Sundance: Ben Sasse Under Investigation For Financial Issues During University Tenure, DeSantis Calls for Inquiry

A few weeks ago, former Senator Benn Sasse quit his job as President at University of Florida.  The claimed reason given by Sasse was to care for his wife who has epilepsy, but the timing of things now looks very sketchy. I’m going to outline the details in real time because this is going to become more critical as Ron DeSantis positions his future ambitions for the White House, again in 2028.

CTH noted a few years ago that Ron DeSantis was positioning for 2024 presidency.  One of the supportive datapoints was a $20 million donation by the Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) to Ron DeSantis {LINK}.  At the time of the donation to DeSantis, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts was the RGA chairman.

After the donation was made, Ron DeSantis then used the influence of his office to support Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse for the position of President of University of Florida {LINK}.  As noted by Politico: “Sasse’s sherpa through the university search process was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff James Uthmeier, who was put in contact with Sasse several months ago after he quietly expressed interest in becoming UF president.“ (link)

After Ben Sasse accepted the position as UF President, former Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts then became Senator {LINK}. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announced Thursday that former Gov. Pete Ricketts will fill the Senate seat of Ben Sasse, who officially resigned from Congress this week to return to academia as president of the University of Florida.  Ricketts, a Republican, like Pillen and Sasse, will serve two years ahead of a 2024 special Senate election.

The quid-pro-quo was complete.  DeSantis took the $20 million from Chairman Ricketts, then opened the path for Ricketts to move to the Senate by using his office to support the movement of Senator Sasse.  Despite the activity taking place over 2 years, the sequence of it was transparent to those who paid attention.   However, now comes the problem.

Apparently, Ben Sasse knew there was going to be a serious problem with his first-year conduct in office as UF President.  Ben Sasse announced he was quitting the job a few weeks ago {LINK}, and now comes the background issue:

WASHINGTON DC – Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has called for an inquiry into former University of Florida President Ben Sasse’s expenses following a report from the school’s student newspaper about spending tripling under his leadership.

Sasse reportedly spent $17.3 million in his first year as president of the university, which was up from the $5.6 million his predecessor, Kent Fuchs, spent in his last year. A majority of the spending came from big contracts with consulting firms and high-salaried remote positions for former staffers of Sasse while he was a senator.

Bryan Griffin, a communications director for DeSantis, said in a statement that discussions with the university and the Florida Board of Governors are underway.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said the “reports of UF’s exorbitant spending by Ben Sasse’s office are concerning,” and that his agency, the Florida Department of Financial Services, will “offer auditing services” to assist in the inquiry. (read more)

This entire story is so brutally Republican it’s almost laughable. DeSantis moves from congress to FL Governor in 2018 with intent to run for White House in ’24.  Everyone denied it. DeSantis took $20 million from RGA in 2022 as seed money for his White House run in ’24.  Everyone denied it.

DeSantis announced ’24 run, then uses legislature to rewrite rules allowing him to put $20 million into ‘2024 SuperPAC.  Everyone denied it. In the middle of all this, DeSantis shifts Sasse to UF President, RGA head who gave DeSantis $20 million replaces Sasse.  Sasse then loots UF, quits and then DeSantis tries to back away from Sasse toward the exits.

After Sasse resigned due to his wife’s epilepsy diagnosis, DeSantis said he wasn’t “involved necessarily” in the selection of Sasse.  He made clear that he would not be involved in the selection process for the new president. (more)

But Ron DeSantis is not a professional republican and sketchy, they say… 😂