By Kimberly Leonard

Good morning and thanks for reading Playbook. 

Texts, emails, calendars, letters and receipts can become damning material against political enemies.

And opponents of Ron Desantis regularly request such records from the governor's administration.

A new document obtained by Florida Playbook shows hundreds of people, groups and journalists requested public records from the governor's office during the last few years, seeking information on DeSantis’ relationships with conservative groups, the company formerly known as Twitter and former President Donald Trump. It’s 222 pages long.

Unsurprisingly, mostly Democratic-aligned groups asked for dirt on DeSantis and his inner circle. Oddly, no one tied to Trump — or other 2024 Republican candidates — asked for such records, though it’s possible that GOP campaigns used an untraceable proxy to avoid angering a future Republican president.

Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesperson, responded simply: “We have information that no opposition researcher can ever find.”

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 13: Florida Governor-elect Ron DeSantis (R) sits next to U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting with Governors elects in the Cabinet Room at the White House on December 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Still, the omission was striking when compared to the hundreds of requests from the Democratic National Committee, Occupy Democrats and American Bridge 21st Century, the liberal super PAC.

“Sitting governors are usually great FOIA targets,” said Allan Blutstein, director of FOIA operations at the Republican-aligned America Rising Corporation PAC, who requested (but had not received) similar records Playbook obtained in what he called “counter surveillance.”

The document provides clues into how Democrats plan to go after DeSantis. Among the records they sought were:

• Correspondence between the governor’s staff and the social media company now known as “X.” 
• A request for emails between DeSantis and his chief of staff mentioning Trump.
• Requests for emails with the conservative education organization Moms for Liberty, as well as the influential anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
• Requests for emails about polarizing topics, from Disney’s special tax district to the migrant flights, “parental rights,” abortion and “critical race theory.” 
• Democrats asked for email exchanges with ex-Disney CEO Bob Chapek and the company’s current CEO, Bob Iger, following the governor’s long fight with the entertainment giant.

The Democratic-aligned groups mostly requested the records in early 2022 through this year. The document from the DeSantis administration detailing the requests doesn’t show whether they got the records they wanted.

“A lot of our public records really are focused around Florida itself and whether he has done a good job in governing it,” American Bridge president Pat Dennis said in an interview. The organization publicly posts some of the materials it has on the governor.

Given DeSantis’ sagging poll numbers, American Bridge is also preparing for the possibility that DeSantis won’t be the GOP nominee but could run for another office, such as U.S. Senate, or for president again down the line.

“We cast a very wide net,” Dennis said. “If I could, I would just roll up to the state of Florida and just download everything and then go through it.”

Some Democratic-aligned groups asked for visitor logs to the governor’s mansion, and the DNC wanted to see what tax dollars and security were used for his trip to the 2023 NFL Playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The public probably won’t find out what happened there, because DeSantis signed a bill into law shielding his travel and the names of people who visit him. His team didn’t respond to questions, but the governor said at the time that the bill wasn’t his idea and that it was done for security reasons.

Yet it also had the effect of rendering moot any public records requests about this topic. Dennis said he saw no justification for hiding the information. “Clearly he thinks it being public will harm him politically,” he said.

— WHERE'S RON? — Gov. DeSantis has scheduled radio hits tied to his presidential run:

• Doug Wagner Show on AM 600 WMT NewsRadio  
• Good Morning New Hampshire with Jack Heath  
• The Dana Show with Dana Loesch 

Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Email me at: [email protected]

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drives a bumper car with his daughter Madison at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on Saturday, Aug. 12. | Jeff Roberson/AP Photo

TIME Magazine’s Molly Ball scored an in-depth interview with DeSantis about parenting

He's not the disciplinarian: “I’m kind of the good guy most of the time — I bring the presents, I bring treats, especially when I’m on the road. Day to day, Casey does more of the disciplining. But when I step in, and I do, if I’m a little stern, they snap into shape. I do that more rarely. But when things get out of hand, you kind of just lay the law down, and they respond to it. So I would say that they do respect the paternal influence.”

Asked how he’d respond if one of his children were gay or trans: “His eyes flash momentarily, and he swiftly shuts down the question. ‘Well, my children are my children,’ DeSantis says. ‘We'll leave that — we’ll leave that between my wife and I.’”

