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A year ago in January, Ron DeSantis became FL Gov. DeSantis: What do you think about his first-year record?

January 7, 2020/in Florida Phoenix

By Michael Moline -January 7, 2020

Ron DeSantis

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

At an inaugural ceremony in Tallahassee on Jan. 8, 2019, former congressman Ron DeSantis was sworn in as Florida’s governor.

We’ve heard what DeSantis thinks of his first year in office – it was “an incredible year for Florida” with “historic accomplishments that are of the utmost importance to Floridians,” according to an assessment released by the governor’s aides last month.

The Florida Phoenix queried an array of figures active in political circles, including Republicans and Democrats, about their own takes on the Republican governor’s performance thus far. They didn’t all get back to us, but here’s what those who did had to say:

Gwen Graham, former congresswoman and 2016 Democratic candidate for governor:

“I don’t buy any of his record. The decisions that should be being made – whether we talk about education or the environment or voter rights – concern how do we make this state better for the lives of Floridians.

Gwen Graham, former congresswoman. U.S. House of Representatives.

He’s not willing to expand Medicaid, which is ludicrous.

In the area of the environment, the only area where he’s done any good is the Everglades, and the reason why is that he hates the sugar industry. With voter suppression, the Republicans in no way want Amendment 4 to be put into place because they know that means more voters who are not going to vote Republican for the most part.

“He goes to the Pulse nightclub and stands in front of a mural with his wife, but before he did that he refused to expand LGBTQ protections at the state level for anti-discrimination purposes.

It’s extremely disingenuous on the part of Ron DeSantis to claim that he’s an environmental governor, or that he’s an education governor, or that he cares about the LGBTQ community, or that he cares about the right to vote, or that he cares about the only process that Floridians have to have actually try to have their voice heard through the petitioning to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot.”

Susan McManus, distinguished professor emerita of political science, University of South Florida”

“The biggest DeSantis achievement was quickly bringing the state together after a highly contentious election. Pardoning the Groveland 4, targeting the environment, etc. He came out of the box being more of his own person than a Trump clone.”

Pamela Marsh, president, Florida First Amendment Foundation:

“First, we were pleased to see that, after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement declined to investigate the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Gov. DeSantis did not just drop the ball.

The First Amendment Foundation initially requested an investigation. The state attorney’s office with jurisdiction over the matter had a conflict and sent it over to FDLE.

FDLE declined to investigate with seemingly little thought, effort or interest. And, as a result, Gov. DeSantis issued an executive order assigning the investigation of the airport authority to an appropriate state attorney.

“Second, while some sources (citizens and reporters) have complained that the governor’s office has been slow to comply with public records requests, we have noticed some improvement in communication, compliance and outreach, when compared to the prior administration. Certainly, there have been some glitches, and there is always room for improvement from our perspective, it is good to see a renewed commitment to transparency.

“Now, if we could just persuade the Legislature from blasting more holes in the public records law by adding additional exemptions, we would be on our way in 2020!”

Aliki Moncrief, executive director, Florida Conservation Voters:

“The DeSantis administration has consistently touted its commitment to protecting the Everglades and addressing the red tide and blue-green algae crisis, which are two of the most important environmental issues facing Florida.

Akili Moncrief with Florida Conservation Voters, speaking at a press conference in the Capitol on April 9.

Keeping these issues at the forefront of public attention is helpful, but the administration has much more work to do. Florida needs not only deeper investments, but also stronger water protections to fix our long-term water quality issues. He must hold polluters accountable, and must also address the unfettered construction of roads and rampant sprawl, which together fuel our water problems.

“On Florida’s climate crisis, the governor continues to ignore the fact that our state’s dependence on fossil fuels is the main contributor to sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, and rising temperatures that are already harming Florida families.

While he remains focused on ‘resilience,’ it is difficult to see how Florida can make long-term progress by only treating the symptoms of crisis and not the root causes.

In his first year, DeSantis hired a chief resilience officer, Julia Nesheiwat, which is a step in the right direction. Moving forward, his administration must consider how to achieve 100 percent clean renewable energy for Florida’s economy and families.

“The governor’s proposal of $100 million for Florida Forever, while welcomed, unfortunately, lacks the necessary boldness needed to protect our dwindling conservation lands. The coming decade will be marked by dramatic growth, which must be balanced with robust conservation investments. Bold leadership would demand no less than the historic level of funding, $300 million annually.

“Last year, DeSantis and Florida’s legislative leadership failed to strengthen our environmental laws, advance clean energy, or protect wetlands and public lands.

