Renzo Downey
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz is asking Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to launch an investigation into Michael Bloomberg for paying off felons’ debts, which the Congressman called potential bribery.
Bloomberg, a New York Democratic billionaire and former presidential candidate, has waded into Florida in an effort to raise millions for felons to pay off their debts so they can vote in the November Election. In Florida, felons must have served their sentence and paid all court costs, fines, fees and restitutions to have their voting rights restored.
That, the Fort Walton Beach Republican said during a Fox Business appearance on Lou Dobbs Tonight, was politically motivated and potential bribery and vote-buying.
“It’s not every felon. It’s just those which they have specifically identified as the Biden voters,” Gaetz said. “That’s offering a bribe, an inducement, for someone to behave a certain way in voting.”
The money is targeted for felons who registered to vote while the law was in question and who owe $1,500 or less, which accounts for about 31,100 people, Bloomberg advisers say. The Florida Rights Restitution Council had raised about $5 million before Bloomberg joined the effort with a call to raise nearly $17 million more.
“This isn’t on the level. This isn’t just advertising money. This is a specific inducement to a specific segment of voters to get them to vote a certain way, and I think it could be a crime,” Gaetz said.
Furthermore, he called it the former New York City Mayor’s worst waste of money since his presidential bid this campaign cycle.
“Michael Bloomberg was engaged in a leveraged buyout of the Democratic Party,” Gaetz said. “He didn’t meet the rules, but he got on the debate stage anyway, and he probably regretted it because (Massachusetts Sen.) Elizabeth Warren fed him into a woodchipper.”
Dobbs also reheated attacks Gaetz made Monday against Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins for refusing to vote on an anticipated nomination by President Donald Trump to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s seat on the Supreme Court.
That day, Gaetz challenged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to strip funding and committee assignments from the dissenting GOP lawmakers. While he admitted that the senior Senator from Kentucky doesn’t take orders from him, an enduring Trump movement would require lawmakers who “confront their duties, not reject them.”
“I’m sick and tired of President Trump’s voters being taken for granted,” Gaetz said. “And I think in Alaska and Maine and elsewhere, if someone’s not willing to do their job, maybe the voters ought to withhold their vote if senators withhold theirs.”
Withholding funding and revoking committee roles for offending lawmakers would solidify support for Trump’s policies in a potential second term, he said. The Congressman contrasted that possibility against the first half of the President’s term when Paul Ryan was House Speaker.
“I’m so frustrated that when we had unified control of the government, we followed Paul Ryan off a cliff and didn’t get immigration done, didn’t get entitlement reform done, a lot of things that the President wanted to see happen,” Gaetz said. “So now I think we’ve got to set the standard so that going forward, we achieve the full potential of this presidency.”
Florida Fraud: @RepMattGaetz announces he is calling on the Florida Attorney General to open an investigation into Michael Bloomberg for potentially engaging in bribery and vote buying after he paid the fines for convicted felons in Florida. #AmericaFirst #MAGA #Dobbs pic.twitter.com/9uglijOXMm
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) September 22, 2020
29 comments
S.B ANTHONY
September 22, 2020 at 9:26 pm
Gaetz is such clown! So needy for attention. Pathetic!
Catherine E Schaaf
September 22, 2020 at 11:56 pm
Thank you Mrs Moody for investigating Bloomberg and the schetchy way he has chosen and facilitated to gain votes using human beings in jail to commit thus ethical and unjust practice. I know I speak for many conservatives on thus matter and thank you for doing. Great job with our Florida government. Best Regards. Cathy
Pedro
September 23, 2020 at 12:13 pm
Actually Mrs. Moody has not accepted to pursue this clown allegation against Bloomberg. And Bloomberg is not running for office so how is he buying votes? If paying someones fine makes him happy then its his money to do what he wants. So yes lets thank Mrs Moody for being smarting than clown Getz!
shauna
September 23, 2020 at 5:08 pm
These individuals aren’t in prison. They served their time. For them to vote they have to pay a $1,500 that most don’t have. Some of these individuals are also Republican voters. If he wants to take his money and assist them to pay their fines, that’s his prerogative. Gaetz is just a whiny old hag.
Sonja Fitch
September 22, 2020 at 11:56 pm
Stfu dui Gaetz! Who bought you? May you rot in hell !
