Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
Attorney General Ashley Moody wrote a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to make the Director for the Office of National Drug Control Policy a Cabinet-level post.
According to a news release from Moody’s office, she is making the request due to “record amounts” of fentanyl flowing across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Her office pointed to statistics showing about 23,000 points of the powerful synthetic opioid have been seized at the border since Biden took office; it also noted that there were more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. last year.
“The opioid crisis, fueled by illicit fentanyl from Mexico, continues to rage, killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. With Title 42 set to expire this week, we can only imagine how much more fentanyl will make it across the border under the cover of a massive migration surge,” Moody said.
“I am demanding that the President take this crisis seriously, and work to stop the large amounts of this deadly drug flooding into our country, including restoring the nation’s drug czar position back to a cabinet post.”
Moody further noted that it was during Biden’s time as Vice President that the ONDCP Director was downgraded from a Cabinet position to a presidential appointment, which is something she wrote indicates that Biden is not properly confronting the opioid epidemic.
“If you continue to refuse to address this issue on an international level — where certainly ground could be gained — at least step aside and allow a qualified drug czar the independence needed to act in the best interest of Americans,” she wrote.
“As someone who spent his time in the United States Senate not only advocating for the ONDCP but coining the term drug czar, why have you not taken action?”
Evening Reads
—“Donald Trump’s popularity with Republican voters is sinking” via The Economist
—“The Trump abandonment has begun” via Peter Wehner of The Atlantic
—“Ron DeSantis vows to ‘flip’ more school boards in 2024” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
—“The voters who helped Democrats keep the Senate” via Geoffrey Skelley of FiveThirtyEight
—“Gen Z problems: Maxwell Frost is struggling to rent an apartment” via Stephanie Lai and Anna Kodé of The New York Times
—“Florida medical marijuana rules for new businesses released after years of delay” via Kirby Wilson and Romy Ellenbogen of the Tampa Bay Times
—”It’s insurers, not injured workers, driving workers’ compensation legal fees” via Christine Jordan Sexton of Florida Politics
—“Lawmaker takes up effort to award Florida’s electoral votes on popular vote” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics
—”Miami-Dade voters overwhelmingly oppose permitless gun carry law, new poll shows” via Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics
—“Drew Meiner exits DeSantis administration, joins Capital City Consulting” via Drew Wilson of Florida Politics
—”Christmas tree demand remains high despite inflation” via David Sharp of The Associated Press
Quote of the Day
“And I know there’s definitely been individual school board members who have been very obnoxious over these last few years, with how they handled COVID, masking, and all these different things. They’re free to do that, but they’re representing constituencies that agree with us on all these issues, not agree with them on those issues.”
— Ron DeSantis, on the potential to flip more school boards in 2024.
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