Pay-to-play accusations are nothing new for Iowa evangelical political operative Bob Vander Plaats, who recently endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shortly after receiving a check for $95,000 from his campaign. Similar situations have played out in Iowa over the past several campaign cycles.
Vander Plaats was accused of selling his endorsement to Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign during the 2012 Republican presidential primary, with Santorum himself admitting the Iowa evangelical leader said he needed cash to make the most out of the endorsement.
“What he talked about was he needed money to promote the endorsement and that that would be important to do that.”
– Rick Santorum.
During the 2008 Republican primary, Mitt Romney’s campaign says Vander Plaats offered an endorsement in exchange for financial support. When the Romney team refused, Vander Plaats endorsed Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Vander Plaats appears to ‘launder’ the contributions for endorsements through ‘sponsorships’ and ‘advertisements’ in his Family Leader Foundation’s literature and events. Former Vice President Mike Pence’s 2024 presidential campaign was approached about making a $25,000 contribution in exchange for an ad in a booklet. Marc Short, a Pence campaign adviser, said they determined the contribution was a waste of donor money and declined.
show lessWOAH! Money changer Bob Vandergrifter @bobvanderplaats continues to get exposed!
A former staffer for Mitt Romney claims Bob solicited money from the Romney campaign in 2008 in exchange for his endorsement. They declined, and Bob endorsed Huckabee instead who did donate to his… pic.twitter.com/qtzyWi0tvO
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) November 27, 2023
