Tag: Florida

DeSantis blasts immigration laws once popular with Florida Republicans
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Included in DeSantis’ proposal is the repeal of a 2014 law sponsored by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez when she was a member of the Florida House that offered out-of-state tuition vouchers to some eligible Dreamers, those brought to the United States illegally at a young age. It applied to Dreamers who attended a Florida high school for at least three years.
The proposal received wide-ranging Republican support at the time, including from CFO Jimmy Patronis, DeSantis-appointed Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, former House Speaker Jose Oliva — whom DeSantis recently appointed to the Board of Governors of the State University System — and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, each of whom were members of the Legislature when lawmakers first approved the bill.
None returned a request seeking comment about whether they support repealing the law or if they regret their 2014 vote.
At Thursday’s press conference, DeSantis touted Florida’s low cost college or state university system but said the law still needs to be repealed to keep down tuition costs.
“If we want to hold the line on tuition, then you have got to say ‘you need to be a U.S. citizens living in Florida,’” DeSantis said. “Why would we subsidize a non-U.S. citizen when we want to make sure we can keep it affordable for our own people?”
Then-Gov. Rick Scott, who is now a Republican U.S. senator, signed the proposal in what was seen as a signal Florida Republicans had shifting views on immigration issues as they tried to make inroads with Latino voters, who have a much larger political footprint in Florida than in most states. Since DeSantis took office, however, he has rewired that approach, taking a much harder-line stance on immigration as he gains political support, including with Latino voters. In 2022, DeSantis won reelection by a historic 19.4 percentage point margin, including winning the Latino vote over Democrat Charlie Crist.
Scott defended the earlier legislation when asked about it in Tampa on Thursday.
“It’s a bill that I was proud to sign. I believe in it. I believe that these individuals ought to have the opportunity to live their dreams in this country,” Scott said.” It’s a bill I would sign again today.”

DeSantis last year drew widespread criticism from Democrats and immigration advocates after he transported nearly 50 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a move opponents called a political stunt. Since then, the governor persuaded the Legislature to expand the program.
DeSantis’ proposal would also repeal a second law passed in 2014 with bipartisan support that allowed noncitizens to be admitted to the Florida Bar. The proposal was signed into law by Scott and got “yes” votes from Diaz, Nunez and Oliva. Simpson and Patronis, both of whom are seen as eyeing bids for governor in 2026, did not vote on the measure when legislators approved it on the House and Senate floors.
The law allows the Florida Supreme Court to admit noncitizens to the Florida Bar if they meet certain qualifications, including being brought to the United states as a minor and living in the country for a decade or longer. It was passed for José Manuel Godinez-Samperio, who came to the United States at age 9 with his mother and went on to graduate Florida State University College of Law with honors. He was in the House chamber when the bill passed and got direct shoutouts from Republican leadership at the time.
DeSantis said he has no idea why lawmakers at the time made that decision.
“I don’t know why they did this in Florida before I became governor, but they are letting illegal aliens become licensed attorneys in Florida,” DeSantis said at the press conference. “It’s, like, how could you be violating the law and then be practicing the law.”
During the press conference, he did not address the fact that a large number of elected Florida Republicans in the past supported some of the provisions he wants repealed and his office did not respond to questions about that situation.
Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican who was at the event and will be a likely sponsor of the bills, also did not return requests seeking comment.
DeSantis is also pushing lawmakers to require all Florida employers to use the E-Verify system, a federal database that allows employers to check workers’ employment status. During DeSantis’ first term, he pushed for universal E-Verify but that was opposed by the state’s business lobby. The bill lawmakers approved only required public employers to use the system.
Conservatives have been lobbying DeSantis to again try and expand the requirement to all employers, and DeSantis now has post-midterm Republican supermajorities in both chambers, which he says should make it easier to overcome opponents from the business and hospitality industries who are concerned changes could cut off their supply of cheap labor.
“It’s a different political context now having super majorities,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis’ immigration package also includes:
- Making it a third-degree felony to “transport, conceal, or harbor illegal aliens,” and a second-degree felony if the person being transported is a minor.
- Mandating that hospitals collect data on the immigration status of patients and submit reports on costs associated with providing care to undocumented immigrants.
- Requiring people registering to vote check a box affirming they are U.S. citizens and Florida residents.
- Prohibiting local governments from issuing ID cards to unauthorized aliens and invalidating out-of-state licenses issued to unauthorized aliens.
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#DeSantis #blasts #immigration #laws #popular #Florida #Republicans
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
February 24, 2023
Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo investigated for allegedly falsifying Covid report

