OPINION: Ron DeSantis just made my vote meaningless
Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis just committed another gross injustice against voters, and I am one of them.
This week was an extremely tough one for avid supporters of Monique Worrell, whom I also hold the privilege of voting for, along with 66% of my fellow Florida voters in Orlando and Kissimmee.
We watched as our own duly elected public servant was removed unconstitutionally from her office.
There’s so much to address, but I want to start with the misinformation that has entered the public discourse.
Since this is the first week of school for many parents, please allow me to take some of you to class about the actual facts:
Monique DID NOT commit a dereliction of her duty in her role as State Attorney.
THAT is the truth about Monique Worrell.
If she had violated the clause of Malfeasance, which is “The intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by public officials,” then the governor would’ve said so.
Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis noticeably didn’t utilize that language because he knew it would be considered categorically false and which severely hurt his chances to be successful on appeal without showing evidence for his anti-democratic order without a factual subtext.
But the Governor already knows that.
Regarding the criminal who was released on bond and hurt the police.
The record reflects that her office DID, in fact, object to a bond and objected to the lower bond.
If your beef is with the release of the criminal, it was the magistrate in place who ultimately delivered the lower bond, allowing for pre-trial release
Take it up with the judge or the system that allowed his release, NOT the state attorney’s office, who objected to this.
Monique Worrell was not at personal fault and did not have the authority to set a bond.
Her office performed its duty to the letter.
But the Governor knows that.
The state attorney is not in charge of sentencing.
The state is a prosecution agency, not an arresting agency. But the governor already knows that.
Crime in Orange & Osceola has actually dropped; in fact, it’s lower ever since Monique has taken office and instituted policies to ensure high-volume prosecutions. But the governor already knows that.
What actually has increased is the number of prosecutions against bad cops. Monique has made it her commitment to weed out our law enforcement officers who abuse their power and commit police brutality.
That’s why the local sheriff’s and police unions might want her out, not because she’s not doing her job.
It’s because she’s doing her job way too well.
But the Governor already knows that.
Monique was elected to help lower the criminality of our young black & brown boys. She instituted a diversion program for lower-level crimes to give kids who made minor poor decisions the opportunity for a second chance at life.
It’s because of this that literally hundreds of black and brown children have reintegrated back into society through rehabilitation programs. Today they’re functioning members of society in Central Florida.
They just weren’t cast into the criminal justice system; they were guided out with love and purpose.
This, in turn, helped lower crimes.
That program has now been effectively eliminated — thus affecting our community directly.
But the governor already knows that.
Veterans, a group Republicans give lip service to and win votes from, are going to be directly harmed by the Governor’s actions.
Ron DeSantis appointed someone who essentially carried his agenda. He thought that if I replaced a black face with another black face, no one would be able to call out his bigotry.
In fact, most people will not be willing to call out what’s happening because they don’t have the wherewithal to look deeper than the aesthetics of skin color.
But the Governor already knows that.
In fact, most people who opened this article probably stopped reading far up the page because of their short attention spans. (THANK YOU FOR STICKING AROUND.)
The reality is society has conditioned us to stop holding our attention to what truly matters.
Pure and simple, the Governor of Florida has forsaken the state to cosplay as an increasingly dwindling Republican presidential primary candidate.
The day before he announced his replacement of Worrell, he fired his campaign manager and appointed his Florida Chief of Staff, James W. Uthmeier, to run his campaign.
Meaning there’s literally no one with experience running the governor’s executive office right now. Even worse, he’s most likely the drafter or final reviewer of the order to remove Monique Worrell.
Consider that public records showed Ron DeSantis’ official staff calculated that they won $2.4 million worth of “earned media” when they fired Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren for political reasons.
One of those aides, Communications Director Taryn Fenske, joined the DeSantis for President campaign early.
Another is the bigotry thought leader Christina Pushaw, who is the campaign’s rapid reaction director after spending a year and a half leading the governor’s official political communications strategies.
But instead of having the media focus on these points, he flipped the script and fired someone from her duly elected office, thus changing the narrative and hoping that in a 24-hour news cycle, people would focus on that.
He effectively buried the lede.
Most people don’t have the capacity to focus on two important political stories at once.
But the Governor already knows that.
Simply put, appointing a black shield to cover white supremacy doesn’t make me question my assessment of that supremacy.
That much is without contestation.
No, my question revolves around the willing shield.
You cannot claim innocence when you are the weapon to be deployed to hurt a community.
I will not allow it.
Stand on the fact that you chose to remove a black woman from office to advance your career.
There is no coming back from that.
Whatever the reason might be, the decision was between “character & opportunity.”
You chose the latter.
It’s not hard to point out who will protect the community and who will use it as a stepping stone for career advancement…just look at their motivations.
But guess what….
Governor DeSantis already knows that.
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* This is an opinion column that solely represents the opinions of the author.
