Union League event honoring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gets postponed

Clout told you last week about disunity roiling the Union League of Philadelphia, which planned to give its gold-medal award — first bestowed on President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 — to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis next week.

A lot has happened in Florida since then, with Hurricane Ian cutting a path of deadly destruction across that state.

Clout hears the Union League event, along with a Montgomery County fund-raiser for DeSantis organized by a former congressional colleague, Rep. Keith Rothfus, and University City Housing owner Michael Karp, has been postponed as the Florida governor focuses on storm recovery.

The Union League — motto: The first rule of Union League is you do not talk about Union League — did not respond to requests for comment. But an email to members of the exclusive club, obtained by Clout, said the event will now be Jan. 24.

The Union League of Philadelphia was to present its highest honor, a gold medal, to DeSantis on Oct. 13. That had prompted discord among the 160-year-old club’s members.

DeSantis, a likely Republican contender for president in 2024, sparked controversy recently when he flew Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in a hey-look-at-me political stunt that has prompted a civil lawsuit and a criminal investigation.

Prior to the event’s rescheduling, Clout obtained a flurry of letters from club members to Union League president Craig Mills, calling for the event to be canceled. Some members vowed to resign unless the club changes course.

One letter came from William Hangley, a local law firm founder who called DeSantis “a man who has made political and territorial disunion his stock in trade” and “has shown only contempt” for oppressed people, in direct contrast to the Union League’s original mission.

“Exactly what quality or tradition of our League is he thought to emblematize?” wrote Hangley to Mills, also an attorney.

“I think the guy’s a bully,” Hangley told Clout. “I think he says whatever he thinks will get him noticed. That seems to work for a lot of people these days.”

The Union League was founded in 1862, during the Civil War, to support President Abraham Lincoln and his policies. Lincoln received the club’s first gold medal in 1863, described then as something “to be conferred on men who were regarded as deserving well of their country.”

Clout had questions. The Union League did not have answers.

“The Union League is a private club,” Mills told Clout. “And this is a private event.”

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.