DeSantis PAC Got $100K From Publix Before Covid Vax Deal

By Frances Langum — April 5, 2021

Back in the day, this kind of corruption would have ended a political career, but hey, Citizens United.

60 Minutes revealed Sunday night that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis received $100,000 in campaign donations from Publix Grocery Stores.

This is the same Publix to which DeSantis later awarded Covid Vaccine distribution in Palm Beach County.

Rep. Charlie Crist (D, FL13), the former governor, expressed outrage over this obvious pay to play arrangement:

#60Minutes made it crystal clear.

In @GovRonDeSantis's Florida, the wealthy get early access to vaccines.

For everyone else... it's the Hunger Games.

Floridians deserve better.

— Charlie Crist (@CharlieCrist) April 4, 2021

“Tonight’s report on 60 Minutes on Governor Ron DeSantis’s failure to put the people of Florida first in the vaccine rollout is appalling. In Gov. DeSantis’s Florida, money and power rule and everyone else is at the back of the line,” Crist said in a statement. “This callous, cruel, and compassionless policy makes ‘Hunger Games’ an apt metaphor. Floridians deserve better.”

The whole Publix thing makes vaccines in Florida income- and race-based. Publix builds in middle-class and upper-class (yes, white) communities.

👇 Infuriatingly ignorant take. If you watched the show, you know there are NO Publix in low-income communities. Poor Floridians would have to travel 30 MILES to get to a Publix. Poor Florida communities have CVS and Walgreens, but they were denied vaccines. DeSantis is killer. https://t.co/1pl83q4SnV

— OuraniaSeven🌞🌜🌟 #Resist #BLM #WearADamnMask (@OuraniaSeven) April 5, 2021

But they are typically not located in communities of color. So when he tried to make Publix the sole distributor in PBC, he was trying an approach that he knew would leave out people of color in Palm Beach County. This was a textbook example of systemic racism at work.

— Rep. Omari Hardy (@OmariJHardy) April 5, 2021

In a statement to 60 Minutes, Publix says there is no connection between the supermarket chain's campaign contributions and its partnership with the state to administer the vaccine. The company's full statement can be read here: https://t.co/gyrW9hYPTg

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 4, 2021

DeSantis’s motto for Vaccine Distribution in Florida was “Seniors First”, with Seniors defined as affluent whites who contributed cash to DeSantis. #DeSantisPayToPlayPlan

— Ed Hull (@EdHull8) April 5, 2021

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