In fact, they quickly passed bills to authorize three proposed toll roads through some of Florida’s best remaining natural lands. The governor’s support of the disastrous toll roads bill and weak funding for water and land conservation raise serious questions about whether his environmental commitments are just talk, and not enough action.”

Andrew Spar, vice president of the Florida Education Association:

“Gov. DeSantis has said he wants 2020 to be the ‘Year of the Teacher.’ What he has proposed so far is a flawed salary plan that fails to acknowledge teachers’ classroom experience and yet another bonus plan, following on the heels of six failed bonus plans over the past 13 years.

Andrew Spar, vice president, Florida Education Association. Credit: FEA.

All school employees need steady paychecks, not one-time bonuses that don’t help with qualifying for a mortgage or long-term budgeting. None of the governor’s proposals is likely to reverse Florida’s severe teacher shortage.

Midway of the school year, there are more than 2,400 teaching vacancies posted on district websites, about a 10 percent increase over January 2019. In August, more than 300,000 students started school without a qualified, permanent teacher.

“While DeSantis speaks highly of teachers, to date his most notable action toward education lies in driving money away from the public schools that educate more than 80 percent Florida’s children, in favor of putting that money into the pockets of charter corporations and private school operators who select the students they allow in their schools.”

Edie Ousley, vice president for public affairs, Florida Chamber of Commerce:

“Gov. DeSantis is indeed building a bolder, brighter future for Florida families, and his accomplishments will have long-standing and positive impacts. He appointed three new Supreme Court justices who understand that the proper role of the courts is to apply the law and Constitution as written, and we’re confident that his next two jurist appointments will be from the same mold.

Gov. DeSantis also led an unprecedented business development trade mission to Israel, and joined with the Florida Chamber in signing memorandums of understanding with our Israeli Chamber counterparts.

This, along with more than 20 additional MOUs the governor signed while in Jerusalem, will go a long way toward developing strategic partnerships that benefit Florida’s economy. And the governor’s leadership in career and technical education courses will help ensure Florida is No. 1 in workforce education by 2030.”

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, Democrat representing part of Orange County

“Probably the longest impact Gov. Ron DeSantis will have will be his Florida Supreme Court picks. A conservative bench means issues will be re-litigated with potentially very different outcomes, opening the door for new abortion restrictions, voter suppression tactics, and voucher school expansions.

“During his State of the State address last legislative session, the governor made sensational comments about restricting access to a safe and legal abortion. I have no doubt that he will sign the next anti-abortion restriction that gets to his desk, potentially leading to a judicial battle and a new interpretation of Florida’s right-to-privacy clause (or an interpretation that reinforces past decisions).

Either way, we should all be concerned and pro-active in advocating against new attempts to politically restrict abortion access.

“The governor has authority right now to pass an executive order that would provide LGBTQ protections to state employees, something that we spoke to him and the First Lady about when they made a last-minute visit to Pulse nightclub this past June. His inaction on the issues continues to leave LGTBQ workers behind.

The same can be said on the lack of proactive policy to take on polluters, encourage renewable energy development, and repeal preemption laws.“

William W. Large, president of the Florida Justice Reform Institute

“Governor DeSantis showed tremendous leadership by appointing three Florida Supreme Court judges who will say what the law is, not what they think it should be, and who show deference to the legislature as the rightful policy-making branch of government.

William W. Large, president, Florida Justice Reform Institute. Credit. FJRI website.

Now, with two more Florida Supreme Court appointments, Governor DeSantis has the opportunity to permanently stamp an incredible legacy on Florida’s legal environment.

Long after he completes his service as Governor of the State of Florida, his first accomplishment – restoring the Supreme Court to its proper role – will continue to reverberate.”

https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2020/01/07/a-year-ago-in-january-ron-desantis-became-fl-gov-desantis-what-do-you-think-about-his-first-year-record/

The changing judiciary: Gov. DeSantis appoints the people who’ll help him shape Florida’s courts.

July 2, 2019/in Florida Phoenix

The changing judiciary: Gov. DeSantis appoints the people who’ll help him shape Florida’s courts

July 2, 2019

Florida Supreme Court

Gov. Ron DeSantis has named 66 people to sit on the panels that nominate candidates for judgeships at every level, continuing the process of remaking the state’s judiciary.

From civil litigation to criminal trials and lofty arguments about privacy rights and the death penalty, these panels will help select judges who will decide what the law says in ways that will reshape how Floridians live and work.

Already since taking office, DeSantis has moved the nine-member Florida Supreme Court court decisively to the right through appointment of three conservatives following the retirement of justices who helped comprise the court’s liberal wing.

The 66 people DeSantis appointed Monday evening will help fill any future vacancies on the high court, plus the five intermediate appellate courts that decide a large number of important cases each year, and every trial court in the state.

