Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) of requiring prospective university board of trustee members to donate $100,000 to his campaign. In turn, he would grant appointments to university boards.
“Our current board of trustees across our state were required to give a campaign contribution to Ron DeSantis, the amount of $100,000,” Fried said in a Democrat town hall. “And if they didn’t give him the campaign contribution they were not reappointed to the boards. That is what we are dealing with here in the state of Florida under this governor.”
The Tampa Bay Times, who covered the story, noted in its headline that Fried and her team offered “no proof.”
Andrew Godinich, a spokesman for Fried, said in an official statement to The Times that DeSantis’ appointments were “stacked with donors and the boards of trustees are no different.” He said Fried stood by her decision but made no mention of a pay-to-play scheme.
On Twitter, Florida Politics publisher and writer Peter Schorsch said, “This is one of the worst unforced errors to date for a campaign that is already on the ropes.”
This is one of the worst unforced errors to date for a campaign that is already on the ropes.
"Fried’s campaign spokesman Andrew Godinich issued a statement that failed to provide any proof." https://t.co/SjME7Mv0Ld
— Peter Schorsch (@PeterSchorschFL) December 15, 2021
In response to Fried’s claim, the Republican Party of Florida called Fried a “bald-faced liar.”
“Nikki Fried is a bald-faced liar, and her false claim that smears the good reputations of Florida board of trustees is just another example of this and Floridians know it,” said Helen Aguirre Ferré, executive director of the Florida GOP.
This is not the first time Fried accused DeSantis of a pay-to-play scheme. Earlier in 2021, Fried appeared on MSNBC and claimed DeSantis was providing early doses of the COVID vaccine to certain zip codes where GOP donors lived.
CBS’s 60 Minutes subsequently tweeted and ran a story that said “weeks before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a partnership with Publix grocery stores to distribute the vaccine in its pharmacies, Publix donated $100,000 to his PAC.”
In response to the unproven vaccine-related allegations, DeSantis called the Fried claim and the 60 Minutes story “lies built on lies.”
After Fried met with the FBI over vaccine distribution concerns, no findings supporting her claims have yet to be made public.
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Nikki Fried” by Nikki Fried. Background Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore CC BY-SA 2.0.
