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Gary Fineout's must-read briefing on what's hot, crazy or shady about politics in the Sunshine State | | | | |  | | By Gary Fineout | Hello and good Thursday morning. Fallout — The storm associated with Florida’s decision to reject an AP African American studies class — and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ spirited defense of the state's move — continues to reverberate, including all the way to Illinois. Incoming — DeSantis complained about topics covered by the new course, where Florida maintains the testing regime pushes a political agenda by broaching topics such as queer studies and abolishing prisons. But Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat who is seen as having his own presidential aspirations, wrote a letter to the College Board warning the organization that his state would not accept the “watering down of history” the nonprofit might do in response to criticisms from DeSantis. From the letter — “I am extremely troubled by recent news reports that claim Governor DeSantis is pressuring the College Board to change the AP African American Studies course in order to fit Florida’s racist and homophobic laws,” Pritzker wrote in a letter first obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. And more — He urged the organization to “refuse to bow to political pressure that would ask you to rewrite our nation’s true, if sometimes unpleasant, history. One Governor should not have the power to dictate the facts of U.S. history. In Illinois, we reject any curriculum modifications designed to appease extremists like the Florida Governor and his allies.” Familiar foe — Pritzker is no stranger to taking swings at DeSantis. He was the keynote speaker at last year’s annual fundraiser for the Florida Democratic Party, where he called DeSantis “just Donald Trump with a mask on.” Moving ahead — The College Board has already indicated it is going to release an updated version of the course by Feb. 1 — the start of Black History Month — that incorporates feedback it has received. POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury reports that it’s not clear if that feedback includes scrapping the lessons flagged by Florida officials, such as pieces on “Black Queer Studies,” advocacy for reparations, activism and intersectionality, which is associated with critical race theory. But DeSantis administration officials are treating this news as a victory for the governor. — WHERE'S RON? — Nothing official for Gov. DeSantis. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch: gfineout@politico.com
| | | | JOIN POLITICO ON 2/9 TO HEAR FROM AMERICA’S GOVERNORS: In a divided Congress, more legislative and policy enforcement will shift to the states, meaning governors will take a leading role in setting the agenda for the nation. Join POLITICO on Thursday, Feb. 9 at World Wide Technology's D.C. Innovation Center for The Fifty: America's Governors, where we will examine where innovations are taking shape and new regulatory red lines, the future of reproductive health, and how climate change is being addressed across a series of one-on-one interviews. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | DESANTISLAND | | MEMO FROM ILLINOIS — “Pritzker warns College Board against any AP course changes to appease DeSantis and ‘Florida’s racist and homophobic laws,’” by Chicago Sun-Times’ Tina Sfondeles: “Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is going to battle with the national College Board over what he calls 'political grandstanding' by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Chicago Democrat is warning the nonprofit that oversees the Advanced Placement program that Illinois will reject a revised African American Studies course if it doesn’t include ‘a factual accounting of history, including the role played by black queer Americans.’” — “Lawsuit threatened as nonprofit reconfigures African American studies course rejected in Florida,” by POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury | 
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, left, criticizes Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans for "racist and homophobic laws" pertaining to AP Black history class. | Nam Y. Huh and Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo | DOCTOR, DOCTOR — Florida doctors worried DeSantis gives ‘fringe’ dermatologist a platform, by POLITICO’s Matt Dixon: Jon Ward’s emergence as a central figure in DeSantis’ Covid-19 events has given rise to concern among many in Florida’s medical community, some members of which think Ward is, at best, misguided and, at worst, a dangerous font of misinformation. In interviews with POLITICO, nine members of the association expressed concern that Ward had been given a statewide platform. Each was granted anonymity because the FMA has a policy of its members not criticizing other members publicly. Members of the group are leery about angering DeSantis, whom the organization endorsed for reelection in 2022. But some doctors said privately they are worried the governor is elevating a “fringe” perspective in the medical community. STILL NO — Ousted prosecutor asks DeSantis to reinstate him after ruling, by POLITICO’s Gary Fineout: The suspended Florida prosecutor locked in a legal battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the governor on Wednesday to reinstate him following a ruling from a federal judge that said the governor's actions violated state law. It’s not going to happen. In his own words — “In August of 2022, when you ordered