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Ladapo’s report was used as evidence in vaccine guidance he released in October that came under heavy criticism from the medical community, which said the surgeon general’s stance that the vaccine posed a health risk in healthy young men was flawed and went against Covid-vaccine recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The guidance even prompted Twitter to temporarily block a social media post from the surgeon general promoting the analysis, though the company later restored it.
The inspector general’s office opened the investigation in November after it received the complaint and later closed it an undisclosed date after the complainant didn’t respond to follow-up questions regarding the accusations, according to state documents that include a copy of the original complaint.
Nothing is known about the complainant, and anyone can submit a grievance with the Department of Health’s inspector general. But the individual appeared to have detailed knowledge of state health agencies, according to the documents the Florida Department of Health provided to POLITICO.
Ladapo on Wednesday called the accusations against him untrue and said the report in question was completed by a team of staffers at the Florida Department of Health.
“It’s factually false,” Ladapo said in an interview with POLITICO. “I trust the team — they used our Florida data, they performed the analysis, and we’re an accredited public health organization.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hand-picked Ladapo, a Harvard-educated medical doctor, to be his top health official in 2021. Ladapo has long questioned the safety of Covid-19 vaccines and at one point joined a petition to urge the FDA against quickly authorizing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Ladapo found a national audience early in the pandemic by writing opinion pieces in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today that criticized community lockdowns and the use of facemasks.
The November complaint against Ladapo asked the inspector general to speak with employees at the state Department of Health Communicable Disease Division, who helped write earlier drafts of the report that was eventually released. Emails were kept to a minimum, the complainant wrote, and notes were hand-delivered.
“You may not find these documents by email, as they get transmitted by hand,” the complainant stated, according to state documents. “But they have been seen by several individuals.

“Lots of people know about this,” the individual stated.
Ladapo, however, stood by his Covid guidance and defended his stance on vaccines.
“Between my scientific experience, and training and the fact that I am only comfortable saying the truth and speaking the truth, I felt completely fine with that announcement,” Ladapo said. “That’s what the data show.”
Ladapo said experts who have rejected his ideas are unwilling to face what he called honesty in modern medical care.
“It really strains credulity to try and write this off as being anything but related to the safety of these mRNA Covid vaccines,” Ladapo said. “I think people should know that it’s OK to believe what their eyes are showing them.”
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#Florida #Surgeon #General #Joe #Ladapo #investigated #allegedly #falsifying #Covid #report
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 23, 2023
Florida journalist shot to death covering shooting from earlier in the day

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“I want to acknowledge what a horrible day this has been for our community and our media partners,” Mina told a room full of reporters. “I work closely with all of you and know many of you and know the the very difficult job that you do and also the very important job that you do for our community and for law enforcement. No one in our community — not a mother, not a 9-year-old and certainly not news professionals — should become the victim of gun violence in our community.”
Mina said they don’t immediately have a motive for any of the shootings.
Deputies had initially responded to the Pine Hills area, just northwest of Orlando, on Wednesday morning following reports of a woman in her 20s being shot.
According to witnesses, a man approached the news vehicle later Wednesday and opened fire and then walked to a nearby home and shot the mother and daughter.
Mina said Moses is already facing a murder charge for the initial victim, and charges are expected soon for the other four victims. Moses’ criminal history includes gun charges, as well as aggravated battery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and grand theft offenses, the sheriff said.
Spectrum News 13 is not yet identifying the crew members who were involved in the shooting, according to a story on the TV station’s website.
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#Florida #journalist #shot #death #covering #shooting #earlier #day
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 23, 2023
Matt Gaetz had a hell of a month. What’s next for the Florida Republican?

