Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 9.29.24

We are exactly 30 days out from Election Day. And while there are likely plenty of twists and turns still left in this crazy election year, we can say one thing for certain: You don’t want mailers floating around featuring a mug shot of yours from this Summer.

Yet that’s what Republican Rep. Carolina Amesty is contending with following her arrest felony forgery charges on felony forgery charges.

The New Florida Vision PAC is funding the mailers to remind voters of Amesty’s alleged misdeeds as she faced Democrat Leonard Spencer in the November contest.

Mind you, this was already set to be a very competitive race. As Republicans rode a red wave to dominant victories throughout the state in 2022, Amesty won her seat with just 53% support. And in 2020, Democrat Joe Biden beat Republican Donald Trump in the district 52% to 47%.

Will voters return her to the House as more hear about her legal troubles?

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

Winners

Honorable mention: Florida ports. Florida’s ports are open for business after the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance came to a tentative deal, putting a pause on a potentially debilitating strike until at least January.

The issue had the potential to be a major focal point in the final weeks of the election. The union representing dockworkers argued they deserved a better contract given the profits companies utilizing the ports have been making. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appeared to back the dockworkers, as did former President Trump.

At the same time, the impact of a strike — which could have led to many major ports slowing down or effectively closing — could have sent prices soaring just as America has been recovering from inflation. And it also could have hampered recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene, with imports of important materials being held up.

Florida is home to several major ports — PortMiami, Port Everglades, Port Tampa Bay and JAXPORT — that could have been seriously hurt by the strike.

Thanks to the deal, we won’t have to contemplate that scenario, and Florida’s economy can continue to thrive.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Cory Mills. Cory Mills has landed on the winners list in the past when he, in his private capacity, has helped get Americans out of harm’s way in Israel and Haiti. He’s landing here again for his response to individuals in areas decimated by Hurricane Helene.

Mills spoke with our Jacob Ogles to detail rescue efforts in North Carolina, which saw entire communities wiped out by flooding and more than a hundred dead as officials scramble to provide relief.

Mills said he is utilizing two helicopters to both bring resources to those who are isolated due to destroyed roads, and to airlift people to safety when needed. In addition to supplies like food, water and hygiene items, Mills and his team have also dropped Starlink systems to help those impacted get online and reach the outside world.

The Congressman has also been providing regular updates on his social media feed.

The state and federal government, both in Florida and in North Carolina, are mobilizing to get resources to those who need them. But that doesn’t mean private-sector action isn’t welcome, and Mills is once again moving swiftly into dangerous areas to help Americans and save lives.

The biggest winner: Rick Scott, Jimmy Patronis. Yes, we included this pair in our honorable mention slot last week for their work helping Floridians before and immediately after Hurricane Helene.

That level of work should be expected from elected officials in the time frame immediately surrounding a storm. Even so, Scott and Patronis stood out for their dogged messaging leading Floridians to resources and alerts meant to aid them.

But Scott and Patronis have not taken their foot off the gas one bit, earning another mention here for going above and beyond in leading often traumatized Floridians out of this catastrophe.

Scott, of course, met with President Joe Biden during Biden’s visit to Florida this week to survey the damage. Scott, a former Governor turned U.S. Senator, stepped in when Florida’s current Governor said he wasn’t able to connect with the President during the visit.

Scott has also continued to pair Floridians affected by Helene with federal resources, assisting in what can be an incredibly frustrating process in the aftermath of a storm. And he’s been an advocate to increase the amount of resources available from the feds.

While the federal government certainly has a role to play in relief, officials at the state level are closer to those affected. And Patronis had been the model here, serving in his role as Florida’s Chief Financial Officer and Fire Marshal.

On the latter front, Patronis has continued to pump messaging warning about the dangers of saltwater and lithium-ion batteries found in electrical cars and other mobility aids, such as golf carts and scooters. That’s still an issue as Floridians weigh what to do with flooded out vehicles.

But the most pressing issue facing desperate Floridians is where they will get the money to put their lives back together. And Patronis has been their best advocate.

He has fraud investigators hitting the state to make sure those hurting most aren’t being taken advantage of by bad actors. And in Clearwater, where nearby areas experienced some of the worst flooding despite not taking a direct hit, Patronis has helped set up an “insurance village” to help residents navigate flood, auto and homeowners insurance claims.

Patronis is leading a master class here in how to look out for your fellow Floridians in times of crisis.