my suspension, you and others in your office may not have known all the facts about how my office functioned,” Warren wrote in his letter. “The facts are now known and the court’s findings are clear. I engaged in zero misconduct, the allegations in the executive order are false and the suspension violates federal and state law.” Response — “In its lengthy opinion, the court attempted to usurp the Florida Senate’s constitutional authority to make a determination on Mr. Warren’s neglect of duty and incompetence,” said Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis, in an email. “It is the Florida Senate that is to rightly serve as the ultimate factfinder in this case. We do not agree with the court’s dicta, which are merely opinions, and need not address them since the Court ultimately determined it lacked jurisdiction and thus ruled in favor of the governor.” — “Ron DeSantis becomes focus of attacks from 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls,” by Wall Street Journal’s Alex Leary and John McCormick — “New era at New College kicks off with contentious meetings, report of death threat,” by Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s Zac Anderson and Steven Walker
| | TRUMPLANDIA AND THE SWAMP | | WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND? — Meta to reinstate Donald Trump’s Facebook account, by POLITICO’s Rebecca Kern: Meta will lift the ban on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks after a suspension that lasted more than two years. The decision restores the former president’s access to a platform that he used to powerful effect as a campaigner, and could potentially boost his faltering 2024 fundraising. FWIW — “OMG. Trump has started texting,” by The New York Times’ Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman: “One of former President Donald J. Trump’s most consistent personal traits — one that his advisers say has helped keep him out of even worse legal jeopardy — has been his refusal to communicate by text or email. Until now. Mr. Trump, 76, who is heading into his third presidential campaign and is still under scrutiny by investigators on multiple fronts, has at last become a texter, according to three people with knowledge of his new habit.” BE OUR GUEST — “Trump hosts conservative influencers behind ‘Libs of TikTok’ and Babylon Bee for dinner,” by NBC News’ Summer Concepcion and Marc Caputo: “Former President Donald Trump hosted the conservative influencers behind ‘Libs of Tik Tok’ and Babylon Bee at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago as part of a new charm offensive by the Republican presidential candidate, according to a source with knowledge of the strategy. In addition to the creator of the controversial Twitter account ‘Libs of TikTok,’ Trump also hosted Seth Dillon, who owns the conservative political satire website Babylon Bee, according to the source.” — The private angst over Donald Trump’s racist attacks on Elaine Chao goes public, by POLITICO’s Meredith McGraw | | ... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ... | | BLACK BOX — “Florida Republicans promise school vouchers for all but don’t reveal funding plan,” by Tampa Bay Times Jeffrey S. Solochek and Miami Herald’s Ana Ceballos: “Florida Republican lawmakers this year will consider offering every K-12 student thousands of dollars each year for their families to spend on education. Parents would have access to state-funded accounts and use them to pay for private school tuition plus a wide variety of school-related expenses. The proposal, if approved, would make the state’s school voucher program bigger than ever. But one key fact about the pitch remains elusive: its cost.” — Simpson said Ag department is developing $1B list of possible land deals, by POLITICO’s Bruce Ritchie — “House panel advances bill to require greater financial disclosure from mayors, city council members,” by Florida Politics’ Gray Rohrer
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | TRUMP BACKS GRUTERS — Former President Donald Trump late Wednesday evening announced that he was backing Republican Party of Florida Chair Joe Gruters for the post of treasurer of the Republican National Committee. The election is this Friday although most of the attention is on the post of RNC chair. “Joe has done a great job leading Florida Republicans to historic wins, including my two great victories, and he will do a fantastic job as RNC Treasurer,” Trump said in a statement. MATLOW FILES — A local Tallahassee commissioner and recent candidate for chairman of the Florida Democratic Party “accidentally” added his cell phone number into a national Democratic Party database more than 7,000 times, although it apparently didn’t have a real impact on 2022 midterms. In early 2022, Tallahassee City Commission Jeremy Matlow accidentally applied his phone number into VAN NPG, a national database used by Democratic campaigns, 7,296 times. That means a corresponding number of registered Democrats were listed as having Matlow’s cell phone number, not their own. That could have been a problem if political campaigns tried to text or call those registered Democrats as part of get out the vote efforts. “Not sure exactly what happened,” Matlow said. “Hopefully [the Florida Democratic Party] can get it resolved.” He said that he did not get thousands of calls from party officials trying to reach out to impacted registered voters, but rather just a “half dozen or so.” Party officials said this week that 61 percent of those on the list still wound up voting so the error — which was fixed this