As fire clean-up complaints mount, disaster contractor donates big money to Dems

A Florida-based company accused of botching the clean-up after last year’s devastating fires in Santa Rosa has jumped into California politics, writing big checks to Gavin Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign and the California Democratic Party.

AshBritt, which contracted with the federal government to clean up the disaster, and another company owned by AshBritt chairman Randal Perkins together donated $250,000 to the state Democratic Party on Oct. 4, campaign filings show. Two weeks earlier, AshBritt CEO Brittany Perkins donated $29,200 to Newsom’s campaign, the maximum allowed.

California Democrats aren’t the only ones benefiting from AshBritt’s political spending this year. The company also donated $500,000 to a pro-Trump super-PAC in April. That led to a complaint by the Campaign Legal Center, alleging that federal contractors are prohibited from making federal campaign contributions and that the donation was made the day after AshBritt received a payment of almost the same amount from a Department of Defense contract.

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