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So what’s next for the congressman with a seemingly endless capacity for drawing attention?
Several colleagues and those in Florida Republican circles anticipate Gaetz could run for governor of the Sunshine State in 2026 after Gov. Ron DeSantis leaves office. DeSantis is expected to run for the White House in 2024.
GOP state Rep. Alex Andrade said this week’s news that Gaetz won’t face federal charges is “as close to vindicated to a politician can be” and, along with Gaetz’s recent tangle with McCarthy, could make him a formidable foe in a contested Florida GOP gubernatorial primary.
“His ability to win a larger primary I think is as strong as anyone,” Andrade said. “I think he’s a serious candidate for any Republican primary for any race he wants to get into.”
It would be an impressive turnaround for the 40-year-old Republican, who just a year ago was facing a barrage of salacious headlines. Gaetz, who denied wrongdoing throughout the probe, now has key positions in the GOP-controlled House and could take advantage of Florida’s seeming transformation into a red state — all fuel for him if he seeks higher office.
Gaetz on Thursday declined to comment on his political future.
Some of the calculus depends also on what DeSantis will do. The Florida governor is widely expected to announce that he’s running for president in the spring, and one former Republican lawmaker familiar with Gaetz’s thinking predicted that if DeSantis becomes president, current Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez would finish out his term and run unopposed. But that path changes if DeSantis remains governor and other statewide elected Republicans run to succeed him.
“If DeSantis finishes his term, you can imagine one or multiple current [Florida] Cabinet members in a crowded primary, or you can imagine an anointing,” said the Republican, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the dynamics of the race. “Either way, it’s not hard to see how Gaetz comes out of the primary.”

While Gaetz was once part of DeSantis’s inner circle and served on his transition team before his first term, he has endorsed Trump in the 2024 race.
The serious allegations against Gaetz — centering on whether he had sex with a minor — could play a pivotal role in any future statewide campaign. But the accusations didn’t stop voters in his district from giving him another overwhelming victory in 2022 even though his GOP primary opponent aired television ads in northwest Florida about the allegations.
But 2026 is still far away. For now, Gaetz remains an energized member of the House’s slim majority.
Gaetz was critical to McCarthy’s ascent to speaker — even though he didn’t vote for him. After helping deny the California Republican the gavel through a historic 14 rounds of voting, including almost coming to blows with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Gaetz and his five allied holdouts all voted “present” on the 15th round. That allowed McCarthy to secure enough votes to win the speakership with just 216 votes, without Gaetz technically voting for McCarthy.
That vote came after McCarthy had agreed to many of the concessions Gaetz and his group of hardliners asked for, including the ability for any one member to try to oust the speaker, which the Florida Republican compared to a “straitjacket” to the speakership.
Despite nearly thwarting McCarthy’s dreams of becoming speaker, Gaetz has seen his stock in the House rise.
In addition to Gaetz keeping his seat on the high-profile Judiciary Committee, he also secured a spot on a subcommittee that will probe Republicans’ claims of a government weaponized against conservatives. The panel, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), will lead a sweeping probe into some of the party’s favorite targets, including the FBI, Justice Department and intelligence community. That perch will undoubtably provide Gaetz a steady stream of publicity.
“I think Kevin McCarthy won and I think Matt Gaetz won,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who is friends with Gaetz.
Burchett added: “I feel like his role has increased.”
John Roberts, chair of the Escambia County Republican Party, said that some GOP members in Gaetz’s home district were “upset” about Gaetz’s opposition to McCarthy and “weren’t happy with the name-calling.”
Roberts, however, predicted the storm would pass and Gaetz could always stick hang around in Congress if he decides against running for higher office.
“It’s a strong safe Republican seat,” Roberts said. “I think he could hold it for a long time if he chooses.”
Matt Dixon contributed to this report.
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#Matt #Gaetz #hell #month #Whats #Florida #Republican
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 17, 2023
Florida GOP hands DeSantis wins on Disney, migrants ahead of likely ’24 bid

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“The reality is we have a governor setting up a presidential bid, and this is basically his attempt to get earned media time on Fox News,” Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) said during Friday floor debate opposing a special session bill that would expand a DeSantis-championed migrant flight program.
Republican legislative leaders convened the special session at DeSantis’ urging but downplayed suggestions that they were reluctantly pushed into it by the governor. Yet they couldn’t answer basic questions about the bills before the Legislature approved the measures.
“You guys are making inquiries, and I look forward to talking about it. But I think the governor is on the right path,” Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast) told reporters Friday when asked how the state spent millions on the migrant flight program.
The migrant proposal approved by lawmakers expands the controversial program that DeSantis used to fly nearly 50 mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in September. The new bill allows the state to spend money to move migrants from anywhere in the U.S., not just those currently in Florida. A Democratic state lawmaker, Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-Miami), sued DeSantis last year, claiming that the $12 million previously earmarked for the program only allowed the state to transport migrants who were in Florida.
Yet questions remain over how the state spent millions of dollars that lawmakers previously appropriated for the migrant transport program. In September, DeSantis paid an outside vendor — which was a former legal client of the governor’s public safety czar, Larry Keefe — to fly migrants to Massachusetts. Florida paid at least $1.5 million to arrange several sets of flights from Texas to Democratic strongholds in September, but it later approved a further $1.9 million in payments in October that the governor’s office has not yet publicly explained.
Public records also later showed that Keefe used a private email account that made it appear as if the messages were from “Clarice Starling,” the protagonist from the “Silence of The Lambs,” when coordinating the program.
Renner said he couldn’t answer questions about whether it was appropriate for DeSantis administration staffers to use private emails that disguise their true identity because he was not familiar enough with the Keefe emails.
During a Wednesday news conference, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples) said it was “above my pay grade, or a different pay grade I guess I should say” when asked about specifics of the program. She directed some questions to Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie, who will be in charge of the migrant flight program under the special session bill given final passage Friday.

