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Mini Mike Bloomberg Dumping Millions Into Freeing Florida Felons So They Can Vote — But Is That Legal?

Photo of K. Walker K. WalkerSeptember 23, 2020
20 3 minutes read

Dear Media (D)–is this considered “quid pro quo” or not?

It’s hilarious that the Democratic Party that is allegedly against the “big money” in politics is just fine when it’s their guy tossing money hand-over-fist in every attempt to get their candidate elected.

Mike Bloomberg, billionaire and failed Democratic candidate, had pledged to financially back whoever the nominee for his party was going to be, but he hadn’t made good on that promise until a couple of weeks ago.

ClashDaily covered that here:

Mini-Mike Commits $100 MILLION To Help Hidin’ Biden Win Florida

But now it seems that Mini-Mike is using his name to raise money and dump millions to pay off the debts of felons in Florida so that they can vote in the 2020 election.

According to The Daily Mail, Bloomberg issued a statement saying, “We know to win Florida we will need to persuade, motivate and add new votes to the Biden column. This means we need to explore all avenues for finding the needed votes when so many votes are already determined.”

Some of those “new votes” are from convicted felons that will be eligible to vote if all of their fines have been paid.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has reportedly raised more than $16 million in an effort to help convicted felons in Florida register to vote.

The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition estimated Bloomberg’s fundraising push has already paid off monetary obligations for 32,000 felons, Axios reported.

“The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and no American should be denied that right,” a Bloomberg spokesperson told the news outlet. “Working together with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, we are determined to end disenfranchisement and the discrimination that has always driven it.”

Source: The Hill

A spokesperson for Biden was pretty clear when speaking to the Washington Post about the reasoning behind this, “Mike wanted to get this done for two reasons. One, because it’s the right thing to do for the democracy. And two, because it immediately activates tens of thousands of voters who are predisposed to vote for Joe Biden.”

Why are they “predisposed” to vote Democrat? Because of their race.

NBC News reports, “The voting effort targets mostly Black and Latino felons in Florida who registered to vote while the law was in question — populations that have historically backed Democrats in larger numbers.” (Emphasis added)

But Democrats don’t see people as voting blocs.

This comes just days after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), won a court victory which stated that convicted felons could only register to vote after all of their fines had been paid. The win was over a 2018 Amendment to Florida’s Constitution that would permit voting rights to be restored to convicted felons, except those convicted of murder or felony sexual offenses, once they have “completed all of the terms of their sentences.” The DeSantis administration has said that this includes the payment of all fines. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with DeSantis.

The question is, does paying off millions in fines for felons who can’t afford to do it themselves so that they can vote, constitute election interference?

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) thinks that it does. He says that it amounts to “bribery and vote-buying.”

Here’s Rep. Gaetz speaking to Lou Dobbs about this issue:

Later, Rep. Gaetz was on Hannity’s show and said that the Florida Attorney General is “all over” Bloomberg’s actions in Florida.

Rep. Gaetz says that it’s normally very difficult to prove a vote-buying scheme, but the statements made by Bloomberg could be seen as an admission.

The fiery Congressman said, “Florida statute says that it’s a third-degree felony for someone to either directly or indirectly provide something of value to impact whether or not someone votes. So the question is whether or not paying off someone’s fines and legal obligations counts as something of value, and it clearly does.”

He continued, “If Michael Bloomberg was offering to pay off people’s credit card debt, you would obviously see the value in that. So, when you improve someone’s net worth by eliminating their financial liabilities, that’s something of value.”

That could be some bad news for Mini-Mike!

Bloomberg isn’t alone in dumping cash into the fund, The Daily Mail notes that other donors include, “John Legend, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Ben & Jerry’s, Levi Strauss & Co, the Miami Dolphins, the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat and Stephen Spielberg.”

Outkick the Coverage obtained a screenshot of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition texting an individual seeking felons that need their fines paid.

This particular issue is making quite the splash on social media.

https://twitter.com/thebradfordfile/status/1308592898707947525

This could get quite interesting.

Photo of K. Walker K. WalkerSeptember 23, 2020
20 3 minutes read
Photo of K. Walker

K. Walker

ClashDaily's Associate Editor since August 2016. Self-described political junkie, anti-Third Wave Feminist, and a nightmare to the 'intersectional' crowd. Mrs. Walker has taken a stand against 'white privilege' education in public schools. She's also an amateur Playwright, former Drama teacher, and staunch defender of the Oxford comma. Follow her humble musings on Twitter: @TheMrsKnowItAll and on Gettr @KarenWalker