The new commissioners will nominate justices and judges who are more deferential to the Legislature, predicted William Large, president of the conservative Florida Justice Reform Institute, depending on the case at hand.

“The type of judges or justices who will come out of this process would understand that their role is not that of the policymaking branch of government. The policymaking branch of government is the legislative branch,” Large said.

In other words, the process will produce “texturalists” – “judges and justices who will say what the law is and not what it should be,” he said.

The appointees include Jeanne Tate and Daniel Nordby to seats on the Florida Supreme Court Nominating Commission. Tate is managing partner of Jeanne T. Tate P.A. in Tampa and specializes in adoption law. Nordby is a partner in the Tallahassee office of Schutts & Bowen LLP and specializes in constitutional, administrative, and elections litigation.

DeSantis’ new Supreme Court justices are Carlos Genaro Muñiz, a former aide to former Gov. Jeb Bush and state Attorney General Pam Bondi. He more recently served as general counsel to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos; Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck, both former federal prosecutors who served on the 3rd District Court of Appeal.

DeSantis, a Harvard-trained lawyer, has said that he looks for jurists who respect what he considers the proper role of judges – not liberal activists like the old Supreme Court majority, whose rulings occasionally frustrated the Republican legislative agenda by striking down state laws. Issues now pending before the Supreme Court include interpretation of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, the death penalty, plus the access to abortion and other privacy rights.

“He understands the proper role of the court,” DeSantis said of Muniz, for example, when announcing his appointment. “I think that is a very useful perspective to be able to bring to the court, particularly because one of the criticisms I’ve had with the court is that they have not understood their proper jurisdiction and they have expanded beyond where they should.”

Each commission contains nine members, four of whom are nominated to the governor by the Florida Bar. The other five the governor directly appoints. The members must live within the jurisdiction they serve. Governors convene these panels when a vacancy occurs through resignation, retirement, death, or elevation of a sitting judge. They then screen applicants and by majority vote submit at least three or at most six nominees to the governor.

DeSantis’ office forced the resignation of the chairman of the JNC for the 18th Judicial Circuit, the trial court for Brevard and Seminole counties, after ordering that panel to recommend a specific candidate for a trial court vacancy, Politico Florida first reported on June 21. That chairman, Brevard attorney Alan Landman, said the governor’s aides ordered him to place Seminole County General Magistrate Tesha Ballou on the short list for the vacancy, the publication reported. DeSantis placed her on the Circuit Court in early June.

Jason Unger, who sits on the Supreme Court JNC, told the Florida Phoenix the governor’s office did nothing wrong.

“I’ve gotten those calls from governors’ staff before when there are specific names that a governor wanted. I don’t know if that’s what happened here, but certainly there’s nothing improper or unusual about that at all,” Unger said.

“Any governor, they travel the state, they have lawyers they know, lawyers they respect. Same with judges. If the governor has a name, or his staff knows of someone who’s applied that they think is a really talented lawyer who’d be an exceptional judge, they have every right to suggest. They don’t have the ability to require anything, but certainly they have the right and I’d say even the duty to let the JNC know there’s someone on the list that they think very highly of,” he said.

https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2019/07/02/the-changing-judiciary-gov-desantis-appoints-the-people-wholl-help-him-shape-floridas-courts/?utm_source=Florida+Phoenix&utm_campaign=a086b40aba-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_02_09_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_492fc70e72-a086b40aba-87732589

DeSantis tilts FL Supreme Court to the right with new justice picks

January 22, 2019/in Florida Phoenix

DeSantis tilts FL Supreme Court to the right with new justice picks

By Lloyd Dunkelberger – January 22, 2019

Fl Cabinet

Newly appointed U.S. Supreme Court justice Carlos Muniz at a Tallahassee press conference. In background,
left to right, Attorney General Ashley Moody, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, and Gov. Ron DeSantis. Julie Hauserman photo.

Solidifying a conservative majority, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday made his third appointment to the Florida Supreme Court, selecting a former top legal aide to Gov. Jeb Bush and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

DeSantis tapped Carlos Genaro Muñiz, 49, as the third justice he has appointed since he took office earlier this month. DeSantis got the opportunity to name the new justices because mandatory retirement forced out three long-serving members of the Supreme Court: Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince. They were part of a liberal 4-3 court majority that is now likely to be replaced by a conservative majority.

Muñiz most recently served as the general counsel under U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos; he was appointed by President Donald Trump. Before that, he served a variety of government legal roles, including as a deputy general counsel to Bush and as Bondi’s deputy attorney general and chief of staff. He was also a top aide to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, when Rubio was speaker of the Florida House.

