A group led by former President Ronald Reagan’s political director went to federal court today to demand that the Federal Election Commission get out of the way of its campaign to convince Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to run for president in 2024.
The political action committee, Ready for Ron, filed for a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court for Washington to get the FEC to speed up its decision on the legality of handing over a petition filled with some 110,000 names and contacts of those who want the governor to run.
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A lawyer for the group, Dan Backer, told Secrets that the filing is aimed at nudging the notoriously slow-deciding FEC to give the green light to provide DeSantis the contacts in hopes it sparks a presidential bid.
“The goal here is to sort of speed the ball along,” said Backer, who hopes the court will help the group get a decision by February.
The process began in July when the group asked the FEC to make sure it was in the clear with its efforts. Since then, it has been anything but clear, with critics suggesting that Democrats at the agency are rolling out roadblocks to block DeSantis from challenging former President Donald Trump in the primaries.
“Following more than six months of work by Ready for Ron, Gov. DeSantis has a growing lead in poll after poll in key states. Our draft movement is working, and we’re not going to let government bureaucrats stand in the way of our grassroots movement,” stated Ready for Ron Chief Political Strategist Ed Rollins, a top former Reagan adviser and political guru to many other Republicans.
“We are not allowing the FEC to stand in our way of building one of the biggest grassroots movements ever,” added Ready for Ron chief legal counsel Lilian Rodriguez-Baz.
Ready for Ron has spent up to $200,000 a month promoting its petition. During that time, DeSantis’s popularity has grown. He easily won reelection and is the main potential rival to Trump in the 2024 primaries.
In its filing, Ready for Ron said that the FEC is stretching election rules to block it. The group said its effort is a simple demonstration of free speech, with 110,000 Americans freely signing up to show their support of DeSantis in an organized way.
The FEC generally moves in when money and items of value are involved.
An election lawyer not affiliated with the case said, “I think the claim to allow R4R to provide the list of petition signers to DeSantis before he announces he’s testing the waters or a candidate is a slam dunk. The FEC does not regulate non-candidates.”
While the FEC feels the contact list has value, Ready for Ron said the financial rules the FEC uses to regulate campaigns do not extend to draft efforts, especially those not connected to candidates and when potential candidates aren’t even running or testing the waters of a bid, such as DeSantis.
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For his part, DeSantis has said that he wants to deliver as governor of Florida.
Backer, lead counsel before the FEC for Ready for Ron, said, “There’s no greater act of political speech than signing your name to a draft petition, and zero basis for saying Ready for Ron cannot give those names to the governor. We are confident we will prevail. We’ve beaten the FEC before and surely will again. We refuse to stand idly by allowing Biden Democrats to continue silencing public speech and threatening our Democracy.”