Losers

Dishonorable mention: Trump. Here’s how not to help: by spreading disinformation that Democrats are deliberately refusing to help Republicans in need following the storm.

Trump made a series of wildly false and dangerous comments this week regarding the governmental response to Helene.

He accused the Biden administration of allowing Americans “to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.” He said Biden wasn’t responding to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s efforts to get the President on the phone. That’s despite the fact that Kemp has just spoken publicly about his conversation with the President, mentioning that the Governor himself missed a call from Biden.

“The President just called me yesterday afternoon and I missed him and called him right back,” Kemp said. “He just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, we’ve got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process. He offered that if there are other things we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.”

Biden, meanwhile, has been calling on Congress to reconvene early to ensure there is enough federal funding to help individuals to recover.

It’s easy to show how such comments are dangerous. Let’s assume a President does that very thing Trump is accusing Biden of doing. Not only does it breed resentment and distrust of government — which is a more macro, long-term problem, but a serious one — but it also may cause those struggling to decide not to even reach out for assistance, because they are being told the government is ignoring them anyway.

And the most rich part of this? A report emerged this week that Trump did this very thing as President, showing hesitation to respond to the 2018 fires in California because the state votes Democrat. He had to be talked into helping by his own staff showing him that Republicans were being affected too.

Trump’s accusations are so often a mirror into his own mind. He accuses the President of weighing political calculations when organizing crisis response because, according to reports, Trump did the same. Trump thinks people see these tragedies in a political lens because he does too.

Don’t believe me? Here’s some of Trump’s takeaway from the horrible scenes coming out of North Carolina just days after Helene hit, while he again blamed that state’s Democratic Governor for treating Republican residents affected by the storm “very badly.”

“We have a problem in North Carolina. We had a big hurricane and really hurt a lot of my voters. And I hope, I hope that my voters, I mean, they lost their homes and they’re being treated horribly by Biden and Harris,” Trump said.

“Very little relief. They’re going out of their way to hurt these people.”

Tragedy hits, and Trump focuses on how it hurts him. Just a terrible reflection on a man who could be leading this country again for four more years.

And we didn’t even mention the damning material released to the public as part of the Jan. 6 prosecution against Trump. This was not a good week for the former President.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Jeff Ashton. The Orange County Judge was reprimanded by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission after complaints about his behavior on the bench.

At issue is Ashton’s treatment of lawyers, including evidence he showed some bias toward certain lawyers appearing before him.

“Your repeated unwillingness or inability to govern your behavior raises questions about your fitness for judicial office, and the foregoing behavior constitutes inappropriate conduct,” the Commission wrote.

Ashton rose to fame while prosecuting the Casey Anthony case. But this report could contribute to him losing his current gig.

Ashton is up for re-election in November, and an August Primary ended with a runoff after no one in the three-person race secured a majority of the vote. But Ashton placed second with 31% support, far behind first-place finisher Alicia Peyton, who secured 48%.

Reports like this questioning Ashton’s professionalism aren’t going to help him win over voters ahead of Nov. 5. And it’s also a sign that our local Judges really need to get their act together.

The biggest loser: Frank Artiles. A four-year saga ended with a jury finding Artiles guilty on three of four counts relating to his involvement in propping up a sham candidate that cost former Democratic Sen. José Javier Rodríguez his Senate seat.

Each of those charges could lead to a five-year prison sentence for Artiles, himself a former Senator.

Prosecutors said Artiles paid $50,000 to spoiler candidate Alex Rodriguez, who has the same last name as the ex-Democratic Senator. Alex Rodriguez garnered nearly 6,400 votes in a 2020 contest for the Senate District 37 seat. The race was decided by just 32 votes out of more than 216,000 votes cast, with Republican candidate Ileana Garcia winning the seat.

Artiles’ arrangement aimed to support Alex Rodriguez’s “ghost candidate” bid while skirting campaign finance laws. Artiles and Rodriguez were arrested in 2021. Rodriguez took a plea, which ended with him receiving a sentence of 36 months of probation.

This likely marks a personal low for Artiles, though there is some tough competition. Artiles was forced to resign from the Senate in 2017 after using a racial slur and other derogatory language directed at Black lawmakers while at the Governor’s Club in Tallahassee.

Rather than rehabilitate his image, he went around and tried to orchestrate this scheme, and now it looks like he could be facing prison time.

What goes around comes around.