Ryan Nicol
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is hell-bent on opposing a proposed amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana if passed this November.
Just this week, two law enforcement groups that typically align with Republicans also formally came out against Amendment 3. And the Republican Party of Florida is also taking an anti-pot stance.
Then, there’s Republican Sen. Joe Gruters. While other Republicans are continuing an often hysterical push against marijuana, Gruters is recognizing the potential of legalization, both leaning into the party’s stance on personal liberty, while also recognizing that a regulated market is both safer and can lead to economic benefits for the state.
And Gruters specifically pushed back against DeSantis on one point: He says the Governor’s yearslong hand-wringing about the entire state potentially smelling like pot is unwarranted.
“Just as I worked diligently in the Florida Legislature to ban smoking at our state’s public beaches, I am committed to ensuring our public spaces remain smoke-free,” Gruters wrote in an op-ed explaining his decision to support Amendment 3.
“We can implement clear regulations and enforcement measures to prevent public marijuana use in the same way that we limit alcohol and tobacco, thereby protecting the health and comfort of all Floridians.”
That is, legalizing pot does not lead to a Wild West unregulated hellscape, any more than legalized alcohol does.
And frankly, a lot of the Republican moral opposition is undermined by the fact that alcohol remains legal, as do a series of drugs pushed by pharmaceutical manufacturers with questionable side effects. And when not moralizing about the dangers of the devil’s lettuce, Republicans are often resorting to outright scare tactics.
This isn’t to say that legalizing marijuana is an open-and-shut case. Reasonable minds can disagree. But the discussion could use far more of Gruters’ reasoned analysis, regardless of which side of the debate you fall on, and less misinformation that has been repeatedly been pushed when questions like these make the ballot.
After all, almost half the country has already legalized recreational pot. And as Gruters notes, the world hasn’t ended.
“When I look around the country, the states that have already embraced recreational marijuana are seeing incredible benefits that extend far beyond the economic boost. States like Arizona and Missouri have seen fewer incidents of intimate partner violence, a decrease in opioid use and a reduction in teen use — all while generating new revenue that is being invested in public safety and veterans,” Gruters wrote.
“Florida has the chance to learn from these examples and implement a system that works for our unique needs and values.”
Now, it’s on to our weekly game of winners and losers.
Winners
Honorable mention: Anti-Amendment 4 push. In other amendment news, the movement against a proposed amendment to protect abortion rights via a constitutional amendment is growing this week.
The new Life First PC launched to oppose Amendment 4 and weaken its support ahead of the November election. “Life First PC is committed to protecting the sanctity of life and ensuring that the voices of the unborn are heard and defended,” read a release noting the group’s launch.
That adds to the efforts of Florida Voters Against Extremism, which has raised about $1.5 million so far in opposition to Amendment 4.
Now, that number pales in comparison to the $39 million raised by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group backing Amendment 4 and pushing to enshrine those abortion protections in Florida’s Constitution.
But with three months to go until votes are cast, it seems anti-abortion rights groups are fully organizing their efforts to drive down support for the ballot initiative, which is expected to generate plenty of headlines ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Democrats are hoping the proposal will drive up support in the state, while leading Republicans are looking to block its passage to ensure abortion restrictions pushed by GOP lawmakers in recent years remain in place, most notably a ban on abortions after six weeks.
The effort needs 60% support to pass, and so far polling has shown it above that level.
But a sustained anti-Amendment 4 campaign could change that. And it seems that one is developing.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Joe Saunders. The former Representative got some good news this week when a court hearing ended with Maureen Saunders Scott, Saunders’ aunt running as a no-party candidate against him, agreeing to appear on the ballot as “Mo Saunders Scott.”
That’s notable because, as she runs against Joe Saunders in House District 106, she was trying to appear on the ballot as “Moe Saunders,” just one letter off from Joe Saunders’ name.
The entire episode was reminiscent of 2020, when ghost candidate Alex Rodriguez earned more than 6,000 votes as the similarly named then-Democratic Sen. José Javier Rodríguez lost his re-election bid by just 34 votes to now-Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia.
Joe Saunders, a Democrat, is seeking to unseat Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe.
Our Jesse Scheckner has been all over this story, and reported on Thursday’s hearing, which ended with Scott agreeing to appear on the ballot as “Mo Saunders Scott.” That featured testimony from Joe Saunders where he said, “I think her intention is to ruin my candidacy.”
