Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 8.4.24

Florida got its first scare of hurricane season, when Hurricane Debby made landfall early this week in the Big Bend area.

That’s the second time in two years the region has dealt with a hurricane strike.

Thankfully, as Gov. Ron DeSantis explained this week, it doesn’t appear that Debby was as destructive as Hurricane Idalia last year, or as bad as several other storms that have struck Florida in recent years.

But that doesn’t mean the fallout wasn’t felt.

At least eight people died due to the storm, including at least four in Florida. Several areas on the west coast experienced dangerous levels of rain and flooding, including Largo, Sarasota and Manatee County, which saw record rain levels. Sarasota Police said at least 500 people were rescued from flooding.

Other parts of the state dealt with impacts as well. Many flights were canceled in South Florida. Tens of thousands of customers in Jacksonville lost power. And more and $1 million in cocaine washed onto shore in the Keys thanks to Debby, which, to be fair, could be a negative or a positive depending on who you ask.

This is all to say that just because a storm is less powerful and may hit an area less prone to destruction doesn’t mean Floridians should be flippant about any future storms that might hit the state.

And yeah, about that …

Now, it’s on to our weekly game of winners and losers.

Winners

Honorable mention: Pitbull. Mr. 305 is once again leaving his mark in Miami-Dade County, nabbing the naming rights to Florida International’s football stadium for the next five years.

“For me, what it boils down to is, Miami is always known for being underdogs, no matter what we do and what level we take it to,” Pitbull said in a statement explaining his decision. “Being underdogs is what I always felt about FIU — fighting, clawing their way to just be seen, to be recognized whether it be from education, business, through sports.”

This seems like a huge win for both parties. As part of the $6 million deal over five years, Pitbull has 10 days per year to use the stadium without a rental fee. And his liquor brand, Voli 3035 Vodka, will be sold in the stadium, among other perks.

As for FIU, well, look at how much earned media they’ve gotten already before playing a single game in the newly christened stadium.

FIU appears on its way up as an institution. It has been rising sharply in academic metrics, though the school’s success on the football field is still lacking, aside from some decent years in the 2010s.

But you know what college-aged athletes like? Being cool. And tying your stadium to one of the biggest names in music who happens to hail from the same county is pretty cool. Changing a stadium name isn’t going to turn the Panthers into a powerhouse overnight, but it sure as heck can’t hurt in the recruiting process.

FIU is laying the groundwork here to raise its profile even higher. Stay tuned.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Disney. The Walt Disney Co. surprised this week with news that Disney+ had its first profitable quarter ever, leading Disney to top analyst expectations for revenue, income and earnings per share.

Altogether, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ pulled in $47 million in income just one quarter after losing $512 million. “Inside Out 2” was also a boon to the entertainment division, which saw year-to-year income double in the most recent quarter.

“What we’ve been seeing with streaming is significant success driven largely by the success of our creativity,” Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger said.

Now, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the entertainment giant. Park profits fell, and company leaders signaled that revenue would remain flat in Q4 as well.

But here’s the thing: How many people are bearish about Disney Parks in the longer term? Sure, families may be tightening their wallets now as inflation persists. And the company said Disney Paris attendance is also down due to the Olympics. But the post-COVID boom showed people are still itching to visit Disney World and Disneyland when they can, so it’s unlikely a negative blip here is a warning sign of problems to come.

If Disney has indeed cracked the streaming code, however, that is a major win that has long-term benefits. Paired with a likely rebound in parks performance, and the future is looking bright for The Mouse.

The biggest winner: Floridians who medaled. A few weeks ago, we shouted out Floridians who made it to Paris to compete in the Olympics. Just making it there to stand alongside the best athletes in the world is an incredible accomplishment to celebrate.

But with the 2024 Olympic Games now coming to an end, we wanted to spotlight those Floridians who made their dreams a reality and brought home a medal for their home country.

Katie Ledecky, who is originally from Maryland but trains at the University of Florida (UF), continued her dominance by nabbing four medals at this year’s games. She won gold in the 800m and 1500m freestyles, got silver in the 4x200m relay and secured a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle.

And Ledecky, like Delray Beach’s Coco Gauff did during the opening ceremony, will serve as a U.S. flag-bearer during the closing ceremony this afternoon.

While Ledecky didn’t attend UF, several Gators have taken home medals in Paris. Most were also swimmers: Caeleb Dressel, Bobby Finke, Josh Liendo, Kieran Smith and Emma Weyant. Dressel won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay and in the mixed 4x100m medley relay. He also took home a silver medal in the 4×100 medley relay.

Finke, meanwhile, set a world record in the 1500m freestyle to win the gold and also won silver in the 800m.

Liendo earned a silver, while Smith and Weyant won bronze medals.

Rhyne Howard won bronze as part of the women’s 3×3 basketball team. Jasmine Moore also secured two bronze medals in long jump and triple jump.

And one more Olympian with ties to Gainesville engineered one of the most exciting moments for American athletes. Noah Lyles, who was born in Gainesville before moving to Virginia, shocked with a historically narrow win in the 100m, and followed that up with a bronze in the 200m despite testing positive for COVID.

Gainesville wasn’t the only hub for American medal winners. Twanisha “Tee Tee” Terry of South Florida nabbed gold in the women’s 4×100 relay. Austin Krajicek of Bradenton won silver in tennis doubles. Clark Dean of Sarasota took home bronze as part of the U.S. rowing team. Boxer Omari Jones of Orlando also secured a bronze medal.

All of them, and other medalists who hail from Florida or have made it their home to train, helped the American effort to top the medal count by a large margin. Bravo.