week — did not seem to affect turnout since that rate was higher than overall turnout in Leon County. Matlow’s team shared emails with POLITICO indicating they were trying to flag problems with the database going back to at least March 2022. It’s unclear why the problem was not addressed until this week. “I was trying to make a change to a record and accidentally applied my phone number to a whole bunch of contacts,” is it possible to reverse that action, Matlow wrote in March to Brady Wade, the party’s voter file manager. News about the database problem began to ripple through the ranks of Democratic elected officials recently while Matlow was running to become chairman of the beleaguered Florida Democratic Party. Matlow, however, put out a statement on Wednesday that said he was dropping his bid, citing what he called “exigent city matters including alarming revelations within the city of Tallahassee” that required his “undivided focus.” — POLITICO’s Matt Dixon and Gary Fineout — “Matlow bows out race for Florida Democratic Party chair citing ‘alarming revelations,’” by Tallahassee Democrat’s Karl Etters TRANSITIONS — Jackie Schutz Zeckman is moving back to Florida in February where she will be overseeing Sen. Rick Scott’s political operation as he runs for reelection to the Senate in 2024. Schutz Zeckman has worked for Scott in several roles. She was executive director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee when Scott was chairman of the organization. She oversaw his 2018 campaign and then worked in his Senate office. Schutz Zeckman also worked for Scott when he was Florida’s governor. — “Sen. Rick Scott is running for re-election pushing his controversial tax plan,” by NBC News’ Marc Caputo — “Melbourne lawyer floats primary challenge to Rick Scott,” by Florida Politics’ A.G. Gancarski | | DATELINE D.C. | | REQUEST — “First Look: House Dems seek classified briefings on mass shootings,” by Axios’ Andrew Solender: "The move follows a string of mass shootings in recent weeks and demonstrates how some new Democratic lawmakers — striving to show constituents they are making an impact in Washington — are trying to maneuver around the legislative roadblocks of being in the minority. Driving the news: Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) — three vice chairs of Congress' Gun Violence Prevention Task Force — asked [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries and [House Speaker Kevin] McCarthy to seek a briefing from the FBI and 'other relevant agencies.'"
| | PENINSULA AND BEYOND | | EXIT STRATEGY — “FPL CEO, who was under fire recently, retiring after leading utility for 11 years,” by Miami Herald’s Mary Ellen Klas and Andres Viglucci: “After what his boss called a year of “distractions,” Florida Power & Light CEO Eric Silagy announced his retirement on Wednesday, after months of negative media reports about his secretive role in manipulating state and local campaigns. Silagy, 57, who spent 20 years at the nation’s largest monopoly electric company, rose from being vice president of regulatory and state government affairs to FPL’s president in 2011 and chief executive officer in 2014. He was named chairman of the company last year after he was passed over by the board of directors of FPL’s parent company, NextEra Energy, which named John Ketchum chairman, president and CEO.” WHAT’S GOING ON? — “Florida education agency investigates Leon superintendent, pointing to ‘personal views,’” by Tallahassee Democrat’s Ana Goñi-Lessan: “Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna is under a ‘preliminary investigation’ by the state education department for allegedly infusing "personal views" into his work as the head of the school district. In a certified letter on Dec. 22 from Randy Kosec, chief of professional practices at the Florida Department of Education, the agency alleged Hanna has failed to take ‘reasonable precautions to distinguish your personal views and those of your educational institution.’” — “Florida enrollment in Affordable Care Act surpasses 3 million,” by Tampa Bay Times’ Christopher O’Donnell — “DHS sees huge drop in Haitian, Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan arrivals at southern border,” by McClatchy D.C.’s Michael Wilner — “Broward Schools superintendent fires back in defense after state’s scathing letter on safety,” by South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Scott Travis — “After 18 years, $1.5B dike repair done at Florida’s Lake O,” by The Associated Press’ Curt Anderson — “Cop is fired after using COVID relief funds on repairs for his 1969 Mustang,” by South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Lisa J. Huriash | | ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN | | — “Florida’s notorious ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ guilty, ending 40-year quest to bring him to justice,” by Miami Herald’s Grethel Aguila: “After four decades of evading justice, the Pillowcase Rapist was found guilty in a Miami court for sexually assaulting a woman in the 1980s. On Wednesday, Robert Koehler, 63, was convicted for the assault of a 25-year-old woman in December 1983. The ‘Pillowcase Rapist,’ as he was nicknamed because he typically shielded his face with a pillowcase or shirt, was one of the most notorious serial rapists in Florida history.” BIRTHDAYS: Tallahassee Democrat's Byron Dobson ... Jill Weinstock Deutch ... Dave Royse, author and journalist ... Jan Pudlow, former senior editor at The Florida Bar and former journalist | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |  |
