Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking unprecedented and legally questionable steps to influence this year’s elections, particularly two citizen-led petitions that seek to restore reproductive rights and legalize marijuana, says independent Florida journalist Jason Garcia.
Garcia, who publishes his work in an e-newsletter through Substack called Seeking Rents, has been reporting extensively on the many ways DeSantis is attempting to influence the elections, including School Board races and two state attorney races in Tampa and Orlando. But it’s the governor’s attempts to defeat Amendments 3 and 4 that are particularly striking, Garcia said.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Garcia said told WMNF WaveMakers with Janet & Tom on Tuesday (Oct. 15). “The whole behavior of the DeSantis administration toward these two amendments….and particularly Amendment 4….has been absolutely unhinged,” Garcia said.
The most recent example came over the weekend, when much of Florida was distracted by Hurricane Milton, when the DeSantis administration released a 348 page report alleging fraud in the collection petitions to place Amendment 4 on the ballot. The amendment seeks to restore women’s reproductive rights in Florida.
The state had never produced such a report before, not even after allegations of widespread fraud in an unsuccessful petition drive in 2022 to place casino gambling on the ballot, spearheaded by a big Republican donor. The report, Garcia said, alleges fraud in the Amendment 4 petition drive “without real specifics, with broad generalizations.” Coming as mail voting is already underway, months after the deadline for challenging the petitions has passed, was clearly intended, Garcia said, “to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the petition drive….and more ominously to set the stage for some sort of unprecedented legal challenge.” The report was ostensibly addressed to legislative leaders for possible legislative action but those leaders are lame ducks and the legislature won’t meet for months. “They were were making sure to rush it out the door in hopes of influencing the elections,” Garcia said.
The DeSantis administration is also spending millions of tax dollars on advertising against Amendment 4 and Amendment 3, which seeks to legalize possession of up to three ounces of marijuana. The state Health Department has run ads against Amendment 4 and the state Department of Transportation on Amendment 3. Those are legally questionable expenditures of tax dollars, Garcia said, though the DeSantis administration is being very careful in its language in an attempt to not cross a legal line.
Meanwhile, allegations have surfaced in the Orange County State Attorney’s race that the DeSantis administration colluded with the Republican nominee to drop out so that DeSantis’ appointed state attorney could run as an independent against the Democrat DeSantis suspended.
Hear the entire conversation by clicking the link below, going to the WaveMakers archives or by searching for WMNF WaveMakers wherever you listen to podcasts.
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