“When you ask them about Carlos, the praise is effusive …. People all say this is a guy who is brilliant but really humble,” DeSantis said about Muñiz’s former bosses.

The new Supreme Court faces a long list of pending legal questions, including a review of the state’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law and whether cities should be allowed to set their own minimum wage laws. Advocates for a woman’s right to choose to end her pregnancy are also keenly watching developments on the new court, chiefly because the current state Supreme Court has consistently upheld the right to privacy in the state Constitution. The privacy clause has led the Court to repeatedly reject attempts by the state Legislature to restrict a woman’s right to choose.

DeSantis said he was impressed by Muñiz’s understanding of the so-called “separation of powers” doctrine.

“He understands the proper role of the court,” DeSantis said. “I think that is a very useful perspective to be able to bring to the court, particularly because one of the criticisms I’ve had with the court is that they have not understood their proper jurisdiction and they have expanded beyond where they should.”

Muñiz, a graduate of the Yale Law School, said the bulk of his legal experience has been in public service, working for “principled leaders.”

He credited Bush and his former general counsel, Charles Canady, who is now the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, for bringing him to Florida in January 2001 and providing a “gateway to so many blessings in my personal and professional life.”

“I wanted to work for principled leaders and I wanted to be part of teams that sought to promote the common good through a restrained government, a commitment to the rule of law and a belief in the God-given dignity and worth of every human life,” Muñiz said.

As a legal adviser to some of Florida’s top conservative leaders, Muñiz has played a key role in some of their major policy initiatives, including Bush’s efforts to expand the use of publicly funded scholarships to send students to private schools and Bondi’s legal challenge of the federal Affordable Care Act.

Muñiz said there would be a difference between his role as an adviser and his role as an appellate judge.

“I will have a solemn duty to set aside my own policy preferences. I wholeheartedly welcome that obligation,” he said.

Muñiz said “humility” would be another of his judicial guideposts.

“For a judge, humility means an unwavering respect for the separation of powers. The role of a judge is to preserve the Constitution, not to add to it or subtract from it,” he said.

In addition to Muñiz, DeSantis has also appointed Justices Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck to the seven-member Supreme Court.

By law, voters get a chance to decide whether to retain Florida Supreme Court justices periodically. The three new justices DeSantis chose will face voters in 2020. The other current justices – Ricky Polston, Jorge Labarga, C. Alan Lawson and Charles Canady – are up for a retention vote in 2022.

Muniz and Lagoa are members of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that promotes a philosophy of reducing government regulation, limiting court access, opposing marriage equality and increasing abortion restrictions.

In appointing Muñiz and Lagoa, DeSantis has increased the number of Hispanic justices on the court to three, along with Justice Jorge Labarga – an historic first.

But with Quince’s retirement, Florida’s highest court will be without an African-American justice for the first time since 1983. Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo called that “extremely concerning.”

She said DeSantis has used his appointments “to stack the courts with his political allies,” noting Muñiz has no judicial experience but has “a long political resume.”

DeSantis said at a Tuesday press conference at the governor’s mansion that he likes the fact that Muñiz comes to the court with experience as a legal “practitioner” rather than as a judge. Other governors have used their court appointments to balance judicial experience with lawyers who practice in the courts.

Supporters of DeSantis’s appointments expect to see a Supreme Court that is more likely to be deferential to the state Legislature and more willing to uphold laws passed by conservative lawmakers.

Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who worked with Muñiz while Galvano was a House leader, praised DeSantis’s latest appointment.

“I know him to be a brilliant attorney and dedicated family man who will serve our state with great distinction in this important role,” Galvano said.

William Large, head of the conservative Florida Justice Reform Institute, which advocates for limits on how much people can collect in lawsuits against businesses, said DeSantis’s three court appointments close “the books on the previous majority’s record of judicial activism.”

He said DeSantis’s appointments, which came in the first weeks of his new administration, “will continue to reverberate” long after he has left office.

Like the other justices and judges around the state, Muñiz will be able to serve until he is 75 years old before he faces mandatory retirement. That’s because voters last fall approved a Florida constitutional amendment to raise the Supreme Court justice retirement age from 70 to 75. Voters will weigh in on whether to retain him periodically – the first time in 2020.

Muñiz is married to Kathleen Baur Muñiz, a former communications director for Gov. Bush. The couple has three children.

Bush tweeted praise for Muñiz’s appointment, saying Muñiz “will serve Florida with integrity and with the utmost respect for the rule of law.”

https://www.floridaphoenix.com/2019/01/22/desantis-tilts-fl-supreme-court-to-the-right-with-new-justice-picks/

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