Republican Ron DeSantis stated Thursday that he will no longer accept money from Steven M. Alembik, a donor who used the N-word in a tweet about former President Barack Obama. However, DeSantis advised that contributions made by Alembik’s company won’t be returned because they were already spent on the primary, as reported by WPTV.
Campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson stated that money DeSantis took from Alembik’s company, SMA Communications, was spent before the August 28 primary and the campaign hasn’t taken any money from him or SMA since DeSantis secured the GOP nomination to replace Republican Governor Rick Scott.
“We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: we adamantly denounce this sort of disgusting rhetoric. He is in no way a vendor for us. He’s never done any work for us. Period.” Lawson said in an email.
In a September 8 tweet, Alembik called former President Barack Obama, a “F—- MUSLIM N—-”. Politico reported Thursday that Alembik donated over $20,000 to DeSantis, as reported by the Miami Herald. Alembik told Politico he’s “absolutely not a racist.”
SMA Communications donated $2,000 to DeSantis’ campaign and $2,000 to DeSantis’ political committee. Another $11,000 in donations from Alembik and SMA were returned in June, three months before Alembik’s tweet. The campaign wasn’t sure why the money was returned, but said it was unrelated. SMA Communications’ website lists Desantis’ campaign as a client, but DeSantis’ campaign said that they have not contracted with SMA.