TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ use of State resources to campaign against two constitutional amendments. has sparked an avalanche of lawsuits, rebukes from politicians on both sides of the aisle and the abrupt resignation of at least one state official.

One of the few people who hasn’t A key Democrat in Florida’s capital weighed in.

As state attorney in Leon County, the seat of Florida government where billions of taxpayer dollars are allocated each year, Jack Campbell can prosecute crimes against state officials.

Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried filed a criminal complaint with Campbell’s office on Sept. 13, accusing DeSantis officials of violating a law against state workers who use their positions to influence elections.

Campbell has not made any public statement on the matter and did not return calls or text messages from the Times/Herald over the past week. Any investigation could take months. The statute of limitations expires in two years.

The silence has led some critics to wonder if Campbell is trying to avoid the political fray or avoid becoming the third state attorney suspended by DeSantis.

The Florida Democratic Party said citizens also filed complaints with state attorneys in Orange and Hillsborough counties, both run by DeSantis appointees. A Hillsborough spokesman said the office had not received a complaint, and an Orange spokesman dismissed it as coming from a “politician” rather than a law enforcement authority. The sender was a local right to abortion. advocate.

“Any state prosecutor, regardless of political party, should act on these criminal allegations,” Fried said in a statement. “Anything less is the same kind of selective processing that Ron supposedly opposes.”

DeSantis’ top priority this fall is defeating Amendments 3 and 4. Amendment 3 would legalize recreational marijuana and Amendment 4 would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban. Both need 60% of the votes next week to be approved.

The state is spending millions in public dollars publishing advertisements against the amendments. A state health agency. created a website advocating against Amendment 4. And state officials, including Florida’s surgeon general and agency spokespeople, are actively campaign against it at state-sponsored press conferences and on social networks.

DeSantis and his lawyers have argued that the ads are “public service announcements” warning of dangers to the health of Floridians, but some question whether it is legal.

Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who supports Amendment 3, said the state should not spend public money on “propaganda.”

“I fully believe this is undemocratic and a violation of Florida law,” Gruters said Friday.

florida law makes it a misdemeanor for a state employee or official to use their official position to interfere with an election or influence someone’s vote. The penalty is up to one year in prison.

A Palm Beach County attorney cited the statute when he asked the Supreme Court last month to halt DeSantis’ campaign. Attorney General Ashley Moody came to the state’s defense, arguing that a minor section of the law includes exceptions for “heads or directors of state administrative agencies.” (The judges ruled that the lawyer could not present the case for technical reasons.)

Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isles Beach, a former prosecutor, said the lower section refers to officers who campaign on their own time. Moody’s interpretation was “beyond vague,” he said.

“Do I think there was a pretty clear violation of the law? Yes,” Pizzo said.

In 1984, Florida House Speaker asked the attorney general for an opinion on whether lawmakers could spend state funds to campaign against a constitutional amendment. The answer was yes, as long as lawmakers allocated money to that cause.

It is questionable whether lawmakers have allocated money to DeSantis’ campaign. The state paid a marketing agency last month. $4 million in opioid settlement money to run a series of ads about the dangers of marijuana. Both Gruters and Pizzo said it was inappropriate.

Ultimately, the question of whether it was illegal rests with Campbell, the son of a former longtime sheriff.

Since taking office in 2016, he has been known as a pro-business democrat who has largely stayed out of public corruption cases.

In 2018, Campbell declined to accuse former Senator Jack Latvala, decide that there was not enough evidence that the Clearwater Republican was trading votes for sexual favors. In 2021, Campbell prosecutors decided there was no “criminal intent” on the part of Republican state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis’ office after his release. An employee’s sexual harassment complaint before it could be completed.an apparent violation of the law.

Tallahassee has also seen a number of local corruption cases: a former city commissioner, his assistant and a developer went to prison and ex Mayor Andrew Gillum was acquitted by a jury. But those cases were brought by the FBI and charged by federal prosecutors.

Previous state attorney Willie Meggs, who endorsed Campbell in 2016, sometimes went after state politicians. In 2009, he pursued corruption charges against then-House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin. In 1991, charged 24 current and former legislators for without revealing the trips they accepted from lobbyists. (Lawmakers responded by cutting Meggs’ budget unless that of the local public defender.)

Ben Wilcox, research director for the watchdog group Integrity Florida, said DeSantis’ campaign was an “abuse of state resources” like he had never seen before.

Wilcox acknowledged the political pressure on Campbell. DeSantis suspended Hillsborough County State’s Attorney Andrew Warren and Orange-Osceola State’s Attorney Monique Worrell, both Democrats, saying they were “woke” and not aggressively pursuing crimes.

“I imagine the state’s attorney is hesitant to get involved in what could be perceived as political issues,” Wilcox said. “But the question is, if not him, who?”