DeSANTIS: THE WORST OF FLORIDA
I have loved living in Florida. There are so many good people here committed to social justice, a clean environment, racial and gender equality, ethnic and religious diversity, an exemplary educational system, and more good things. We enjoy our friends, our community and the many activities we can participate in year round. And in the not-too-distant past, in St. Lucie County, we have been represented in Washington and Tallahassee by some very good people: Democratic congressmen and state legislators.
But the last two years, in particular, have been very trying -- ever since Ron DeSantis squeaked in as governor in a very close contest. As one of the leading candidates running in the Democratic primary for governor, Charlie Crist, recently put it: "He represents the worst of Florida politics." I'd go further: DeSantis represents the worst of Florida, period. We're not like this, and many of us are aghast at his radical agenda. It's frightening to think that if he is reelected, he may be the presidential nominee of a post-Trump Trump Party.
There have been so many awful initiatives and actions taken and attempted by DeSantis in Florida, with the acquiescence of the Republican-controlled legislature, that many of us have found the last two years head-spinning. It's tough to remember all the terrible things he has done.
That's why I appreciated a piece in the Washington Post by columnist Max Boot entitled "DeSantis is smarter than Trump. That may make him more of a threat." Boot goes through a litany of DeSantis's activities as governor; it is a great reminder of the damage a radical ideologue with power can do:
He signed legislation severely curtailing mask and vaccine mandates for businesses and local governments, thereby running roughshod over private property rights even while denouncing Democrats as socialists.
The University of Florida — controlled by DeSantis appointees — has forbidden professors from testifying against DeSantis's plans to restrict mask-wearing and voting rights.
A pediatrician was removed from a state board overseeing children’s health insurance after criticizing DeSantis’s outrageous reluctance to provide covid vaccines for children under five.
DeSantis refuses to say whether President Biden was legitimately elected and criticizes the Jan. 6 committee hearings.
He created a special task force to police voter fraud even though there is no evidence of widespread fraud.
In the name of election security, he also pushed through a bill restricting voting rights that was largely struck down by a federal judge as unconstitutional.
A DeSantis-backed “anti-riot” bill, passed in response to Black Lives Matter rallies, was blocked by another federal judge for infringing on the First Amendment.
DeSantis signed a “don’t say gay” law restricting discussion of gender and sexuality issues in public schools — and then took away tax breaks from Disney for criticizing the legislation.
In a similarly vindictive vein, he vetoed state funding for a Tampa Bay Rays training facility after the baseball team had the temerity to call for gun-safety legislation to stop mass shootings.
DeSantis signed legislation to limit what schools, colleges, and workplaces can teach about race and identity, while promulgating teacher training, wrongly claiming that the Founders didn’t really want separation of church and state.
He also signed legislation that would give the state greater control over what is taught in universities under the guise of promoting viewpoint “diversity.”
He is even threatening to investigate parents who take their kids to drag shows.
We can add these offensive DeSantis activities to Boot's list:
DeSantis's push for a radical 15-week abortion ban that allows no exemptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking. Several Florida organizations have gone to court arguing that it "criminializes pre-viability abortions in direct violation of Floridians' fundamental privacy rights guaranteed by the Florida Constitution." DeSantis's spokesman has said the governor "looks forward to pursuing additional legislative protections for the unborn."
He has made two dangerous appointments to major state offices: an unqualified quack as state Surgeon General (Joseph Ladapo) who has promoted inaccurate information about covid, making Florida a laughingstock in the medical community; and a radical partisan as Secretary of State (Cord Byrd) who will be overseeing our next election, but has refused to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
He drew his own congressional redistricting plan, giving an unreasonable and substantial advantage to Republicans; the new map, which is being challenged in the courts by voting and civil rights groups, also intentionally eviscerates a district that has traditionally elected an African American to Congress.
You can add other offensive DeSantis activities to this list, I'm sure. It's hard to disagree with Max Boot's conclusion, when it comes to a possible presidential run, that DeSantis's "record reveals a troubling pattern of authoritarianism and vindictiveness that would be extremely dangerous in the Oval Office."
But we have an opportunity to stop DeSantis now in the state we love. His re-election as governor is not assured by any stretch of the imagination. His radical positions and actions have outraged not only Democrats but independents and moderate Republicans as well, and the election is likely to be a close one.
Democrats have two strong candidates facing off in the August 23 primary: Charlie Crist, the former Governor; and Nikki Fried, the state Commissioner of Agriculture. Either one would work to restore integrity and moderation in Tallahassee, and serve as a necessary check on an out-of-control Republican-dominated legislature. This is an election that has ramifications far beyond Florida.
-Ellis Bromberg