That’s going to be a lot more difficult given the name change, and hopefully this election can now play out on the up-and-up.
The biggest winner: Ken Welch. Welch’s dream proposal to restore the Historic Gas Plant District while building a new stadium to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay area are complete, after the Pinellas County Commission voted 5-2 to approve the $6.5 billion development deal.
That follows the St. Pete City Council also approving the project, which directs $1.3 billion to build the new stadium.
And while there were plenty of stakeholders that brought this plane in for a landing, Welch deserves a lot of the credit here. After all, he made the decision after coming into office to cancel a redevelopment plan approved by his predecessor, former Mayor Rick Kriseman.
That prompted a new search which ultimately landed on the Historic Gas Plant District. And Welch envisioned this project to help right the wrongs of the past, when the region’s original stadium construction decades ago displaced his family and many other Black residents.
The overall plan calls for more housing, an African American museum and more, with the price tag showing that the stadium is not the only focus of Welch’s administration in bringing this deal home.
And for those Tampa Bay families who have come up rooting for their hometown team, they’ll get to keep doing that too, with the new stadium set to open in 2028.
Bravo to Welch for having the vision to see this through.
Losers
Dishonorable mention: Department of Children and Families. We’ve all struggled on the phone trying to get in touch with an actual human being.
Often, we’re trying to solve a tech issue, or get reimbursed, or accomplish some other such thing that is frustrating but probably not, in the end, drastically life-altering.
But the same can’t be said about calls to DCF. Yet the agency reportedly hung up on 744,000 callers who had been put on hold and were waiting to talk to an employee.
That’s according to Jackie Llanos of the Florida Phoenix, who highlighted the agency’s role with handling Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program calls, noting specific struggles for callers trying to get information on Medicaid.
The problem stems from staffing issues, so when callers selected the option to speak to an individual, they were told none were available and that they should call back later.
Sorry, but elected officials are constantly raving about what a financial surplus this state has. Why, then, is a basic function of government — responding to people in need — failing so obviously here?
DCF leaders need to get with lawmakers ahead of the 2025 Session and fix this.
Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Aaron Zahn. Zahn was sentenced to four years in a highly watched case brought against the former JEA CEO, after he was accused of attempting to enrich himself by selling JEA to a private buyer.
As we noted last week, prosecutors had indicated they would not seek the full nine-year sentence allowed under federal sentencing guidelines, but would push for a sentence of multiple years. They asked for five years in this week’s sentencing hearing, landing right around expectations. Judge Brian Davis decided instead on a four-year sentence.
Prosecutors said Zahn’s arrangement, which laid out major bonuses for JEA’s leaders should the utility be sold and taken out of public control, could have netted him a whopping $40 million dollars, all while shafting the community.
And even though the sale never went through, JEA also lost tens of millions due to credit downgrades and for payments exploring a potential sale.
Zahn’s damage has already been done, and now he’ll have years in prison to reconsider the path that put him here. Hopefully he emerges a changed man, but this sentence is warranted given the harm he caused the community.
The biggest loser: Stanley Campbell. Just over a month ago, we gave credit to Campbell, a Democratic candidate for Senate, for pulling in a big-time endorsement from the Florida AFL-CIO.
Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is favored to win the Democratic Primary, but Campbell securing the nod from labor showed he intended to put forward a professional operation and mount a real challenge for the nomination.
News this week that his Campaign Manager quit, sounding alarms about the campaign’s direction, undercut that argument.
“The lack of transparency, and the lack of a fundamental, consistent and hierarchical structure and defined roles for staff were major hindrances for me, for them, for our potential and for our morale,” reads a memo from now-former Campaign Manager Millie Raphael.
“When I came aboard in January, I was offered the position of Campaign Manager. Seven months later, it has been my role in name only,” she added.
At issue, according to Raphael, is the candidate himself, who she said undercut top campaign leadership.
“Try as I might, without your support, the staff who did not like something either ignored a directive or simply talked with you to get a different response.,” she wrote to Campbell. “And talk they did, sometimes in ways that were ill-informed, gratuitous or provided misguided information or ugly gossip.”
We have consistently written about long shot candidates dropping the ball and making an already daunting contest nearly unwinnable. Losing your Campaign Manager with less than a month to go until Primary Day definitely falls into that category.
It’s late in the game and Campbell was already behind. It’s not clear to us how he can pose a serious threat to Mucarsel-Powell at this point.
