'Form over function': Why DeSantis’ 'crony capitalism' crusade could crumble

25 June 2023

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' "war on woke" as he vies for the 2024 presidency may not pan out the way he'd hoped it would.

Recently, HuffPost reports, during DeSantis' first campaign speech in Iowa, he told the crowd, "There was a little business that you may have heard of in Florida named Disney. People told me, 'Listen, the media's coming after you, the left — but if Disney weighs in, they're the 800-pound gorilla. You better watch out, they're going to steamroll you.' Well, here I stand. I’m not backing down one inch. We run the state of Florida. They do not run the state of Florida."

However, according to CNN, "On Friday, a federal judge blocked a new Florida law that gave the DeSantis administration the power to shut down bars or restaurants that admit children to certain 'adult live performances,' and "Another federal judge said Wednesday that Florida could not restrict transgender adults on Medicaid from receiving gender-affirming care."

Furthermore, Margulis, CEO of Honeyfund, "a website for engaged couples to create gift registries that can pay for their honeymoons," CNN reports, said, "Companies aren't 'going woke' out of allegiance to Democrats. Time after time, diversity has proven to be good for the bottom line."

The business owner emphasized, "Valuing diversity means understanding it, understanding means training and training means having to deal with this law. We were really handed a chance to make a difference for other business owners by challenging it, and we took it."

Margulis, along with a group of others, sued DeSantis last year alleging the governor's Stop WOKE Act, which would enforce a ban on DEI trainings, violates their First Amendment right.

According to the report, "A federal judge agreed and blocked it from going into effect. The DeSantis administration then appealed – one of many of the governor's ongoing legal battles as he pursues the presidency."

CNN reports:

Still ongoing are more than a dozen legal battles testing the constitutionality of many of the victories DeSantis has touted on the campaign trail. Critics say DeSantis has built his governorship around enacting laws that appeal to his conservative base but that, as a Harvard-trained lawyer, he knows are unconstitutional and not likely to take effect.

Still, HuffPost notes:

In exchange for how he has run the state, DeSantis raised more money for his 2022 reelection than any governor in U.S. history. The funds now power his nascent presidential campaign: Just a few weeks ago, he transferred $82.5 million from his gubernatorial campaign into his presidential super PAC. As a declared presidential contender, he continues to be a fundraising juggernaut, despite donors complaining he has all the personality of wet cardboard.

"If you want to get in good with this governor and his team, you have to pay up," a Florida Republican consultant told HuffPost. "You need to be very careful getting crosswise with the governor. He will not hesitate to remind you who really runs the state."

Rich Templin, the director of politics and public policy for the Florida AFL-CIO, commented, "Under his administration, crony capitalism has just been given full license. They're all saying the quiet part out loud; there's no effort to hide it. It's just all out in the open."

Templin added, "A lot of us in Florida right now are just wondering when the cavalry is coming. All of the book banning and privatization of public education — we really feel like we no longer live in the United States."

However, HuffPost also emphasizes:

As the presidential campaign takes him further away from his power source, there is the possibility that his grip on power will weaken. A majority of Florida's Republican caucus in Congress have endorsed Trump. His fear tactics don't work as well on people without business before the state of Florida, and several major Wall Street donors have recoiled from his campaign as early polls show him losing to Trump. Suddenly, he's not their only option.

"Many of the things coming from the governor are form over function," Cecile Scoon, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida told CNN, adding, "They want to get to a certain result, so they find a means to do it, whether it makes logic or legal sense or not."

Sheena Rolle, the senior director of strategy for Florida Rising emphasized, "Florida is becoming a testing grounds to see how far people will go. Did he invent crony capitalism? No, but he is a test of 'Can he get away with being so blatant?'"

CNN's full report is available at this link. Huffpost's report is here.

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