Bloomberg’s Florida Purchase Campaign-finance laws magnify his influence in the 2020 election.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bloombergs-florida-purchase-11600126292?mod=opinion_lead_pos2
Well the gnomish Bloomberg did buy himself a third term as mayor of New York City….rsk
If Joe Biden carries Florida in November, he ought to make Mike Bloomberg Secretary of the Treasury. The billionaire certainly will have earned it, with an 11th-hour cash infusion of $100 million to help Mr. Biden in the state.
Florida is a must-win for President Trump, and Mr. Bloomberg’s infusion comes amid the Cook Political Report moving the race from “leans Democratic” to “toss up” and polls showing Mr. Biden underperforming among Hispanic voters. Florida is a big state with multiple and expensive media markets. Mr. Bloomberg’s money will go via his Super PAC Independence USA and other Democratic groups toward television and digital advertising in English and Spanish.
It’s all perfectly legal so long as Mr. Bloomberg doesn’t coordinate with the Biden campaign. By announcing the $100 million campaign publicly, Mr. Bloomberg is letting the Biden campaign know it can take millions it might have otherwise spent in Florida and redirect them to other battleground states.
Mr. Bloomberg could emerge as 2020’s single biggest donor. His billions give him outsized influence, but so do campaign finance laws that limit the size of donations to the candidates’ campaigns.
We don’t begrudge Mr. Bloomberg’s spending on causes and candidates he believes in. But Democrats and the political left say big money corrupts politics. Now that the big money will be used against President Trump, we’re not hearing complaints about spending.
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