated himself from Friends of Ron DeSantis (the state-level political group) in early May when Republican state senator Blaise Ingoglia was appointed the group’s chair. Ingoglia is a close DeSantis supporter.
The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC on Tuesday, which sparked speculation about whether the group would be able to transfer the over $80 million it has in its account to a super PAC that supports DeSantis.
According to the group, DeSantis had been running for president since March even though he hadn’t officially declared himself. This was based on reports in media and his travels both in states with early presidential primaries and abroad which led people to speculate that he wanted to beef up his resume on foreign affairs.
The complaint states that “DeSantis spent an extended period fundraising and traveling domestically and abroad to build up a presidential warchest and publicly present him as a viable candidate for president.”
The group alleges that large sums of money raised by the state-level campaign, also known as soft money, was used to subsidise that early travel. This, the group claims, was done in support of a presidential run and against federal election laws. DeSantis officially declared his candidacy for president on Wednesday.
Soft money undermines federal election finance laws because, by definition it is money that’s raised and spent outside of the laws. This was the statement of Saurav Ghosh at the Campaign Legal Center. “We’re talking about money from billionaires and special corporate interests that could have a massive impact on the candidate they finance.”
According to state election records, money has not been transferred yet from the state-level committee DeSantis formerly headed to the super PAC that supports his presidential bid. The Campaign Legal Center cited a New York Times article indicating that Never Back Down officials had ” anticipated” this transfer.
Never Back Down officials failed to respond to an inquiry seeking comments about the complaint.
