By PAUL BLYTHE
Two events of the last week should serve as a red-flag warning of how badly out-of-touch Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration are with the people of Florida – the Republicans as much as the Democrats – and how little DeSantis cares about the will of the people.
You undoubtedly have already heard about the first event because it was like a rocket blast fired across the state: Late last Wednesday, DeSantis’ Department of Environmental Protection announced on its website that it would hold simultaneous meetings on Tuesday in locations across the state to advance plans to change the unspoiled natural areas of nine state parks by adding hardscape recreational facilities. This included a golf course or golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County. Holding the meetings simultaneously appeared to be at DeSantis’ direction tp get the plans approved before environmental opposition could form.
The resulting outcry shows how badly DeSantis and DEP underestimated the breadth of Floridians’ love for their natural areas. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions opposing the changes, hundreds attended protests, at least four new Facebook groups dedicated to the protection of one park or another were created, Democratic politicians immediately blasted the plan and Republican lawmakers first denied prior knowledge of the plans, then also spoke in opposition.
Facing immediate overwhelming opposition, the DEP posted over the weekend that the meetings would be postponed to a yet undetermined date.
It looks like DeSantis lost a skirmish, but the war is far from over. Sort of reminds you of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, doesn’t it?
Gov's other tell-tale action
The other example of DeSantis’ complete and utter disregard for the will of the people is the governor’s appointment of former Broward County School Board member Daniel Foganholi to the state Board of Education on Friday
This didn’t receive nearly as much press coverage as the parks issue, but it didn’t fly completely under the media radar either. And it is every bit as revealing about DeSantis’ autocratic nature as the parks issue is.
"Why?" you ask. "Who is this Foganholi guy?"
Foganholi was on the Broward School Board because DeSantis appointed him – twice. Last Tuesday he lost his first election attempt to stay on the board. And he lost big-time. He came in third in a 3-person race, receiving only 20 percent of the vote.
But that wasn’t his first loss in any Broward County race. Between his first and second school board appointments by DeSantis, he ran for the Coral Springs City Commission and lost.
So, here is someone clearly rejected by voters of his community not once, but twice in one year. And what does DeSantis do? Would you believe he essentially gives Foganholi a promotion?
On Friday, three days after the election, DeSantis rejects the will of the people of Broward and appoints Foganholi, a man with only an associate’s degree, to the State Board of Education.
Pattern of behavior
Nor is this the first time DeSantis has disregarded election results by either advancing the career of the loser he backed or by removing the winner he opposed. In 2022, Jared Smith, a Hillsborough County Circuit Judge ousted by voters after his controversial ruling in an abortion case, was appointed by DeSantis to fill a vacancy on the newly created 6th District Court of Appeal, based in Lakeland.
Also in 2022, DeSantis removed Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, a Democrat, from office after Warren said he wouldn’t pursue criminal charges against seekers or providers of abortion under a recently passed abortion ban, but before Warren’s office did any such thing. A U.S. appeals court ruled DeSantis acted wrongly in removing Warren but said it didn’t have the power to return Warren to office. Warren, who was previously twice-elected, is reseeking the seat. He won the Democratic primary on Aug. 20 and will face Republican Suzy Lopez, his replacement appointed by DeSantis, in the Nov. 5 election.
DeSantis removed another elected Democratic state attorney in 2023: Monique Worrell, the chief prosecutor for Orange and Osceola counties. DeSantis’ office accused Worrell of failing to hold Keith Moses accountable for drug possession crimes he allegedly committed as a juvenile before she charged him as a 19-year-old with the murder of a TV reporter and a 9-year-old girl. Worrell, who has said DeSantis’ action was purely political, also is seeking her previous office in the Nov. 5 election. She will face Andrew Bain, who is the replacement appointed by DeSantis but is not affiliated with any political party, and Seth Hyman, who won the Republican nomination in the Aug. 20 primary.
Time for change
These are examples not just of how little DeSantis cares about what the voters of a county or a district want, but of how it is time to pop the Republican bubble that insulates Republican administrators and lawmakers in Tallahassee and Washingtion, D.C. from what people in places like the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange and Osceola counties really care about.
Have no doubt that DeSantis’ DEP knew ahead of time it would face significant opposition to the JD Park golf course plan. It had to have known because the plan failed so miserably the last time Republicans tried it – in 2011 when former state Rep. Dan Rooney, R-West Palm Beach, pushed a bill, supported by then Gov. Rick Scott, that would have required the state Division of Recreation and Parks to hire a company that would work with Jack Nicklaus to build golf courses in state parks around the state, with Jonathan Dickinson being the only park mentioned specifically. The public backlash then was so bad that the bill was quickly withdrawn.
Gayle Harrell, the Republican state representative for the district containing the park, also knew about the plan a year ago – at least according to a WPBF-Channel 25 news report. The West Palm Beach TV station reported this week that a DEP source said Harrell was asked by Folds of Honor, a non-profit that provides scholarships to the children of fallen or disable veterans, to sponsor a bill last year allowing three golf courses to be built at the park. Harrell told WPBF she declined, and she thought that was the end of it, but she said nothing of it publicly last year. Why did she keep the proposal secret? To protect her party?
U.S. Rep. Brian Mast also says he was surprised by the announcement of the plan. But do we believe that a Republican congressman in a state and county thoroughly controlled by Republicans had really never heard anything of this plan until last week? And if that’s so, is that what we really need from a congressman who claims he’s a protector of his district’s natural resources?
Or is it more of a reflection of the fact that Republicans in Florida have controlled the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature for so long (since 2000) that they think they can do whatever they want -- at least until they get smacked in the face with a reminder that there are still some issues where the will of the people matters.
It's time for a change in Florida. Time to end one-party rule and bring back a bi-partisan government that is more responsive to the wants and needs of the people. Time to vote blue.
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