Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a news conference to address the rise of coronavirus cases in the state at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on July 13, 2020.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images
The Florida Commissioner of Agriculture on Monday called for a congressional inquiry into Ron DeSantis’ government over “alleged political favoritism” in the distribution of Covid-19 doses in his state.
Nikki Fried, the state’s Democratic agriculture commissioner, noted that at least three ‘pop-up’ vaccination sites were ‘organized into prosperous communities linked to donors for the governor’s political campaigns’.
Fried, who has long been a powerful critic of DeSantis, called on Congress to investigate in a letter to Rep. James Clyburn, DS.C., Chairman of the Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La, was sent. ., his position of Republican member.
“My office has regularly received complaints about the unequal distribution of vaccines,” Fried wrote in the letter obtained by CNBC. She further accused DeSantis of ‘improper distribution of vaccines and, in the worst case, corrupt political protection’. The letter was first reported by Yahoo Finance.
DeSantis’ office did not return CNBC’s request for comment on the allegations.
Fried quoted news reports about the three so-called pop-up vaccination sites. In the first place, ‘DeSantis has allowed politically connected private developers to distribute the life-saving drug to residents of their luxury communities and bypass systems to ensure equitable access to vaccines,’ the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.
Fried also cited other reports about pop-up vaccination sites appearing in affluent neighborhoods, apparently linked to DeSantis’ donors.
“Given the many serious questions regarding the governor’s impartiality and potential political corruption in the distribution of life-saving vaccines, I encourage your committee to begin a congressional inquiry into the distribution procedures for Florida vaccines, including to force production, any testimony, records and documents that you approve of, “Fried wrote.
Fried also sent a letter to DeSantis on Monday morning asking him to suspend Manatee County commissioner Vanessa Baugh from public office. Baugh, Fried wrote, is being investigated for allegedly “putting herself, friends and family on a GDP vaccine list”. Baugh also chose her district, two affluent zip codes, to receive additional vaccine doses from the state, Fried wrote.
Baugh apologized for what she called “a lapse in judgment,” according to a statement obtained by ABC7 WWSB. Baugh did not immediately return CNBC’s request for comment.
This is the second time a Florida Democrat has called for a federal investigation into DeSantis’ handling of vaccine vaccinations. On February 21, Representative Charlie Crist, D-Fla., Sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking to investigate reports that DeSantis had established vaccination sites “in select locations to benefit political allies and donors over the needs of communities with higher risks and existing waiting lists of the country. “
Notably, both Fried and Crist have been named potential news challengers for DeSantis in news reports.
“As reported by several news reports, the governor is setting up ‘pop-up’ vaccination sites to deliver doses to certain communities,” wrote Crist, a longtime DeSantis critic. “The postal codes in question have the highest income levels and the lowest COVID infection rates in the country.”