Bottom line and central question
Did Pushaw's Fishback campaign activity cross the line Florida law draws around on-duty political work?
Pushaw acknowledged speaking frequently with Fishback for two
months and offering advice on his gubernatorial campaign. Florida
Statute 104.31 bars a state employee from participating in a
political campaign for elective office while on duty. The record
presented here raises questions about timing, resources, and the
scope of her activity. Her earlier work in Moscow, Georgia, and
Ukraine supplies the background for asking what methods she
brought into the Florida campaign.
Questions raised by the record
- Did any advice, messaging, posting, travel, outreach, or strategy work for Fishback occur while Pushaw was on duty?
- Were state devices, accounts, offices, staff, travel, information, influence, or other public resources involved?
- How did Pushaw move from advising Saakashvili and publicly supporting Zelenskyy's appointment of him to privately advising Fishback?
- What, if anything, from her study in Moscow and political communications work in Georgia and Ukraine informed her approach to American political figures?
- Did methods developed during that overseas work shape her messaging, media, opposition-research, or social-media advice to Fishback?
- What explains Pushaw's repeated movement into the orbit of political leaders and candidates?
- Has any politician ever been better off after working with Pushaw?
Preserved social record
Direct posts and archived copies
The links below preserve the supplied post collection, grouped by
subject. The highlighted work-hours posts are part of the timing
record relevant to the on-duty campaign question.
Five indexed posts fall within 8 a.m.-5 p.m. in both Eastern and Central time.
Gold highlights mark the overlap. Times are decoded from the public X post identifiers and converted using the time-zone rules in effect on each date.
Open the full post index
Pushaw replies and engagement involving Fishback
Primary dispute and NBC/leaks post
Florida record
A: Primary record
Pushaw acknowledged advising Fishback
Pushaw said she spoke with James Fishback frequently for two
months and offered advice on his gubernatorial campaign.
Florida law
A: Primary record
The statute turns on whether campaign activity occurred while on duty
Florida Statute 104.31 says a state employee may not participate
in a political campaign for elective office while on duty.
Methods and background
A: Primary record
FARA documents the relationship
FARA #7122 ties Pushaw to communications, media, op-ed, TV,
and policymaker outreach work for Mikheil Saakashvili.
Methods and background
A: Primary record
The work centered on Georgia politics
The filing says the goal included raising Saakashvili's
international profile for a future return to Georgian politics.
Methods and background
A: Primary record
The Zelenskyy connection runs through Saakashvili
Zelenskyy appointed Saakashvili to Ukraine's reform council in
May 2020. Pushaw continued working for Saakashvili and published
favorable commentary about the appointment.