Today, Governor Ron DeSantis filed an updated federal financial disclosure which showed that he was paid an additional $100,000 for “marketing” his recent “politician’s memoir churned out by ChatGPT” that was not reported on his previous filing.
This updated disclosure comes on the heels of a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report released last month detailing the costs associated with providing protection for the Governor. The numbers show that from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, Florida taxpayers spent more than $8 million transporting and protecting the Governor, with total costs reaching more than $9.4 million, a 58% increase over the previous year.
This jump in costs came as the Governor spent the early part of this year on a nationwide tour to sell his book.
In response, DeSantis Watch Communications Director Anders Croy issued the following statement:
“While Floridians were picking up the cost to the tune of millions of taxpayer dollars, Ron DeSantis was pocketing $100,000 to criss-cross the country selling his book to extreme right-wing primary voters. It’s bad enough that Floridians continue to pay his $141,000 taxpayer-funded salary while he engages in a disastrous vanity campaign for president, but it is unconscionable that taxpayers also paid the cost while the Governor collected almost twice what the median household in our state makes every year to increase his own personal wealth. The people of Florida deserve better than a Governor who always puts his own personal ambition over their well-being and it is clear that America cannot afford Ron DeSantis as president.”