During a lengthy Wednesday hearing in the Senate, Pizzo grilled the bill sponsor, state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill), about his proposal, but Ingoglia repeatedly said he couldn’t comment on the program because of pending litigation.
Lawmakers this week were also unable to answer questions about a measure lawmakers approved that allows a statewide prosecutor to charge individuals with election-related crimes. The change came about after the DeSantis-created Office of Election Crimes and Security highlighted last August the arrest of 20 people for allegedly illegally voting in the 2020 election because they had previous convictions for serious crimes like murder.
Those arrests, however, have come under scrutiny after POLITICO and other outlets reported that the defendants were told by state and local election officials that they were allowed to cast ballots. Judges tossed the charges against three defendants in part because the Office of Statewide Prosecution does not have jurisdiction in the election fraud cases. The bill lawmakers approved now clarifies that the office has authority to file such charges.
Yet lawmakers approved the changes to the office without knowing if it would retroactively apply to the defendants who had already been charged by the Office of Statewide Prosecution.
“I can’t answer that,” Passidomo said during her Wednesday press conference. “I would generally say these bills are not retroactive.”
Renner on Friday said he also was not sure, but thought the bill could be retroactive. He said regardless, the bill was needed because DeSantis’ new office racked up early losses in court.
“These new rules will be hashed out in the courts, and the courts will make the determination as to what may or may not apply retroactively,” he said. “What we are doing here is to make sure the jurisdictional issue is solved. There are some cases that went the other way, and so we want to make sure we have the ability to do what we always do, make it easy to vote, and hard to cheat.”
Lawmakers this week also approved a bill giving Florida and DeSantis more control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which has given Disney World the right of self-governance at its Orlando-based theme park for more than five decades. Lawmakers last year stripped Disney World of its self-governing status after top Disney officials publicly criticized Florida’s law that bans teachers from leading classroom instructions on sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms from kindergarten through third grade. The law is widely known as “Don’t Say Gay.”
Legislators renamed the district, took away some little-used powers and gave DeSantis more authority over the company by creating a five-person oversight board he will appoint.
The week before the session began, DeSantis publicly pushed lawmakers to convene in Tallahassee to approve the Disney bill and hinted at other unspecified priorities. Lawmakers were quietly concerned the session was being called too soon and a Disney-focused bill was not yet ready. Legislators filed the Disney bill last and needed to amend it, adding to the sense that the special session was being hurried.
“This legislation was not rushed at all, like has been reported,” Fred Hawkins, the St. Cloud Republican who sponsored the bill, said Friday, acknowledging the open perception lawmakers had to hurry the bill. “This was thought out, that’s why the bill was so large.”
Republican legislative leaders also defended their decision to call a sixth legislative session in less than a year to help fix DeSantis’ previously passed priorities. The governor or legislative leader called two special sessions in 2021 and four in 2022.
“I think we frequently have special sessions,” Renner said Friday. “As I said, we do not wait around to fix problems and each of these bills in my mind had some time sensitivity to it.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 11, 2023
Florida athletic association will no longer ask high school students about menstruation cycles

