DeSantis, State PAC Accused of Violating ‘Soft Money’ Ban
WASHINGTON — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his state PAC allegedly broke campaign finance laws prohibiting the use of so-called “soft money” by transferring over $80 million to a federal super PAC, a complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center claims.
Friends of Ron DeSantis, a state PAC based in Florida that the newly minted presidential candidate established in 2018, has reportedly raised over $225 million through this month.
In its complaint, which was filed with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday morning, the nonprofit government watchdog group claims roughly $80 million of that total was directed or transferred to Never Back Down, a federal super PAC organized to serve as the primary spending vehicle for the governor’s presidential campaign.
According to the filing, Never Back Down has already spent over $944,000 to promote DeSantis’ candidacy.
The FEC prohibits candidates for federal office from spending “soft money” in a federal election because such funds are not subject to federal campaign finance laws.
Controlling the use of soft money has been a hot-button issue surrounding federal campaigns ever since the post-Watergate reform era of the mid-1970s.
Soft money funds, in a general sense, are funds raised by national and state parties that are not regulated by the federal campaign finance law because they are not contributed directly to a candidate, but instead go to a party committee for its use in generic “party building” or “get-out-the-vote” activities.
Contributors to soft money accounts are not subject to contribution limits and are not subject to the transparency rules associated with other federal campaign contributions.
By law, all such contributions must be deposited in separate, non-federal accounts. However, in practice, use of the funds sometimes benefits specific candidates, making it a vehicle for skirting contribution limits and restrictions.
“Soft money undermines federal campaign finance laws because it is, by definition, money raised and spent outside the scope of those laws,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at Campaign Legal Center.
“We’re talking about funds from billionaires and corporate special interests who could exert massive influence over the candidate they are financing,” Ghosh continued. “Laws banning these funds from being used to seek federal office are there for a reason — to prevent corruption, promote transparency and ensure that wealthy special interests can’t rig the system even further in their favor.”
The complaint asserts that DeSantis became a candidate well before his public announcement on May 24, 2023, and was therefore bound by the FECA provisions prohibiting candidates and the entities they establish, finance, maintain or control from spending soft money in connection with federal elections.
As a result, the Campaign Legal Center claims, Friends of Ron DeSantis “brazenly” violated the law when it transferred this colossal sum to a federal super PAC.
The PAC was recently renamed “Empower Parents PAC” as part of what the watchdog group describes as “a clear effort to distance the group from DeSantis.”
The Well News has reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue
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