Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has become a familiar, and to some a reassuring, face on numerous television channels through the traumatic aftermath of Hurricane Ian’s rampage through the state.
But the near-constant presence of the Republican, who in less chaotic times limits his on-screen appearances largely to the Fox News faithful, is not sitting comfortably with others, nor are his appeals for public contributions for hurricane relief while he is using taxpayers’ money for “political stunts”.
DeSantis announced at a press conference on Friday morning that public donations to the state’s disaster fund had surpassed $12m, coincidentally the same amount he was allocated from the state budget, funded by interest on federal Covid relief payments, for a controversial migrant-removal program.
The governor, a likely candidate for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, has already spent a chunk of that money shifting two planeloads of Venezuelans from Texas to Massachusetts, raising questions over why he was shuttling immigrants between two states of which he is not governor on the Florida taxpayers’ dime.
DeSantis says he expects to arrange more flights until the money is spent, but his actions have drawn a criminal investigation from a sheriff in Texas and two lawsuits. The first is a class-action suit filed on behalf of the migrants by the group Lawyers for Civil Rights, alleging breaches of federal immigration law.
“What we hope to do … is stop the shipment of immigrants across state lines by misrepresentation and fraudulent efforts, specifically from Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida,” Miriam Albert, one of the group’s lawyers, said.
The second lawsuit was filed by Democrats in Florida seeking to shut down DeSantis’s migrant-movement program altogether.
DeSantis’s pleas for hurricane aid raise hackles amid vast partisan divide (msn.com)