Publix Donated 100K to DeSantis Weeks Before Vaccine Rollout
The Claim
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis favored popular supermarket chain Publix for vaccine rollouts after the company donated a large sum of money to his campaign.
News posted on
Emerging story
Over the course of the weekend, CBS News' "60 Minutes'' reported a story detailing vaccine rollouts in wealthier zip codes versus less affluent zip codes. One part of the 60 Minutes story zeroed in on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis favoring Publix, a ubiquitous supermarket chain in Florida, as the top choice for vaccinations only weeks after the supermarket chain donated $100,000 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis super-PAC.
The story picked up steam after footage of CBS reporter Sharyn Alfonsi confronting DeSantis at a press conference last month aired on Friday, April 2, accusing him of a pay-to-play scheme. DeSantis, who has been criticized for favoring wealthier, more conservative voters with the vaccine rollout, denied that any quid pro quo and, per CBS 60 Minutes, called the accusation a "fake narrative."
Over the weekend, Twitter erupted with many either defending the embattled governor's choice of Publix to distribute vaccinations, while others saw it as a clear example of quid pro quo and corruption.
Many on Twitter were quick to point out that this could be a clear sign of corruption…
Others did not see a clear line to corruption.
Others still criticized CBS News' framing of the investigation as melodramatic.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar looked into the CBS News story and found it somewhat suspicious, with no direct link to a "pay-to-play" scheme as implied in the story. However, the evidence of favoritism for wealthier, conservative communities and look of impropriety still exists.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken the national spotlight at times for what some see as his pugilistic approach to the media and unorthodox vaccine rollout; more so in recent months, when instead of prioritizing other essential workers (teachers and police officers, for example) after the initial rollout, DeSantis decided to focus on seniors – those 65+.
The story published by 60 Minutes focused solely on Palm Beach County and pointed out how by the first week of February, "more than 160,000 residents in Palm Beach County [had] been vaccinated" yet "only 2% were Black and 3% Hispanic." Minorities, however, make up half the county.
In Belle Glades (the Glades), a town 45 miles west of Palm Beach, where 90% of the residents are Black and Latino, there is no Publix. Many residents don't own cars or have smartphones and would have to travel almost two hours by bus to get to the nearest Publix, which is 25 miles away.
In conservative circles, though, DeSantis has been praised for focusing on Florida's senior citizens, and Fox News accused other media outlets of falsely reporting that DeSantis was playing favorites. Jerry Dunleavy of DC Examiner tweeted that 60 Minutes had left out a crucial part of DeSantis' response where he explained that other facilities, like CVS and Walgreens, were also part of the roll out.
Other media outlets said this showed clear bias on the part of CBS News in order to push a narrative (the full press conference can be viewed here).
Furthermore, Jared Moskowitz, director of Florida's division of emergency management and a democrat, said that "Florida's arrangement with Publix is 'imperfect' but prioritizes getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible."
Publix took to Twitter to deny any connection between campaign contributions made to DeSantis and their "willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state's vaccine distribution efforts." They also called the accusation by CBS News and other media outlets as "absolutely false and offensive."
Regardless of how CBS News chose to report the relationship between DeSantis and Publix, there remains a suspicious link between the governor and those who have been getting the vaccine. The "unusual [part] is not that" Publix "is involved in distribution efforts but that in Florida, Publix made unilateral decisions about distributing 23% of the state’s weekly doses, the most received by any provider in the state for the past six weeks." Also, throughout February and March, state officials said that Publix, a private company, was not very transparent in its distribution plan.
Lastly, the appearance of a pay-to-play scheme is born out by the fact that wealthier communities with residents who donated large sums of money to Friends of Ron DeSantis got the vaccine far in advance of other areas of the state with high numbers of elderly residents.