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The association faced widespread criticism after the Palm Beach Post reported that the organization asked student athletes about their menstruation history and was considering making it mandatory.
During the meeting, a lawyer present with FHSAA read dozens of letters opposing the inclusion of the menstruation questions. The feedback included comments from outraged parents and community members who stated: “This is so out of line … you idiots are sick” and “I thank god I do not have a daughter because I would never allow her to play sports under these standards.”
Chris Patricca, one of two members who voted against changing the form, told the board members she continued to object to the elimination of the menstrual cycle questions.
“Many of today’s comments in my opinion could have the impact of further stigmatizing this perfectly normal bodily function — implying that menstruation is in any way shameful is an archaic notion,” Patricca said. “What is controversial is the political pressure that has been placed on the association to look at this through the lens of political hot button issues.”
The questionnaire caused an uproar in Florida and beyond, in part because parents and others believed it was an invasion of privacy and worried the information could be used to prosecute teen athletes who received abortions outside of the permitted time frame. Florida last year banned women and girls from getting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
Some LGBTQ advocates also feared the disclosure of an athlete’s menstruation history would stigmatize transgender students. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 signed a bill outlawing transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports.
John Gerdes, president of the association, said he wanted to make it clear that DeSantis and his office had nothing to do with the decisions made by the board.
“We felt no pressure from them, they did not contact us,” Gerdes said. “This was our issue to deal with.”

After the association voted, Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book released a statement thanking the board for rejecting the “bizarre, outrageous, and inappropriate recommendation regarding mandated period tracking for female athletes — and for not only soliciting but actually listening to public testimony.”
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#Florida #athletic #association #longer #high #school #students #menstruation #cycles
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 10, 2023
Florida Republicans help DeSantis clean up legal and political dilemmas

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The special session was announced by legislative leaders on Friday. By Monday afternoon, some of the first bills — including one designed to inoculate DeSantis’ controversial migrant relocation program from an ongoing lawsuit filed by a Democratic state senator — had already cleared its first stop.
Many rank-and-file GOP legislators either shrugged off or joked when asked about the timing of the special session — which is coming just weeks ahead of their annual legislative session. But some acknowledged the bills teed up for passage would help DeSantis’s agenda.
“Presidential campaigns aside, I have every interest in helping the governor,” said state Rep. Tom Leek, an Ormond Beach Republican and chairman of the main House budget committee which advanced the migrant proposal Monday. “What the governor is doing is helping the people of Florida.”
The 12-day special session comes amid an increasingly busy time for DeSantis. He has a much anticipated autobiography due out at the end of this month — followed by appearances before GOP groups in Texas, California and Alabama. The regular legislative session will also kick off in early March, where lawmakers are expected to take up more high-profile proposals from the governor, including changes in Florida’s higher education system.
Put it all together and it creates a ready-made checklist to sell to Republican primary voters if DeSantis officially joins the race later this year.
Democrats cast the entire special session as a clean-up exercise and giving DeSantis “cover” for an expected presidential bid.
“You have a governor who is overreaching and running for president so he is doing all these things because he can,” said state Rep. Dotie Joseph, a North Miami Democrat. “And you don’t have a Legislature to check him.”
The DeSantis administration has found that its rapid-fire approach can lead to legal and political scrutiny. Multiple lawsuits have bogged down or prevented some of DeSantis’s top priorities over the last few years from going ahead, including on a law that dictates how race is taught in Florida.

Three of the measures state legislators are expected to pass in the next two weeks center on actions that have given DeSantis plenty of national headlines but have been created a large amount of political blowback and legal scrutiny.
DeSantis last year led the charge to dismantle the special district that had been controlled by Disney for more than 50 years after the entertainment conglomerate opposed a measure that banned discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in classrooms up until third grade. DeSantis promised repeatedly that the state would resolve unsettled questions about outstanding bonds and debts affiliated with the special district. Under the latest proposal, the special district would be renamed and placed under control of appointees selected by the governor.
“We’re not going to have a corporation controlling its own government,” DeSantis said again last week when he said the pending legislation would put the state in charge.
Another measure aims to resolve legal questions about whether the statewide prosecutor had the authority to pursue voter fraud cases that were trumpeted by DeSantis last August. Some of the defendants that were swept up in the arrests have successfully used that question to challenge their charges.
Lastly, legislators are poised to pass a bill that broadens the controversial migrant relocation program that resulted in the state paying to fly nearly 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last year. A lawsuit has challenged the program, in part, because it was created in the state budget and not in a stand-alone law.
But just as importantly, the bill would make it clear that DeSantis has authority to transport migrants from anywhere in the United States as opposed to limiting his actions to just those who are actually in Florida.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Boca Raton Democrat, derided the legislation as a “get out of jail free” card to let DeSantis carry on a political stunt. Other Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have denounced DeSantis’ flights, saying the Florida governor is using vulnerable people as pawns to score political points.
Lawmakers are pledging $10 million for the program, although state Rep. Tom Gregory, a Republican from southwest Florida, questioned why legislators weren’t considering whether to spend as much as $50 million or $100 million on relocation.
Rep. Randy Fine, a Brevard County Republican, also gave a forceful defense of the program after it was assailed by Democrats by saying that shipping migrants to “blue states” may prompt President Joe Biden to “care” about criticisms about border security.
“This will hopefully make that day come faster,” Fine said.
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#Florida #Republicans #DeSantis #clean #legal #political #dilemmas
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 7, 2023
Florida GOP calls for special session to expand controversial migrant flight program

