On Tuesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried had a war of words related to governance issues related to the defunding police issue.
Fried, who is running as a Democratic candidate to unseat DeSantis in the 2022 gubernatorial election, said DeSantis was bullying local municipalities under the rule of Republican control in Tallahassee.
“Now, the so-called party of small government is yet again telling government closest to the people what they can and cannot do with their money,” she said. “So, as you vote today, ask yourself, who is really the big government bureaucrat in the faraway Capitol?”
Fried called DeSantis “hypocritical,” referencing back to a 2018 quote where DeSantis bemoaned “the idea that government bureaucrats in a faraway capital could plan our lives better than we could plan them ourselves.”
DeSantis, not immediately recalling the context of the 2018 quote, quickly responded.
“What the rule does is it says, very clearly, to the people of Florida, if your municipal government tries to defund law enforcement, we’ve got your back,” DeSantis said. “We are going to protect you. We are not going to allow some rogue local government do insane things like defunding the police, like we have seen massive cuts in other parts of this country, where we’ve seen crime skyrocket out of control.”
Fried also took time to criticize DeSantis and ask when he would be appointing a new head to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
“Well it’s an executive appointment and so that’s our prerogative, and we’ll do it when we want to and we’ll let folks know about it,” DeSantis said.
“Except, Governor, it has to go through the approval or denial through the Cabinet,” Fried immediately responded.
DeSantis continued to push back on Fried’s criticism by referencing a portion of Florida’s Constitution for Cabinet-level appointments to be confirmed by the Cabinet itself, or by Senate confirmation. DeSantis said he would seek to bypass the Cabinet-approval route.
“My sense would be the Legislature would retain their authority rather than give the Cabinet authority, so that’ll be a live issue potentially if we end up with a conflict,” DeSantis said.
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Background Photo “Florida Capitol” by DXR. CC BY-SA 4.0.
