In almost every gangster movie, some tough guys will gang up on a little shopkeeper and mutter something like, “Yeah, this is a real nice little shop you got here — be a real shame if something happens to it, if you know what I’m getting at …”
Gov. Ron DeSantis is a pretty good bully when he needs to intimidate school librarians or drag-show entrepreneurs, but he’s not so good at putting the squeeze on those who can fight back. The godfather of the GOP made the Orlando Sentinel an offer it can’t respect — and came off looking more silly than ominous.
Maybe we should update that old line about never getting in fights with a guy who buys ink by the barrel — nowadays, papers generate online clicks by the mega-bandwidth, or something — but DeSantis has always shown the press a level of contempt gleefully reciprocated by most of the media. Obviously, he doesn’t need us so, like President Donald Trump, he rarely misses an opportunity to show his disdain.
As anyone paying attention to state politics is aware, an outfit known as Hope Florida and its support organization, the Hope Florida Foundation, sparked the first real scandal of DeSantis’ six-plus years in the governor’s mansion.
Hope Florida, which supporters say helps poor people get off welfare and straighten out their lives, is a special project of First Lady Casey DeSantis. But the scandal stems from the foundation receiving $10 million as part of a $67 million legal settlement that Centene, Florida’s largest Medicaid managed-care company, reached last fall with the Agency for Health Care Administration.
After receiving the money from the settlement, the foundation gave $5 million grants to Secure Florida’s Future, a nonprofit tied to the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Save our Society from Drugs. The groups within days made contributions to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee headed by James Uthmeier, who was then Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff and is now state attorney general. Keep Florida Clean fought a proposed constitutional amendment in November that would have allowed recreational use of marijuana.
A House panel during this spring’s legislative session investigated the money trail, and State Attorney Jack Campbell opened an investigation. The governor, of course, claims everything is just peachy, called the whole thing a political witch hunt and said Hope Florida is doing great stuff.
So reporter Jeff Schweers of the Orlando Sentinel decided to ask some recipients of Hope Florida’s services how they’re doing. Well, we can’t have that. The press ought to take the governor’s word when he says things are going well. What does Schweers think this is, some kind of “Free State of Florida” (Where’d I hear that slogan?) where you can question the government?
And that’s where our tale went from mystery to slapstick.
Someone at the Department of Children and Families decided it would be neat to dispatch a “cease and desist” letter to the Sentinel, claiming that Schweers threatened and intimidated Hope Florida clients, trying to browbeat them into saying bad things about the program. “C&D” is lawyer language, so it’s significant that the little nastygram was unsigned and made no specific enumeration of what Schweers supposedly did to abuse Hope Florida folks.
One might surmise DCF lawyers know better than to sign such an absurdity. Maybe DeSantis, an attorney, didn’t know about the letter but he posted it on social media, remarking, “Bottom feeders gonna bottom feed.” So like the Hope Florida quagmire itself, the DCF threat is the governor’s work.
I’ve never met any mafioso, but I suspect the first rule of a shakedown is, you’ve got to back up your threats. The intended victim shouldn’t scoff.
“We stand by our stories and reject the state’s attempt to chill free speech and encroach on our First Amendment right to report on an important issue,” Roger Simmons, the Sentinel’s executive editor, said in a prepared statement. “The state’s characterization of our reporter’s conduct is completely false.”
On a personal note, I’ve known and worked with Schweers for more than 20 years, and he’s an entirely ethical and skilled reporter. Moreover, despite what Trump and DeSantis want their followers to believe about “fake news,” no reporter gets information by harassing or pressuring a news source.
Aside from lacking a signature, it’s also noteworthy that the DCF edict didn’t contain an “or else” line. If Schweers and his paper don’t back off, or just start printing DeSantis press releases verbatim, what’s the governor’s office going to do about it?
A legitimate legal complaint would say, “This, this and this is what you got wrong, we demand a retraction, and we’ll sue if you don’t do it by Friday.” No lawyer would write, essentially, “We don’t like you talking to Hope Florida families, so cease and desist.”
Bill Cotterell is a retired Capitol reporter for United Press International and the Tallahassee Democrat. He can be reached at wrcott43@aol.com.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Bill Cotterell: Empty threats in game of ‘Beat the Press’
Reporting by Bill Cotterell / Tallahassee Democrat
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