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The memos don’t contain any specifics about how the program would operate, and legislation on immigration is not yet formally been filed.
The moves by DeSantis and GOP legislative leaders signal that the governor has no intention of stopping his controversial program to transport migrants to Blue strongholds like Massachusetts. His first and only set of flights, in mid-September, caused a massive uproar, with Democrats and immigration advocated accusing DeSantis of using migrants as political pawns.
DeSantis received $12 million for the migrant transport program in his current year budget, which he said was needed to highlight what he called the Biden administration’s failed border policies. The money came from funds connected to federal Covid-19 relieve funds.
The current state budget directs the money only to be used to remove migrants “from this state,” meaning Florida. Because the migrants were sent from Texas last fall, that language has become the subject of a lawsuit from state Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Miami Democrat who says DeSantis violated the spending provision because they were moved from Texas not Florida.
DeSantis’ new proposed program would allow the state to fund future migrant flights that originate anywhere in the United States, according to the proposal. DeSantis’ proposed budget, which was unveiled Wednesday, asks for another $12 million for the program.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the DeSantis administration over the migrant flights, including from the Center for Government Accountability, which alleged that the DeSantis administration was withholding public records related to the program. Another, from the Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, accused the governor conducting “premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme” by flying the migrants to Massachusetts.
Documents released in late December showed that DeSantis’ top safety official, Larry Keefe, helped write the language that helped the company responsible for chartering the flights, Vertol Systems, his former law client, secure a state contract to fly the migrants from the San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard. The records also revealed that Keefe used a non-public email address that made it appear that emails were coming from “Clarice Starling,” the main character in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Those records were not originally released as part of the lawsuit, but instead were dropped days before Christmas with a note from the DeSantis’ public records office that they originally were unaware of Keefe’s private account.

The state has paid Vertol Systems $4.4 million since September, including $950,000 on Jan. 31, state records show, making the total cost of the program nearly $90,000 for each migrant relocated.
In a September email, James Montgomerie, Vertol’s top executive, told Florida Department of Transportation purchasing administrator Paul Baker, that under the contract, they would transfer “unauthorized aliens from Florida.”
The email indicated that the “humanitarian services” would take place from Sept. 19 through Oct. 3, and said the “wrap around private” would be $950,000. The email does not offer further explanation, but four $950,000 state payments have been made to the company, records show.
Though the administration carried out only one set of flights, in late September it signaled that it was chartering another from Texas to near Rehoboth, the summer vacation spot on the Delaware coast where President Joe Biden has a home. Humanitarian organizations in several states scrambled to be in position to offer services for migrants on the flights. A flight took off but it never landed in Delaware and it’s unclear whether migrants were on board.
During a press conference Wednesday, DeSantis doubled down on his support of the plan amid the growing cost and controversy.
“We have had a deterrent effect, and people are sick of having an open border with no rule of law in this country,” he said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 4, 2023
Florida eyes more changes to voting laws ahead of 2024