Amy Roberts
September 23, 2020 at 12:02 am
The voters spoke, But DeSantis and Republicans have fought for 2 years against the will of the people, that’s why we are here today. Thanks Mr. Bloomberg
Florida Amendment 4 (2018)
Choice Votes %
Yes 5,148,926 64.55%
No 2,828,339 35.45%
Total votes 7,977,265 100.00%
Registered voters and turnout 13,200,872 60.43%
John
September 23, 2020 at 9:05 am
Voters were told, by the RESTORATION CAMPAIGN EVEN, that it included paying court ordered fees and fines. Get over it.
You can’t change the meaning after the fact, just like you couldn’t put a different candidate in office when someone else was on the ballot. Yes, it is that simple.
The opposition would have had the chance to campaign against felons being able to skip on their responsibilities – further burdening the court system.
Michael
September 23, 2020 at 5:24 pm
@John
Please, now even after they are going ahead and paying the fees/fines, the Republicans are STILL trying to come up with an excuse to say ‘NO’.
The fact is that they know a majority of Dem voters will benefit from this compared to GOP voters and they are trying to block it by any means before the election.
If *you* can’t see that I got a beautiful bridge to sell you in the Everglades.
Madilla
September 23, 2020 at 7:04 am
This is a classic example of another rich New Yorker interfering in another states due process. The courts have ruled, yet bloomberg, an out-of-towner, stick his nose into another’s business.
His motive is not in the best interests of our state. He is simply another shill for the socialist party.
God
September 23, 2020 at 8:00 am
The courts have spoken? You mean that the Republican controlled Florida undermined the wiil of its residents. Don’t act like the voters hadn’t already declared that felons should have their voting rights restored, only for DeSantis and the Republican legislature to do everything in their power to ensure those “thugs” never get their rights back.
Always funny watching ignorant Conservatives ignore the shady deals of their masters only to hypocritically have something to say if they perceive the opposition to be shady.
TheTruth
September 23, 2020 at 8:45 am
You’re making a lot of assumptions and you sound like an idiot. Shut up and get out of my COUNTRY Republican scumbag.
James Robert Miles
September 23, 2020 at 10:21 am
Who said that it is YOUR country? That assumption makes YOU sound like an idiot. Everyone has a right to an opinion, even “God” and F’ing Republicans!
cynthia gordon
September 23, 2020 at 11:54 am
RIGHT ON! It’s my country too, and I believe Bloomberg should be imprisoned. We watched while Obama gave out free phones. which are now used to record their own riots.
Michael
September 23, 2020 at 5:37 pm
@cynthia gordon
For four years TRUMP has had time to change it so there’s no more ‘free phones’. What has he done about that? Nothing? EXACTLY.
Just like for four years he’s done nothing about the ‘wall’ (Mexico still hasn’t paid), unless you mean that lovely few mile stretch which parts of it have already started to fail.
Health Care….four years in and we are still waiting for that awesome health plan that will be so AMAZING! So amazing…
The economy right? The economy which was already on an upwards trajectory but lets take FULL CREDIT for it anyway because I am a genius! Like someone constructing a building and then a contractor comes along and places the sign on it and says I built it! I built the WHOLE THING! Not just the sign…ALL of it. Yeah…OK.
Oh and lets not forget the 200,000 DEAD because COVID is a hoax and ‘I love downplaying it’ so as to not create a panic even though my ENTIRE CAMPAIGN is about FEAR.
But yeah…free phones…still a thing. Four years in.
NO MORE REPUBLICANS !!!
September 23, 2020 at 1:09 pm
But “out of towners” Scott and Trump are O.K.? LOL! LOL! LOL!
Carpetbaggeers, Maddy, carpetbaggers!
Dee
September 23, 2020 at 6:37 pm
@Madilla
You do realize that Trump is a self described rich New Yorker interfering in:
1. Stopping the CDC being honest about the truth about the Trump Virus?
2. Using our Justice Department to defend his personal lawsuits?
3. Stopping the spread of the Trump Virus by holding Super Spreader rallies?
I could go on, but it makes me angry listing his disregard for the 200,000+ dead Americans due to his negligence.
At least Bloomberg is doing something that does not directly benefit himself. How is it not in the best interests of Florida to let our citizens vote?
Whatever happened to treating your neighbor like you want to be treated? Are you saying that all people who have been jailed can not turn their lives around?
I would rather be a member of the Socialist party than belong to Putin’s Puppet’s Communist Party!!
I’m sure our soldiers are hoping that eventually Trump will stop talking about how much he loves the military and do something about the bounties that Putin is paying to kill our soldiers. I don’t think they are expecting that to happen though.
