ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: DeSantis takes state plane to Indiana, South Carolina to push congressional term limits Watchdog says governor is “wasting taxpayer resources … "(Orlando Sentinel)

Wretched excess by Boy Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS. From Orlando Sentinel: 

DeSantis takes state plane to Indiana, South Carolina to push congressional term limits

Watchdog says governor is “wasting taxpayer resources … as he tries to remain relevant to a national audience”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis poses for a photo during a campaign stop in Gilbert, S.C., June 2, 2023. (Nicole Craine/The New York Times)

By STEVEN LEMONGELLO | slemongello@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: February 20, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. | UPDATED: February 21, 2024 at 8:45 a.m.

Gov. Ron DeSantis flew on a state plane Tuesday to Indiana and South Carolina to pitch his plan for term limits in Congress, a move blasted as a waste of Florida taxpayer dollars by a watchdog group.

DeSantis held a news conference at the South Carolina State House just four days before the GOP presidential primary in the Palmetto State, pitting former President Donald Trump against former Gov. Nikki Haley. DeSantis dropped out of the race for the White House in January and endorsed Trump after coming in second in Iowa.

“My hope is that states, particularly states that want to see big changes in Washington, will use the power that they have to advance these really important proposals like term limits,” DeSantis said.

His South Carolina trip was not a campaign swing, but regular Florida business announced by the governor’s office. The @desantisjet Instagram account, created by University of Central Florida student Jack Sweeney, indicated DeSantis’ jet flew from Tallahassee to Indianapolis to Columbia, South Carolina, on Tuesday.

Asked whether he was in South Carolina to maintain contacts for a future presidential run in 2028, DeSantis cited his Indiana visit and said he would fly wherever he could help push the amendment.

“I’ve told folks that are supportive of the term limits movement to put me in if there’s a way I can be helpful,” he said. “[If] it’s me going and speaking to different folks throughout the country that are in state legislative chambers, I’m happy to do it.”

Anders Croy, director of DeSantis Watch, a project of Florida Watch and the progressive group Progress Florida, said in a statement the governor was “wasting taxpayer resources … to fly the state’s private jet to South Carolina as he tries to remain relevant to a national audience that overwhelmingly rejected his anti-freedom agenda.”

“Instead of looking to give the next governor a raise, maybe legislators in Tallahassee this session should examine docking the pay of the part-time chief executive with a penchant for elite tastes who continues to use Floridians’ tax dollars as a credit card for his own political ambitions,” Croy said.

The Legislature is considering a bill that could nearly double the $141,400 annual salary of the governor who replaces DeSantis in 2027.

The cost of DeSantis’ trip to Indiana and South Carolina will not be available due to a new law shielding the governor’s travel details from the public. The Washington Post, however, has filed a lawsuit against the governor’s office seeking DeSantis’ travel records.

The Post claimed in the complaint that the office has “taken control” over the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s compliance with the Post’s requests, “overruled the department’s legal interpretation, and directed the agency to renege on a promise to provide certain travel records and thus withhold public records to which the Post is statutorily and constitutionally entitled.”

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.