'It’s outrageous': Florida columnist skewers DeSantis for secret use of taxpayer cash on campaign

A minor crash in Tennessee has revealed Ron DeSantis’ use of taxpayer cash on his campaign – spending that would have been kept secret if the accident had happened in Florida because of laws that he passed, a columnist said Sunday.

An open records request about Tuesday’s collision filed to the police department in Chattanooga by the South Florida Sun-Sentinelquickly came back with details: DeSantis was traveling in an entourage of rented cars and accompanied by seven Florida cops.

DeSantis had been traveling to a campaign event not associated with his run to become the GOP’s presidential nominee. Yet the people of Florida picked up the bill, the Sun-Sentinel wrote.

“That’s excessive. It’s outrageous. But it’s the norm for DeSantis, who has reshaped (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) into his personal police force, with no resistance from a limp Legislature and an unquestioning Cabinet,” wrote the Sun-Sentinel’s Steve Bousquet.

But what really infuriated the columnist was the fact that details were only discovered because the accident happened out of the state.

“We know the answer thanks to the people of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who still show an old-fashioned respect for public records and public information,” he wrote.

He went on: “This is the kind of basic information that taxpayers have a right to know. But they don’t, because DeSantis got the Legislature to enact a new law that makes all of his travel records secret, even retroactively.”

Bousquet pointed out that the FDLE has to protect the governor, no matter where he is or what he’s doing. But the amount of travel he’s doing is making the cost to Florida’s taxpayers “astronomical.”

“No governor in Florida history has so aggressively used the agency to push a political agenda, and as The Washington Post has reported, some long-time agents have left FDLE in disgust or have been pushed out,” he said.

“In the end, it’s going to be costly to Florida taxpayers for DeSantis to keep chasing his floundering presidential ambitions. At a minimum, he should dip into his vast campaign account and reimburse taxpayers for every dollar of campaign work done by state employees.”