— “In Tampa, lawmakers work the phones for DeSantis,” by Tampa Bay Times’ Emily Mahoney 

— “How Ron DeSantis' campaign style has changed after early stumbles: Reporter's notebook,” by ABC News’ Will McDuffie

— “Awkward Americans see themselves in Ron DeSantis,” by WaPo’s Ben Terris

A NEW PODCAST FROM POLITICO: Our new POLITICO Tech podcast is your daily download on the disruption that technology is bringing to politics and policy around the world. From AI and the metaverse to disinformation and cybersecurity, POLITICO Tech explores how today’s technology is shaping our world — and driving the policy decisions, innovations and industries that will matter tomorrow. SUBSCRIBE AND START LISTENING TODAY.

GOP — “The 6 kinds of Republican voters,” by the New York Times’ Nate Cohn: “If the Republican Party is no longer in Reagan’s image, it’s not necessarily a populist-conservative MAGA monolith, either. The last New York Times/Siena College poll found that only 37 percent of Republicans count as part of Mr. Trump’s loyal base.”

DONOR CASH — “How Trump uses supporters’ donations to pay his legal bills,” by the New York Times’  Rebecca Davis O’Brien: “Over the past two years, he has drawn tens of millions of dollars from a political action committee he controls called Save America PAC. Originally set up in 2020 as he galvanized supporters around his baseless claims of election fraud, the group — technically known as a leadership PAC — has been sustained in large part by contributions from small donors.”

UNDER REVIEW — “DeSantis’ Disney chief seeks legal opinion on potential ethics conflict,” by the Orlando Sentinel’s Skyler Swisher: “[Glen] Gilzean asked the ethics commission’s lawyers to provide an analysis by the close of business Wednesday, according to an email obtained through a public records request. The opinion was not available by Wednesday evening.”

Gilzean, who is ethics chairman and government administrator, wrote: “In an abundance of caution and in light of concerns that were raised today, will you please provide me a written legal opinion … I don’t want there to be any appearance of a conflict of interest.”

RALLY — “Protesters march through Miami to object to Florida’s Black history teaching standards,” by The Associated Press’ David Fischer: “About 50 protesters who started the 1-mile trek from Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami’s historically Black Overtown neighborhood chanted, ‘What do we want? Truth. When do we want it? Now. What if we don’t get it? Shut it down!’ They were greeted by another 50 protesters at the school board building, where speakers addressed the crowd.”

INSURANCE CRISIS — "When will they pay? Floridians say state not holding insurance carriers accountable post-Ian,” by Fort Myers News-Press’ Kate Cimini: “Although Florida’s next hurricane season is well underway, many Floridians still haven’t recovered from the last one. They complain their carriers delay claim payments, lowball their customers or deny pay entirely. Consumers and their advocates say the state isn’t doing enough to help them –– that it’s soft on insurers and it’s soft on insurer crime.”

REGS — “Restrictions on hemp products in FL are possible in 2024 session, lawmakers say,” by Florida Phoenix’s Mitch Perry: A former bill “would have limited the amount of THC (the main psychoactive compound in cannabis) in hemp products, but faced a fierce pushback from members from the hemp industry as well as regular Floridians who say they rely on the product to deal with physical pain.“

VIRTUAL LEARNING — “Florida college students one step closer for student fee refunds after COVID,” by Palm Beach Post’s Ana Goñi-Lessan: “It’s the latest decision in a series of court cases brought by students who paid fees, like activities, service, athletics and health care fees, while enrolled during the pandemic.”

FALL SEMESTER — “Chaos at New College of Florida,” by Inside Higher Ed’s: “With the start of the semester two weeks away, students are grappling with absent professors, canceled classes and severe housing woes.”

DON’T MISS POLITICO’S TECH & AI SUMMIT: America’s ability to lead and champion emerging innovations in technology like generative AI will shape our industries, manufacturing base and future economy. Do we have the right policies in place to secure that future? How will the U.S. retain its status as the global tech leader? Join POLITICO on Sept. 27 for our Tech & AI Summit to hear what the public and private sectors need to do to sharpen our competitive edge amidst rising global competitors and rapidly evolving disruptive technologies. REGISTER HERE.

FAKE ART — “Florida art museum sues former director over forged Basquiat paintings scheme,” by The Associated Press: “A central Florida art museum which was raided last year by the FBI over an exhibit of what turned out to be forged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings has sued its former executive director and others, claiming they were part of a scheme to profit from the eventual sale of the fake artwork.”

BIRTHDAYS: State Sen. Ben Albritton … former state Rep. Vance Aloupis … former state Rep. Sharon Pritchett

Follow us on Twitter

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family

Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook

View all our political and policy newsletters

Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings

This email was sent to [email protected] by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.