Andrew Gillum, the former Tallahassee mayor who recently lost his race against Ron DeSantis in Florida's gubernatorial election, is currently fielding an ethics complaint. Last year, Tallahassee businessman Erwin Jackson alleged that Gillum received gifts above the state limit of $100 on trips to Costa Rica and New York City in 2016.
State officials found probable cause on five of six counts that he violated ethics laws. For instance, Gillum and his friend Adam Corey accepted tickets to the Broadway play "Hamilton" from an undercover FBI agent posing as a developer.
In 2016, Corey took Gillum on a luxury vacation to Costa Rica and, while there, scheduled a meeting between Gillum and Miller. Later, Corey, Miller, and Gillum took a trip to New York City. Corey booked Gillum a hotel room and told him that Miller and his “crew” had obtained tickets to Hamilton. In addition to seeing the play, the three men took a catered boat tour around the Statue of Liberty.
Uncovered text messages suggested that Gillum knew Miller had paid for the tickets. Consider this note between Corey and Gillum on August 8, 2016.
"Mike Miller and the crew have tickets for us for Hamilton tonight at 8pm," Corey texted Gillum. "I think your brother has already arrived by the way."
Gillum, however, said it wasn't what it looked like.
"These messages only confirm what we have said all along," Gillum said. "We did go to see Hamilton. I did get my ticket for Hamilton from my brother. At the time we believed that they were reserved by friends of Adam's, Mike Miller. And when I got there after work, got my ticket, we went in and saw it, assumed my brother paid for it, and so far as I know, that was the deal."
Still, even Slate noted that this scandal is "a blow to his political ambitions." Gillum was being primped as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.