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DeSantis ally warns ‘Ready for Ron’ PAC is full of ‘grifters’ as group plans massive ad campaign

January 20, 2023 | | Print Article

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reportedly hasn’t taken kindly to an independent political action committee that’s planning to spend $3 million on ads promoting him.

Why? Because the governor’s political team believes the Ready for Ron PAC is full of grifters.

“This doesn’t help Ron DeSantis. It’s a grift — plain and simple,” a source close to the governor told Fox News.

Ouch.

Observe some of the alleged grifting below:

According to Fox News, the PAC “plans to spend more than $3 million in the coming months to boost Gov. Ron DeSantis’ already prominent national profile and organize a grassroots campaign should the Florida Republican launch a bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.”

So why does the DeSantis team believe the PAC is full of grifters? Because the PAC started collecting donations last May — meaning before DeSantis was reelected as governor — yet hasn’t handed over any of its donations.

The contributions “do not benefit Governor DeSantis or his re-election,” DeSantis’ team said in a memo written last summer.

The PAC “is apparently engaging in an aggressive media campaign to promote itself, running political ads and actively soliciting contributions from supporters of Governor DeSantis,” they said.

“In reality, the PAC is actively taking financial resources away from Governor DeSantis and his re-election efforts. While possibly well-intentioned, these types of organizations tend to cannibalize support that would normally be offered to the candidate directly,”  they added.

That being said, Ready for Ron was formed in May and reportedly includes Republican consultant Ed Rollins as its chief strategist.

Rollins used to make frequent appearances on Fox Business Network’s now-defunct “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

On Thursday, the PAC “filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission disclosing that it intends to spend $3.3 million over the next six months on a national TV ad campaign and on phone, mail and digital promotions,” according to Fox News.

Dan Backer, a lawyer and counsel to Ready for Ron, told Fox News that all the PAC’s trying to do is get the ball running for 2024.

“I don’t think [the governor’s] going to pay attention to federal politics until after the legislative session is over. But other potential candidates are organizing now. There’s a window of time here where things have to get done,” he said.

“We’re putting out our messaging that [President] Biden is the problem and Ron is the best solution out there,” he continued, adding that his PAC is “building a large grassroots infrastructure to help nominate and elect him.”

“We’re putting out the message and building the grassroots that he’ll need when we are successful at convincing him to run,” Backer said.

As for why the PAC gave zero money in 2022, Backer said they “didn’t spend a single penny trying to re-elect him as governor because we weren’t interested in doing that and he didn’t need the help.”

“The polls were clear. Everything we’re doing is focused on building this infrastructure for him to run for president,” he added.

Fair enough?

The Ready for Ron folks aren’t the only ones promoting a DeSantis 2024 run.

“A group of prominent Michigan Republicans are encouraging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to jump into the 2024 presidential race — a significant and thinly veiled shot at the only announced Republican candidate: former President Donald Trump,” Politico reported Wednesday.

“Last month, Bryan Posthumus, the Republican floor leader in the Michigan state House, flew to Florida and hand-delivered DeSantis a letter encouraging him to run for president. The letter — which was signed by 18 Republican members of the state House, one quarter of party’s caucus — called DeSantis ‘uniquely and exceptionally qualified to provide the leadership and competence that is, unfortunately, missing.'”

Speaking of former President Donald Trump, Rolling Stones is alleging that he’s currently looking for dirt on the Florida governor.

“What else do we have on [Ron]?” he recently asked his staff, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

“The former president’s determination to obliterate his ascendant rival underscores just how unwilling Trump is to pass the torch and surrender his stewardship of the GOP — even if it shreds the party,” Rolling Stone reported Thursday.

“As Trump and his ideological heir DeSantis vie for control of the Republican Party, the victor in that power struggle will help determine the precise kind of extreme politics that modern conservatives see as their future: the authoritarian personality cult of a Trump, or the more disciplined MAGAism of a DeSantis.”

Vivek Saxena
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