One Day Into His Campaign, Florida Dem Gov Candidate Faces Criticism For Potentially Violating Campaign Finance Laws

Just hours after Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum launched his campaign for governor, he was forced to apologize for potentially electioneering with a government email system. After the Tallahassee mayor announced his candidacy, a public records request by Tallahassee Reports revealed that Gillum’s office used taxpayer funds to send out campaign emails to his supporters:

“Through a public records request, Tallahassee Reports has learned that Mayor Andrew Gillum’s Office sent out an email blast invite to a Biden/Clinton campaign event using the NGP VAN software purchased with City of Tallahassee tax dollars. This finding contradicts the statements by Gillum’s Chief of Staff, Dustin Daniels, who told Jeff Burlew of the Tallahassee Democrat that the NGP VAN software was not used for campaign purposes.”

This raises serious questions for the Democrat candidate, whose campaign appears to be playing fast and loose with election law less than a week into his candidacy. POLITICO reports:

“But the very way in which Gillum wants to tell his story is now at the center of a controversy because of a 5:47-minute biographical video his campaign posted on YouTube might run afoul of a state election law. Under Florida statute, a potential candidate is generally prohibited from accepting political contributions or making expenditures for a future campaign until that person has opened a campaign account. Gillum filed his paperwork at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. But the professionally produced video was made well before that…”

After just one day on the campaign trail, Andrew Gillum has already shown an inexcusable disregard for Florida’s election and campaign finance laws. Florida’s next governor should be someone who will uphold the rule of law and uphold the public’s trust in its elected leaders. Andrew Gillum has already failed that test.