DeSantis has voted
to cut funding for veterans, the military, the DEA, NATO and fossil energy
research.
In 2014 and 2015,
DeSantis balked at calling for resignations in the wake of state and national
veterans affairs scandals. The national scandal was started by reports of
veterans dying due to excessive wait times.
In 2015, DeSantis
refused to sign a letter to pledge his opposition to any bill that funded
Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the United States.
In 2015, DeSantis
voted for a bill that a leading conservative group
(Heritage Action)
(Heritage Action)
"perhaps now
the most influential lobby group among Congressional Republicans."
opposed
because it failed to defund Planned Parenthood.
In 2013, DeSantis
voted against a Republican-sponsored bill to renew the Violence Against Women
Act.
DeSantis claimed
that he “aggressively” prosecuted criminals during his brief time as an
Assistant U.S. Attorney.
However, a review of
court records found that more than the half cases he worked on were resolved
via plea deals, and it does not appear that he ever took a case to trial.
DeSantis cut plea
deals with three men charged with child pornography crimes that resulted in
significant reductions in their prison sentences.
Although DeSantis
has touted his as anti-crime credentials as a U.S. Attorney, he was questioned
by Pinellas County law enforcement officials about a violent nightclub brawl
and for looking into parked vehicles.
DeSantis makes
$174,000/yr. from taxpayers as a member of Congress, but he has little to show
for his time in D.C. He ranks among the least effective members of his caucus,
and he has skipped nearly 30 percent of the hearings held by the House
Committee on Oversight & Government Reform.
He also skipped
House floor votes to fund veterans, law enforcement and first responders to
campaign in Las Vegas.
Although DeSantis
will be crisscrossing Florida seeking the support of voters in the Republican
gubernatorial primary, he failed to vote in primaries from 1998 to 2008.
In 2017, DeSantis,
an outspoken supporter of term limits, refused to say if he would comply with
his own bill to limit members of Congress to three terms in office.
Florida records
indicate that a couple has taken up residence at a DeSantis-owned home in Ponte
Vedra Beach. However, DeSantis has not reported any rental income in his
personal financial disclosures.
In 2016, DeSantis
gave away copies of his poorly selling book at campaign events and failed to
report it to the FEC until after he was caught by a reporter.
In 2016, fellow
Republicans voiced concerns about DeSantis’ attempt to raise campaign donations
off a government investigation.
While DeSantis has
sought to portray himself as an outsider and an anti-establishment candidate,
he cast speaker votes for John Boehner and Paul Ryan, turned to Boehner for
fundraising help, and he has voted for the establishment’s agenda 96 to 98
percent of the time
DeSantis portrays
himself as an outsider, but he has received $1.2 million in PAC donations, $1.1
million from Wall Street (his largest source of donations), and $258,705 from
lawyers and lobbyists.
In 2016, DeSantis
took up residence at an oceanside condo he rented from two of his top campaign
donors.
The two donors serve
as top executives for a defense contractor (Total Military Management) that has
spent $700,000 lobbying members of Congress to preserve a key source of
funding. It is unclear if DeSantis still rents the condo in question.
From 2009 to 2011,
DeSantis worked for a law/lobbying firm (Holland & Knight) that has
repeatedly made $20 million/yr. in lobbying income and is considered one of the
most influential lobbying firms in D.C. Since DeSantis, was elected to
Congress, the firm has ranked among his top campaign donors.