DeSantis is gunning for McCarthy

From: POLITICO Florida Playbook - Tuesday Sep 19,2023 10:58 am

Sep 19, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at an event.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Pray Vote Stand Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel on Sept. 15, 2023, in Washington, D.C. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is picking a fight with Speaker Kevin McCarthy — but his real target might be Donald Trump.

The Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate began needling McCarthy last week by inserting himself into Congress’ high-stakes spending battle, backing the speaker’s opponents and agitating for a shutdown. DeSantis on Monday then fired back at McCarthy over comments the speaker made to Fox News claiming that Trump is more formidable than the Florida governor.

“Kevin McCarthy says I’m a little different from Donald Trump. I agree,” DeSantis posted on social media Monday. “In Florida, we run budget surpluses. We’ve paid down our debt. I’ve kept every one of my promises. Meanwhile, McCarthy and Trump worked together to add $7 trillion — more debt than our country racked up in its first 200 years — to the debt in just four years.”

For DeSantis, the feud provides him a few talking points on the campaign trail, including bragging about how he ran in his home state and boosting his image as an anti-Washington candidate. It comes as DeSantis has faced growing scrutiny from Republican donors and a lagging campaign operation that has had to reset several times. Not to mention Trump’s clear lead in polls.

So going after McCarthy, a California Republican who has his own tortured relationship with Trump, could help DeSantis boost his chances with conservatives.

“It’s an opportunity for Gov. DeSantis to identify with the grassroots base of the Republican Party and implicitly challenge President Trump to do the same,” said Justin Sayfie, a partner at the lobbying firm Ballard Partners who has fundraised for DeSantis.

It also reminds voters that DeSantis once served in Congress, where he was a founding member of the conservative Freedom Caucus. The governor most recently aligned himself with conservative Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Bob Good of Virginia — not the establishment wing of the GOP caucus.

“Right now, what you have is unfortunately a large block of House GOP members who are, frankly, too afraid to take on Trump,” said Roy, who is one of the few members of Congress to endorse DeSantis. Roy added that he viewed McCarthy’s dig against DeSantis as a “misfire.”

Congressional Republicans who endorsed Trump, however, pushed back on DeSantis. Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla) said DeSantis doesn’t have many relationships on the Hill — most of the Florida delegation, including Steube, has endorsed Trump — and Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) said he didn’t understand why DeSantis would oppose McCarthy.

“If I was him, I think I’d attach myself to Speaker McCarthy,” Rutherford said. “I think he’s doing a good job at leading this conference, and [DeSantis] was part of the conference when he was up here. He knows Kevin well.”

A small irony in this is that some Republicans credit DeSantis with helping flip the House in 2022 to GOP control, albeit a very narrow majority. Republicans in Florida and nationally heaped praise on DeSantis after the midterms for leaning on the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature to approve congressional redistricting maps that helped net Republicans an additional four congressional seats.

DeSantis, his critics say, also hasn’t been as savings-conscious as he lets on. Steube pointed out that Florida was constitutionally obligated to balance its budget annually and said “the country would be in a good place” if the same were true at the federal level. And DeSantis in 2021 also rejected Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-Fla.) call for governors to return federal pandemic relief funds, instead using that pot of money to pay for his own priorities — often with great fanfare.

Scott, however, demurred when asked about it in Tallahassee on Monday. "I’ve given people the opportunity to give money back to the federal government and people get to choose whether they do that or not," he said.

— Mia McCarthy contributed from Washington, D.C. and Gary Fineout contributed from Tallahassee.

— WHERE'S RON? Gov. DeSantis will join Stuart Varney on Fox Business during the 9 a.m. hour. He’ll be in Texas this week to fundraise for his presidential campaign, where he set a more than $1 million goal, The Messenger reported.

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... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ...

TODAY — Florida House subcommittees will meet in Tallahassee to plan for the forthcoming session that starts March 11, 2024. Here’s the list of committees that’ll participate. Keep watching this space for new bills.

Spotlight on transportation: GOP state Rep. Fiona McFarland, who chairs the Transportation and Modals Subcommittee, told Playbook that lawmakers on her committee will focus on “a theme of accountability” and hear from the Florida Transportation Commission today. “This session you’ll also see us focus on improving the flow of people and freight safely across our state, on next-generation transportation technology and investments in Florida’s future,” she said.

TOMORROW — The Florida Board of Governors will consider a new regulation that would make it a fireable offense for transgender state university employees to use restrooms that align with their gender identity, reports the Tallahassee Democrat’s Ana Goñi-Lessan.

REDISTRICTING DEVELOPMENT — Judges on the 1st District Court of Appeals on Monday rejected a request by attorneys on both sides of Florida’s redistricting legal battle to expedite the case and send the lawsuit directly to the Supreme Court of Florida.

