Gubernatorial candidate and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat, teamed up with Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson to promote questionable claims related to Governor Ron DeSantis and the state’s purchase of airplanes for executive travel.
On March 12, Wilson noted in a tweet that he had called out DeSantis for adding private jets to the state budget.
Fried responded by tweeting, “You making the ad or are we @rickwilson..”
You making the ad or are we, @TheRickWilson? He also gave himself a raise during the pandemic. https://t.co/UnTywYt1Ud
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) March 12, 2022
Fried has repeatedly misrepresented the facts related to the acquisition of executive aircraft recently approved by the Florida Legislature.
On Monday, Fried tweeted, “Ron DeSantis is buying a private plane ‘designated exclusively’ — for his use only — with your taxpayer dollars.”
At a press conference on Tuesday, March 15th, Fried indicated that DeSantis would be using “taxpayers’ dollars today to buy two new additional planes — it’s showing a lack of priority for the people of our state. The governor has abused the plane that the people bought him already,” Fried said. “He’s taking this to press conferences, where it’s basically campaign rallies.”
However, it appears Fried supported the purchase of new airplanes before she was a candidate for governor.
In 2019, Florida Politics reported that Fried said “Cost-effective and responsible use of state aircraft would enhance our situational response and our availability to the people of Florida,” Fried said in a 2019 statement. She added that the malfunction “underscores the importance of dependable transportation for Cabinet members.”
The statement came after the state plane DeSantis was using experienced problems in flight that resulted in an emergency landing.
The decision by the Florida Legislature to purchase planes comes after Governor Rick Scott sold off two state planes as part of a campaign promise to limit abuses by government officials in 2011. Scott, a multimillionaire, traveled aboard his own private jet. But the move left high-level Florida officials without air transportation.
Fried’s attacks on DeSantis have not gone unnoticed by DeSantis spokesperson, Christina Pushaw.
On Tuesday, Pushaw said that “the state legislature included in their budget proposed funding for two new state planes. Like all the legislature’s proposed budget items, it has not been acted upon, and will be thoroughly reviewed by the governor before he makes his decision about it.”
Pushaw added, “If Governor DeSantis approves the legislature’s budget with this item in it, the new state planes would not be for “his exclusive use. In fact, the two new aircraft would be used by legislative leaders and Cabinet members (that includes Commissioner Fried herself, as agriculture commissioner is a Cabinet position). The planes would only be available to them for official business, in accordance with state law. All of this is spelled out very clearly in the appropriations bill passed by the legislature in this session.”
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Steve Stewart is a senior contributor at The Florida Capital Star. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
