TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) – The election of 2020 could create more problems for former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who raised $16 million to pay off debts for felons in Florida so that they can vote.
Among those calling for an investigation is Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who wrote the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement to urge an inquiry into possible violations of elections law. Bloomberg's failed Presidential campaign already faces two lawsuits.
Bloomberg raised more than $16 million for the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which Moody thinks could possibly be offering incentives to voting by paying off criminal fines for felons. A recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit decision held that a 2018 law required those payments.
The law requires felons to complete all of the terms of their punishment – not just jail time – to become voters again.
“The reason these laws leave some felons disenfranchised—the justification for their continued disenfranchisement—is not their failure to pay a tax. It is instead Florida’s legitimate interest in restoring to the electorate only fully rehabilitated felons who have satisfied the demands of justice,” Judge William Pryor wrote Sept. 11.
According to The Associated Press, Bloomberg’s staff said the funds raised could help more than 31,000 people become eligible to vote. He has also said he plans to spend $100 million of his own personal wealth to help Joe Biden defeat President Donald Trump.
The felon-voting initiative is “potentially engaging in bribery and vote buying,” U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told Fox Business.
Bloomberg’s failed campaign for President is also facing litigation. One case accuses it of violating federal telemarketing laws, but another says he promised to employ his staff through the general election but let them go after dropping out of the race.
Field organizers sued Mike Bloomberg 2020 after Bloomberg dropped out of the race in March. On June 15, lawyers for Bloomberg 2020 asked a New York federal judge to throw the case out of court.
Their employment agreements “Specifically stated that Plaintiffs’ employment was ‘at will’ and could be terminated ‘at any time,’” the motion says.
“These documents also made clear that no statement varying the at-will nature of Plaintiffs’ employment would be effective unless set forth in a signed writing from an authorized representative of the campaign.”
Staffers said Bloomberg promised salaries nearly double that of other campaigns.
“And they pledged to keep this promise regardless of whether Bloomberg won the Democratic nomination,” the plaintiffs wrote.
“After Bloomberg lost the Democratic nomination, his campaign unceremoniously dumped thousands of staffers, leaving them with no employment, no income, and no health insurance.”
They also mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic put them in a dire financial state.
They’re suing for fraudulent inducement and promissory estoppel. They’ve requested a declaration that Bloomberg and his campaign committed the claims, and for an order for the defendants to pay compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorneys’ fees and court costs.
Meanwhile, in multiple courts, a group is seeking records on a program Bloomberg uses to put climate change activist lawyers in the offices of state attorneys general around the country.
These special assistant attorneys general are paid through New York University School of Law by Bloomberg Philanthropies, into which Bloomberg put $5.6 million.
They are placed in AG offices to pursue a campaign that often includes suing Exxon for making allegedly misleading statements about global warming – an argument that was decimated by a New York state judge last year.
In March 2019, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison asked the Bloomberg program for help “supporting state-led efforts to investigate Exxon Mobil” through the use of one or more of Bloomberg’s SAAGs.
His way came SAAGs Peter Surdo and Leigh Currie. Ellison recommended they be paid by Bloomberg between $96,000 and $130,000 per year.
Energy Policy Advocates has made several requests for information on the two and not received the records it feels it is entitled to. Ellison’s office has instead claimed they are attorney-client privileged or work-product privileged.
The group has also sued the AGs of Michigan, Vermont and Washington, with another effort against New York.
One goal of Energy Policy Advocates is to chronicle the coordination among private lawyers working on contingency fees, advocates and state officials.
New York took two of the Bloomberg lawyers. When then-AG Barbara Underwood filed the lawsuit against Exxon, one of those attorneys signed the complaint.
This resulted in Government Justice Center, Inc., of Albany filing an ethics complaint with the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Named were Underwood and special assistant attorneys general Matthew Eisenson and Gavin McCabe.
“(S)pecial assistant attorneys general ultimately paid by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg are engaged in specious litigation against fossil-fuel companies on behalf of New York,” the complaint says.
Exxon has argued the Bloomberg programs create a financial incentive for state AGs to prioritize investigations in line with his agenda.