Leaked document details lobbyists 'auctioning' off access to DeSantis for campaign cash

A spreadsheet obtained by the Washington Post demonstrated how Gov. Ron DeSantis and his inner circle pressed lobbyists to sell access to the Florida Republican by setting up a bidding war among wealthy donors for access to "leisure activities" with the potential GOP candidate for president.

According to the report, the document was created with the assistance of top DeSantis aide Heather Barker and was aimed at "the state’s top 40 lobbyists and about 100 of their 'Suggested Clients to target'"

As the Post's Josh Dawsey and Isaac Arnsdorf wrote, "The Florida governor’s fundraisers hoped that nine lobbyists would raise at least $1 million each for DeSantis’s political action committee," adding, "To help them haul in large sums of money, the document suggested that lobbyists be allowed to offer their clients certain perks, such as meals and rounds of golf with DeSantis, who loves the sport. DeSantis’s fundraisers envisioned that some golf outings with the governor would net contributions of $75,000 or more, according to other emails among DeSantis’s political advisers."

In emails obtained by the Post, Barker encouraged the lobbyists by writing, "I could sell golf for $50k this morning.”

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In addition to golf outings, the documents listed other offers that could be promised to rake in donations including, "lunch, meetings, dinner, tours, events, etc."

According to the report, "Each have a threshold (ex. Golf $25k per person, which is a deal), reads the document, whose authenticity was confirmed by multiple people with knowledge of it."

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"While it is common for politicians to seek donations from lobbyists, the efforts by DeSantis to effectively auction off his leisure time to those seeking to influence state policy created a special pathway of access for wealthy donors to the governor that is striking in the way that it was documented in writing, ethics experts said," the report states before adding, "DeSantis made some calls to lobbyists, the documents show, and often took meetings that were orchestrated by the team, which was run by political aides to the governor."

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