Ron DeSantis increased efforts to consolidate power has been the subject of damning op-eds and media coverage. But his power grabs are now causing his own party to turn against him.
Shot: When Republican Senator Tom Lee learned about a secret amendment that would give DeSantis near-total control over the Department of Environmental Protection, he called the Republican Governor right out:
“I object. Strenuously. … To the extent that the Governor’s office has approached you, Senator Mayfield, to insert this, shame on them. … If we’re just going to try to slip one past the goalie any chance we get around here, then this process doesn’t mean anything, there are no checks and balances left. So I strenuously object to this. I will vote against the amendment. I will vote against the bill. I will lobby against the bill … as a matter of principle.”
Story HERE and video of Lee’s comments here (3:12:45 to 3:15:10)
Chaser: As just one of several DeSantis and Republican power grabs, the move yesterday earned the Sun-Sentinel’s distinction as one of “ten terrible moves by an arrogant Florida Legislature”:
“Power grabs: With no debate, senators slipped a provision inside a 112-page rewrite of an environmental bill (SB 712) that ends bipartisan Cabinet oversight of the Department of Environmental Protection. Instead, DEP would report to DeSantis. In a separate bill (HB 5401), DeSantis also would grab control of the Office of Energy from Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat. Have you heard DeSantis’ energy plan for our low-lying state, which remains dangerously reliant on burning fossil fuels? Neither have we. If you want your own energy office, Governor, show us a vision.“
Sun-Sentinel editorial HERE.
It’s just the latest on a long list of partisan games from the power-hungry DeSantis and his Republican allies, which this morning alone, includes two more partisan power grab bills up in the House State Affairs Committee.
PCS for CS/HB 1111 and PCS for HB 1343, weakens bipartisan Cabinet oversight and gives DeSantis near-total power over the Florida Departments of Law Enforcement, Veteran Affairs, and Environmental Protection.
