The DeSantis strategy: Attack, accuse, then hope no one checks the facts | Commentary
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Sunday’s newspaper contained the results of a months-long investigation into the prosecutorial record of State Attorney Monique Worrell.
Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed he removed Worrell from office because, among other things, she wasn’t adequately prosecuting drug-trafficking cases as highlighted by one of her most vocal critics, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López. López claimed Worrell hadn’t prosecuted a single one of the 74 drug-trafficking arrests his office made last year.
Only, it turns out, that wasn’t true.
An investigation by Sentinel reporter Cristóbal Reyes found several cases resulted in convictions and that nearly half were still working their way through the system.
But among the dropped cases, it often wasn’t Worrell who abandoned them, Sometimes, the state crime lab — the one DeSantis helps control — found no evidence of illegal narcotics in the samples they were given. Judges also rejected some cases because of illegal searches.
Also telling: The Sentinel found that not a single one of the abandoned cases had been successfully resuscitated by the supposedly tougher-on-crime prosecutor who DeSantis chose to replace Worrell.
There’s more to be said about this case of a governor deciding to override a local election simply because he didn’t like the results.
But there’s a bigger issue here — a governor with a record of making accusations and incendiary claims that simply don’t pan out. The strategy seems to be: Score big headlines with inflammatory claims and then hope nobody follows up. Consider other examples:
There was the case of alleged child abuse at the hands of school officials in Brevard County. DeSantis stood beside frequent exaggerator Rep. Randy Fine and the stepfather of a 7-year-old girl with Down Syndrome who claimed school staffers had used a nylon cord to forcibly strap a facemask around her head, impeding her ability to breathe and putting her life at risk.
It sounded horrible. And media all around the globe parroted the accusations. But police later vetted the claims and concluded they were bogus, saying the abuse never happened and that the stepfather had staged the photos and lied to the investigator.
The original accusations were trumpeted worldwide. The results of the 39-page report by the Indian Harbour Beach Police Department were largely ignored.
And neither Fine nor DeSantis — who has talked about wanting stiffer punishments for people who unfairly smear others — staged a similar press conference to correct the record.
Then there was the press conference DeSantis staged two years ago where he showcased police officers who’d moved from New York to Florida as supposed evidence that upstanding, law-and-order folks are flocking here. Once again, media regurgitated the talking points with headlines like: “Police officers flee New York for careers in Florida …”
Only weeks later did a group of student journalists at the University of Florida vet the backgrounds of the cops DeSantis had shown off at his press conference. One had been fired from his job as a security guard at Wal-Mart. Another had been disciplined by the NYPD. Yet another had been part of an excessive force lawsuit that New York paid $178,000 to settle. Others had “mysterious gaps in their resumes.”
Those facts matter. But news organizations just parroted the governor’s look-how-lucky-Florida-is narrative.
Admittedly it’s sometimes hard to vet claims when they’re thrown out late in a day’s news cycle. But media need to do a better job of explicitly saying what facts they could verify and which ones they couldn’t.
Just last week, the governor — who was eager to look like he’s providing relief for homeowners facing sky-high insurance rates — released a budget that he claimed would save homeowners 6%. That 6% figure made its way into headlines all over the state.
Well, first of all, 6% is puny. The Insurance Information Institute says expected premium increases will dwarf any discount.
More importantly, though, the vast majority of you will not get 6%. The fine print reveals that a chunk of the proposed tax-cut savings would only go to homeowners with flood insurance, which the Institute says fewer than 20% of Floridians have.
Additionally, there are questions about whether anyone would actually get 6%. When I studied the fine print, the numbers didn’t seem to add up. The Seeking Rents watchdog website noticed inconsistencies as well and got confirmation from the Department of Revenue that something seemed mathematically amiss.
So we asked the governor’s office to provide an example, using a Floridian’s insurance bill, of how the savings would add up to the 6% claim. We have not yet received one. Instead, a PR guy for DeSantis tried to order me not to directly contact the budget official who made the claim.
First, I’ll contact whomever I want — especially if they’re a public employee making public claims about public money. Any politician or bureaucrat is free to ignore me. But I don’t take orders from politicians or flacks.
Second, why not just answer the question? Heck, why not provide the proof before anyone has to ask? And why aren’t more media groups asking for that proof as well — and clearly stating when it’s not provided?
It seems like facts are just an afterthought with this administration. DeSantis has also just casually claimed in fundraising appeals that he has won “every single time” in battles with “woke corporations” and “legacy media” when he has actually lost one court battle after another, often at the hands of conservative judges.
At this point, some readers are probably thinking: Bug off, Maxwell. I like Ron DeSantis. That is, of course, your right. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion. But the issues mentioned above aren’t matters of opinions.
The cops in the face-masking case concluded no “child abuse” took place.
Worrell successfully prosecuted some drug-trafficking cases while judges and state crime labs tossed out the others.
And DeSantis has lost multiple court battles.
Those are all facts. The only question now is whether they matter.
DeSantis is masterful at manipulating the press he bashes | Commentary
