A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis is now blasting the Florida House for budget proposals he says disadvantage and “defund” law enforcement, “sabotaging Florida’s law-and-order reputation.”
The Governor said the House budget “defunds 84 state trooper positions” and “the ballistic armor that the Highway Patrol needs,” and “defunds the raises that we had set for law enforcement officers in the state of Florida.”
“This is a donkey in an elephant suit when they’re going after law enforcement,” DeSantis said.
“This is not what they campaigned on when they sought your vote. You elected this House under false pretenses. They didn’t tell you that they were going to throw away their principles and just follow whatever the leadership told them to do, but that’s exactly what they’re doing with this budget. And I just think it’s disgraceful that they’re targeting highway patrol and law enforcement the way they are.”
The Governor said “the leadership thinks they can jam through whatever they want regardless of what the voters want, and that come election time, they can raise enough money from special interests to be able to send you mailers, text messages and run advertising to basically lie to you and tell you that these members actually stood for the conservative values that they ran on.”
“That’s their bet, that they can get away with it, because come election time you’re not going to be following,” DeSantis continued while speaking Wednesday in Fort Myers. “You’re going to get a nice shiny mailer saying, you know, ‘John Q Representative is the most conservative thing since sliced bread.’ …. And they think that you’re going to just believe that without actually evaluating the conduct.”
DeSantis blamed “entrenched staff” and “the swamp” for ongoing conflicts with the legislative body, as well as problems with what is effectively a one-party process in the state.
“When you have one party that dominates like we have under my tenure, the party label means a little less because people who don’t share the values know taking on that label is their pathway to power,” DeSantis said. “Then they actually try to overturn the agenda that got them there in the first place. And that’s what’s going on, which brings us to today.”
DeSantis again complained about an education bill that would remove the Governor’s Office from university President searches, calling himself the “voice” of voters and seemingly undermining the House’s own electoral mandate.
“They actually have a bill in the Florida Legislature that will serve the purpose of undoing the conservative reforms that we’ve instituted in higher education,” he said.
“They want the universities to be able to pursue a leftist indoctrination agenda, and they actually cut the Governor out of the process because they know that I am (the) voice of the millions of Floridians who sent me here to be able to ensure that these institutions reflect your values.”
Ultimately, he said he expects a “Freedom Caucus” to emerge in the House.
12 comments
Paul
April 16, 2025 at 11:15 am
You can smell his desperation.
MaggieC
April 16, 2025 at 1:32 pm
I have been thinking the same thing now for several days. First, all his self-aggrandizing claims are abject lies, in the same way Trump’s are. The desperation is two-fold: to somehow remain relevant when he is actually the lamest of ducks; and to protect that stupid Hope Florida and his and Tacky-O’s respective asses from criminal charges.
Lisa Johnston
April 16, 2025 at 10:21 pm
Moron
ScienceBLVR
April 16, 2025 at 11:21 am
The Governor said “the leadership thinks they can jam through whatever they want regardless of what the voters want… yep that applies to you, Governor above all.
They may not have quite reached the 60% threshold necessary to become law, but a strong majority of the voters wanted recreational marijuana as well as reproductive rights enshrined in our Constitution and you ignored those mandates, correct? And now to find out you used funds designated for Hope Fl to illegally fight them? Pot calling this kettle very very black, indeed!
Ink Omveenyce
April 16, 2025 at 11:51 am
A bare and insufficient majority of Floridians supported the two amendments you mention. They failed, simple as that. It is good they failed because the one amendment encouraged the public to become even more intoxicated and irresponsible than it already is, and the other permitted death as a solution to a temporary condition of emotional inconvenience. DeSantis needed to do what he did. Sober and reflective Floridians applaud him, and now it appears some bitterly jealous, revisionist forces in Tallahassee are set on punishing him for it. And we have a candidate for governor who wishes to believe this is business as usual and, therefore, suggests that if he is elected it will indeed become business as usual.
FLPatriot
April 16, 2025 at 12:01 pm
We prefer that tax money and fraudulent money laundering isnt used to sway elections. The majority want both. If you don’t, Move to Utah.
Michael K
April 16, 2025 at 5:29 pm
Huh? The only reason the amendments did not pass is because the goalposts were moved, to 60%. Safe and legal abortion was the law of the land for half century until far right religious zealots on the Supreme Court stripped women of their right to make their own reproductive health decisions. The governor had no business sticking his thumbs on the scales. It’s election interference, abuse of power and misappropriation of public funds. Serious corruption.
MH/Duuuval
April 17, 2025 at 6:50 pm
Keep Hope alive, right?
FYI: Majority is one-half plus one. Florida requires 60 percent, as we all know.
Trump overwhelming mandate, to hear him, was less than 50 percent of the popular vote.
FLPatriot
April 16, 2025 at 11:59 am
Coming from the corrupt DeSantis that spent taxpayer money to illegally sway the elections for amendments. STFU
MH/Duuuval
April 17, 2025 at 6:52 pm
I am Hoping this comes to something criminal. My postal carrier, who knows a few things, says Dee will keep Hope on the back burner.
PeterH
April 16, 2025 at 1:10 pm
Project Hope is intended as a DeSantis honey pot to dip into once he’s finally out of public office! Find out the salary scales of the board!
Stephen Kibbey
April 16, 2025 at 1:22 pm
I thought I read an earlier article that the House proposed a 25% increase for veteran Trooper and 20% increase for new hires? What gives?