‘They Could Not Win At The Ballot Box’: DeSantis Says Corporations Seeking To Do ‘End Run Around’ Constitution

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida accused major corporations of trying to do an “end run around” the Constitution in a Saturday speech in Iowa, an early primary state for Republicans.

“We also need to restore integrity to the operations of our businesses, particularly large corporations. They have indulged in this idea that being woke is somehow their responsibility,” DeSantis said at the Feenstra Family Picnic near Sioux City, Iowa. “They have indulged in concepts like ESG, environment, social, governance. Make no mistake, though, what they are trying to do. They are trying to change policy in this country. They are trying to change our society without ever having to stand for an election.”

ESG, also known as “sustainable investing,” according to the Corporate Finance Institute, can factor in corporate policies on gun control, environmental issues, abortion or other issues in addition to or instead of strictly looking at a corporation’s profitability

DeSantis signed legislation May 2 that prohibited state agencies and local governments from considering ESG when issuing bonds, barred banks from considering “social credit” when making loan decisions and prohibited discrimination on the basis of political, social or religious ideology.

“The policies that they’re proposing through these things could not win at the ballot box in Iowa, they could not win at the ballot box in Florida,” DeSantis continued. “They are trying to do an end run around our constitutional system and impose a leftist agenda through corporate power.”

Critics of ESG pointed to crises in Sri Lanka, which banned chemical fertilizers that resulted in a 50% drop in crop yields in 2021, and Ghana, which suffered blackouts.

“I think that we need to just say very clearly no social or economic transformation without representation,” DeSantis said. “We’re not letting you go around our constitutional system to impose this on our country.”

DeSantis is a potential candidate for the Republican nomination in 2024, and he is supported by Never Back Down, a super PAC which announced in April it would be sending a mailer to voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan promoting him.

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