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“The Department recommends building on the election integrity measures adopted recently to enhance the security of the vote-by-mail process,” states the report.
Some of the recommendations could trigger another partisan firestorm from Democrats suspicious of proposals taking aim at mail-in voting.
Republicans in Florida for many years had dominated mail-in voting in the state, but that shifted over the past few cycles, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the 2022 elections, about 2.7 million Floridians voted by mail, with 43 percent of the ballots cast by Democrats compared with 36 percent from Republicans.
Brad Ashwell, Florida director of All Voting Is Local, a voting advocacy group, called the proposals outlined by the department as largely “unnecessary” — though he did praise a recommendation for legislators to authorize the creation of a uniform vote-by-mail ballot request form.
“The voters are already being harmed by the last changes they made,” said Ashwell, noting recent changes such as one that forces voters to request a mail-in ballot after every general election and that increased identification requirements to request a ballot.
He added that it would also be “asinine” to order up additional revisions to mail-in voting ahead of the 2024 election when turnout could be much higher than it was during the midterms. He also suggested that prohibiting ballot requests by phone could be an obstacle to elderly voters and those with disabilities.
Since the 2020 election — where mail-in voting was repeatedly criticized by former President Donald Trump — GOP legislators in the Sunshine State have pushed through several changes to mail-in voting, many of them at the insistence of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Democrats and voting rights groups widely criticized a 2021 law that place a two-ballot limit on how many mail-in ballots someone could gather for elderly or sick voters.
DeSantis and Florida Republicans have refused to go along with suggestions to eliminate no-excuse mail voting, or allowing people to vote by mail without providing a reason. But they have made key changes such as banning the collection of more than two mail-in ballots from non-family members, a practice derided by DeSantis as “ballot harvesting.” Lawmakers also put restrictions on drop boxes where people drop off their ballots and required voters to renew their ballot requests after every general election. Parts of this law is still being challenged in federal court.

Last year, legislators contemplated requiring voters to add personal information — like a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to what they mail back to supervisors, a move that would have likely required voters to use an extra envelope. Currently, supervisors compare the signatures on the ballot envelope and what the voter has on file.
One Republican election supervisor called the initial proposal from GOP legislators a “recipe for disaster.” Legislators backed off the change and instead directed the Department of State to come up with recommendations on how to increase ID requirements.
In January, election supervisors across the state officially chimed in with their own report warning about making widespread changes.
A working group of Democratic and Republican supervisors submitted a report to the Department of State that said requiring voters to put their personal information on ballots would be a “seismic” change that would increase costs, confuse voters and potentially lead to identity theft as well as delays in counting ballots.
The final report from the department did not include any recommendations that voters be required to put identifying information on their ballot envelopes, opting instead to focus on the “ballot request process.”
Mark Earley, supervisor of elections for Leon County and head of the supervisors’ statewide association, told Department of State officials that local supervisors appreciated the “credence” given their concerns about potential identification changes. Earley, however, added that some of the recommendations could “pose challenges.”
In a brief interview Thursday, Earley said eliminating the ability to request ballots by phone “is going to hinder a lot of voters” though he said he understood the desire to create a paper trail for requests.
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#Florida #eyes #voting #laws #ahead
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 3, 2023
Florida legislators expected to tackle Disney in special session next week

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Reedy Creek Improvement District is the name of the special district that was created by Florida legislators more than 50 years ago and which has largely been governed by the entertainment conglomerate for more than five decades.
Last year, legislators moved quickly to dissolve Reedy Creek during a special session after Disney officials spoke out against a new law restricting how sexual orientation and gender identity are addressed in public schools. The measure, called “Don’t Say Gay” by its opponents, prohibits educators from leading classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade. LGBTQ+ advocates say the measure could lead students to increased bullying or even suicide.
While DeSantis was not the initial driving force behind the controversial law, he became a champion of it and was instrumental in pushing through the plan to strip Disney of its special status in the aftermath. DeSantis, now seen as likely presidential contender, repeatedly used his battle against Disney on the campaign trail last year as an example of his resistance to “woke” corporations.
But while legislators passed a bill targeting Reedy Creek they did not address ongoing questions about district debts and whether they would be shifted to local taxpayers.
A spokesperson for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis has pledged that a plan would be developed to ensure that taxpayers wouldn’t be responsible for the debts. In early January, the administration said it had come up with a proposal that would have the state control the special district and at same time ensure that Disney would be responsible for any debts previously incurred.
“The corporate kingdom has come to an end,” Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for DeSantis, said earlier this month.
State Sen. Linda Stewart, an Orlando Democrat whose central Florida district is close to Disney World, said in a message that “we have not received anything yet! Just been hearing rumors for the last couple of weeks.”

DeSantis has relied more and more on special sessions to take care of high priority legislation, a move that guarantees more sustained media coverage — including among friendly conservative outlets — than during the somewhat hectic 60-day regular session where multiple controversial issues may be considered at once. State legislators in Florida are already expected to take up a major expansion of vouchers, a measure to eliminate concealed weapons permitting and possibly new abortion restrictions in the session scheduled to start in March.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 1, 2023