A.G. Gancarski
Former Rep. Joel Rudman, a staunch ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, is out as a nominee for the Pensacola State College Board of Trustees.
That’s what Chair Don Gaetz told the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee early in Tuesday’s meeting.
Rudman, a Navarre Republican who resigned from the Legislature before a failed bid for Congress, had promised what Gaetz called a “list that he was keeping close to his vest of legislators who were criminally violating drug laws.” But, as Gaetz told it, Rudman “decided toward the end of the week last week, just before the weekend, to announce that he had declined to appear before the committee.”
“And apparently he left the country,” Gaetz said.
From there, Rudman preemptively resigned from serving as an acting Board member at Pensacola State College, saying he would continue to support DeSantis as a “private citizen.”
Gaetz said Rudman was an “aggressive nominee who couldn’t wait to come before the committee, then he decided to decline to come before the committee because we were going to give him some opportunities.”
“I was going to ask him to reveal all of his names and to provide the evidence,” Gaetz said.
“We have individuals, officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who are here. They’re prepared to take down all the evidence and all the names, but Dr. Rudman has not favored us with his appearance. And now has resigned from the Board. And so consequently, there is no action to be taken by the Ethics and Elections Committee because we have a resigned individual.”
Rudman was unanimously rejected during last week’s hearing of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee.
Clearly, this hearing wouldn’t have gone much better.
On Tuesday afternoon, Rudman offered his take on the scheduling issues, saying it was a “surprise to get a committee notice on Good Friday as I’m in Barcelona.”
“Unfortunately, I was unable to move the Barcelona Open, Easter, or my wife’s birthday. Instead, I spent her birthday yesterday in Barcelona typing out my resignation,” Rudman related.
He also explained his decision to step down from the board.
“Pensacola State College is too important to me to have it get caught up in all this theatre surrounding the behavior of the Florida House. It was becoming exceedingly difficult for me to bite my tongue while former House colleagues were taking potshots and lobbing offensive accusations at our Governor. As much as I love PSC, if losing that appointment is the price of me defending Governor DeSantis and calling out bad behavior in the Florida House, so be it. That’s the price of leadership.”
Additionally, Rudman thanked “a college student from my hometown-a young man I’ve only met twice, who actually thought enough of me to come testify on my behalf.
“I’m not sure that has happened before, but to me, that’s the only testimony that matters,” he said.