Losers

Dishonorable mention: Greg Steube. In June 2020, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas posted a story on X about a Ulysses Grant statue being toppled in San Francisco as a way to mock liberals for becoming too overzealous with rejecting the past.

“It is time to cancel Cancel Culture,” Crenshaw wrote. “This has to stop. It has no end. It is a violent purge of all things — art, speech, history — that don’t conform to the radical progressive religion.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube reposted Crenshaw’s remarks, adding, “Are you sure the mobs won’t come for you? #cancelcancelculture” to emphasize the point. Cancel culture is bad and will spiral out of control in the years ahead if not stopped, he argued back then, echoing a common conservative complaint.

Turns out he was right, and Steube himself is serving as a perfect example.

This week, the tough guy, culture warrior, anti-cancel culture crusader made a post on X … specifically targeting a business for having campaign signs nearby that he didn’t like.

“Calling all conservatives, no more (Stottlemyer’s Smokehouse),” Steube wrote, specifically urging fellow conservatives not to frequent this small business in his own district. Steube added that conservatives “can’t have our money going to support liberals! Guess it’s Mission BBQ and Roger’s Market for gas!”

Now, a few of our criticisms here are obvious, so we’re not going to spend too much time on them. It’s hypocritical, obviously. It’s also counterproductive to go gunning for a small business in your district so that, what, they go out of business and a corporate chain like Arby’s comes in? They’ll stay away from controversy, we suppose, but it’s doubtful your constituents will be rejoicing.

Don’t mistake our brevity for a lack of clarity. Both of those problems with Steube’s remarks are more than enough to warrant the deluge of criticism he has received already.

But we want to focus on a third prong here: If his assertion is that Stottlemyer’s is just openly and universally backing liberal politicians, he is absolutely wrong on the facts.

Yes, the screenshot he posted to whine about the supposed politics of Stottlemyer’s included signs for Sarasota’s only progressive School Board member, Tom Edwards, as well as for Liz Barker, who hasn’t run an openly partisan campaign but is challenging Republican Sarasota School Board Chair Karen Rose.

And another sign may have needled him as well: one for Matthew Montavon, a Democrat filed to run against (and almost certainly get crushed by) Steuebe in Florida’s 17th Congressional District.

But a fourth sign belongs to Alexandra Coe, a Republican Charter Review Board member running for Sarasota County Commissioner.

So at worst, this is a nonpartisan set of signs supporting candidates across the spectrum, which happens to include a sign backing Steube’s Democratic opponent. Did a sitting Republican Congressman just try to cancel a business because there was a sign in the lawn dozens of yards away backing his political opponent?

Did Steube just get so triggered that he is trying to destroy a business? Is he that much of a snowflake?

Because that’s sure what he would be saying if someone on the other side of the aisle did this.

This is not part of some ax we have to grind with the Sarasota Congressman. We have, on multiple occasions, given him props when appropriate.

But this was in bad taste. And if he is going to continue targeting businesses in this way, then we have to ask, “Are you sure the mobs won’t come for you?”

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Florida media. Florida’s media landscape took a one-two punch this week, when we learned that Axios’ layoffs were impacting its Tampa Bay operation, followed by news that the Tampa Bay Times was offering buyouts with the goal of cutting one-fifth of its payroll.

The media industry is continuing to struggle, as evidenced by a major national outlet like Axios being forced to cut back, followed by a Florida powerhouse doing the same.

Selene San Felice, who helped Axios launch its Tampa Bay arm, was part of 50 cuts the company made this week in an announcement that garnered criticism for its delivery.

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei said the move was necessary “to get ahead of tectonic shifts in the media, technology and reader needs/habits.”

Shortly after that announcement, the Times announced its own set of layoffs, aiming to offer buyouts to 270 employees in an effort to meet that 20% payroll reduction target.

“While sharing this news as we mark our 140th anniversary is disappointing, we are committed to ensuring the Times can continue its dedication to robust local journalism,” said Times Chair and CEO Conan Gallaty.

This adds to a long list of talent Florida outlets have lost post-COVID. On the one hand, it seems odd that organizations here and across the U.S. are struggling in the Donald Trump era, when more and more people are paying attention to politics who haven’t before.

But recent years have also led to a further fractured media landscape, with listeners, viewers and readers flocking to podcasts, social media and other outlets to get their information.

It is a tough time to compete, but these difficulties are largely not the fault of these journalists, who have continued doing great work. Unfortunately, they are dealing with the brunt of the effects, and it’s hurting our state’s ability to get important, unfiltered information.

The biggest loser: Department of Children and Families. An eye-opening report from Charlie McGee of The Tributary detailed how court documents showed that tech and staffing issues at DCF led to up to several hundred thousand families losing Medicaid coverage in Florida dating back to last year.

DCF has been aggressively pushing back against concerns over so many families being dropped post-COVID. “Any notion that Florida has failed in this process is false,” DCF Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus wrote in response to questions in May.

But an ongoing federal class-action case shows families warning of DCF giving them wrong information and arguing notices regarding lost coverage were incomplete.

Those court documents, per The Tributary’s report, showed tech glitches led to the state denying qualified new mothers from Medicaid coverage. DCF became aware of the glitch in April 2023, but didn’t fix it for a year.

That wasn’t the only glitch that led to wrongful coverage denials. And with call staff being short-handed, families were often unable to address issues.

The full piece is worth a read, but it goes back to something we mentioned last week, when touching on DCF’s call center issues writ large.

“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?”

When that problem — and apparently, many others — stop the agency from functioning at a basic level and deny families possibly life-saving health care, what are we even doing as a state? Elected officials need to cut out the culture wars, hold off on stacking their districts with pork and fix this.