Palmer Tom
September 23, 2020 at 8:45 am
Campaign donations from the corporate interest Gaetz supports are bribery. Moody should investigate him.
James Robert Miles
September 23, 2020 at 10:17 am
Mr. Gaetz, Please do us all a favor and go out and get another DUI!!
Orlando Kris
September 23, 2020 at 11:10 am
Gaetz is full of shit. He knows it, everyone posting here knows it, and any blind man can see it. Gaetz is lying to voters everywhere–and even lying to himself by not admitting he is a very gay man who is in deep denial over that fact.
Republicans are masters at saying one thing and doing the other, and convincing their voters not to believe what they see, but instead believe what they are told to believe by GOP talking heads and officeholders.
The party is now simply a propaganda machine for Trump–that was evidenced by the fact that, for the first time in its history, the GOP didn’t even announce a platform during its convention. Instead, it stated its “full endorsement” of Trump’s vision for America.
That vision includes suppressing votes–even when the vote includes a 2/3 majority of FL voters supporting Amendment 4, and forcing a Justice onto the Supreme Court who herself is so corrupt that she backtracked on her own vow to recuse herself in the event such a case came before her; when that case arrived in front of her on the appeals court, she did not recuse herself.
That vision also includes looking the other way as 200,000 Americans die of a virus that this president did nothing to stop, and actually exacerbated with his many lies about the illness being a “democrat hoax”. This man is such a disgrace.
The GOP is full of liars and deceivers, people who are working to align America with the interests of Russia and its dictator, Vladimir Putin. Open your eyes, America.
We are living in a critical moment in our history as a nation. Are we gonna surrender our votes and voices to this minority party of bigots and cult followers, and allow America to become a province of Russia? If you vote Trump, then that’s what will be the end result.
NO MORE REPUBLICANS !!!
September 23, 2020 at 1:13 pm
Amen, brother!
You sure got all that right!
Paul
September 23, 2020 at 12:08 pm
Boo hoo your such a whiner. Its Bloomberg’s money, isn’t he free to do what he wants with it? Don’t be a hater, be best!
martin
September 23, 2020 at 12:24 pm
“You’re making a lot of assumptions and you sound like an idiot. Shut up and get out of my COUNTRY Republican scumbag.”
wow, just when you think people can not sink even lower, this troll shows up. It is no more “your country” then any other citizens country.
Funny how everyone has a right to express their opinion, provided it aligns with your dem opinion. You sir, represent everything that is wrong with our society today!
NO MORE REPUBLICANS !!!
September 23, 2020 at 1:06 pm
They shoot horses, don’t they?
Gaetz is as damaged and as deficient a human being as his master. Both of ’em are constantly circling the cuckoo’s nest.
Florida gets freakier and freakier!
Millicent
September 23, 2020 at 2:55 pm
Thus, Rep Matt Gaetz is indirectly admitting to voter suppression in the continued attempt by Republicans to prevent felons from voting, with the assumption the felons are Democrats. No one knows how they will actually vote until their ballots are cast. Thank you Michael Bloomberg for supporting Democracy.
Josh
September 23, 2020 at 3:38 pm
Like making sure your name and signature are on a $1,200 government check sent to every eligible voter? That kind of buying votes?
Ian
September 23, 2020 at 10:24 pm
From the article:
In Florida, felons must have served their sentence and paid all court costs, fines, fees and restitutions to have their voting rights restored.
Reality:
Nope. The only financial obligations that must be paid in order for A4 to apply are those that were included in the felon’s sentence for his/her felony conviction. Any other financial obligations (e.g. interest or fines not related to a felony conviction) do not count against the felon regaining the right to vote. That’s in the law. Read it before misinforming your readers. (Btw, “court costs” and “fees” are the same thing. No need to list both of them.)
dan shlomo
September 24, 2020 at 12:11 am
sounds like a felony to me
buying votes
btw…Democrats once said that billionaires funding an election is awful….how quickly they forget
Too bad it’s Bloomberg
dan shlomo
September 24, 2020 at 12:13 am
It is a felony to me
buying votes’
btw…Democrats once said that billionaires funding an election is awful….how quickly they
forget
Too bad it’s Bloomberg
Millicent Krause
September 24, 2020 at 11:34 am
Anyone who says Bloomberg is paying fees for felons and assumes they are Democrats doesn’t know what they are talking about and must believe in Voter Suppression, which is what this is all about, plain and simple.
Unless you are with these people when they vote, no one knows how they will vote.
Why would we as a society want to further alienate members of our society rather than motivating them to be successful and productive citizens?
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