The idea was to get the litigation before the high court so justices would be able to issue a final ruling ahead of the 2024 session that starts in January. But in a one-page order, the appeals court — which is made up of judges appointed by Florida’s last four governors — said it would rule on the case first. The order did say the appeals court would take up the lawsuit quickly, but it raises questions as to how swiftly the legal battle will move now.

Civil rights and voting rights groups are challenging the map DeSantis pushed through the Florida Legislature. Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh, a Scott appointee, ruled earlier this month that the map that blew up then-Rep. Al Lawson’s seat violated voter approved redistricting standards because it diminished the ability of Black voters to elect a candidate of their choosing. That map pushed by DeSantis resulted in Republicans picking up four seats in the U.S. House, something that was noted by the GOP governor on Monday when he lashed into McCarthy.

— Gary Fineout

TALLAHASSEE, UNITED STATES: Members of the Florida House bow their heads in prayer at the opening of the historic special session of the Florida State Legislature to elect their own set of electors for president of the United States, in the State Capitol, 08 December 2000 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images)

SPEAKER DESIGNATE SPEAKS OUT — GOP state Rep. Daniel Perez made several comments during his speech at the Florida Capitol on Monday that sounded like admonishments to his party and DeSantis, including lamenting the legislature had “lost sight of quality” in “churning through bills” and that “just because we have the power to do a thing, doesn’t necessarily mean that we should.”

But asked about the comments during a press conference afterward, Perez called DeSantis a “dear friend” and insisted his speech wasn’t supposed to be interpreted as a broadside against the governor.

DEMOCRATIC REBUTTAL — Florida House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell admitted that she was encouraged by the remarks and that her “ears perked up.” She added, however, that she’d wait to see what happens because “Tallahassee has a way of just moving with an inertia that's very difficult to overcome.”

She predicted that if DeSantis were to lose the GOP nomination he would not only be a lame-duck governor but be “weaker” and would have to “face all of these problems that he’s either ignored or created in Florida.”

“I don’t know that the Legislature is going to play ball with him in the same way that they have previously,” she said, though she pointed out that DeSantis would still wield power over the budget pen.

Democrats plan to push for Medicaid expansion and will draw attention to Floridians who’ve been dropped from the program, Driskell said. She also voiced concern about the potential introduction of an open-carry firearms bill.

LAND PURCHASE — “Florida Cabinet OKs $141 million in conservation land buys from Panhandle to SW coast,” by News Service of Florida’s Jim Turner: “During a meeting held by telephone, DeSantis and Cabinet members supported three land purchases under the Florida Forever program.”

TUMBLE — University of Florida, New College, stumble in latest national rankings, by POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury: The new standings, which U.S News & World Report tweaked this year, knocked University of Florida out from its coveted position as a top-five public university — a status that has been highly touted by DeSantis and state leaders who have sparked substantial changes recently to Florida’s higher education system.

— Feds to Florida: We’re not slow walking college accreditation switches, by POLITICO’s Andrew Atterbury

PENINSULA AND BEYOND

Demonstrators hold a rally in response to State Attorney Monique Worrell’s suspension by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Demonstrators hold a rally in response to State Attorney Monique Worrell’s suspension by Gov. Ron DeSantis at Orlando City Hall on Aug. 10, 2023, in Orlando, Fla. | Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel via AP

SUPPORT FOR WORRELL — More than 120 current and former prosecutors, judges, attorneys general and federal attorneys have signed on to a legal filing that asks the Florida Supreme Court to side with suspended prosecutor Monique Worrell and reinstate her to her job in central Florida. The list includes five former state Supreme Court justices — including former Justice Barbara Pariente.

DeSantis suspended Worrell, a Democrat, in early August. The Republican governor contended that Worrell deserved suspension, alleging she had failed to pursue minimum mandatory sentences for criminals and did not fully prosecute both adults and juveniles who later went on to commit other crimes.

Those who signed the legal filing with the Supreme Court come from across the country and are touted as a “bipartisan” list.

The filing states that letting Worrell’s suspension stand would have a “corrosive” effect on democratic institutions and undermines prosecutorial independence. “Governor DeSantis’ Order is not simply lawfully and constitutionally deficient but also, if allowed to stand, endangers and destabilizes the administration of justice in Florida and creates potential adverse ripple effects in other parts of the country,” the legal brief states.

— Gary Fineout

— “‘He came at me:’ Director describes tense confrontation with senator at women’s shelter,” by the Orlando Sentinel’s Jeffrey Schweers

DATELINE D.C.

SELF-FUNDED CAMPAIGN? — “Rick Scott’s GOP challenger has deep pockets — and says he’s willing to spend,” by The Hill’s Rafael Bernal: “By [Keith] Gross’s calculations, both candidates have equivalent fortunes, just north of $250 million. Though Gross believes the GOP donor class will side with Scott, he’s ready to keep up, saying, ‘If I have to spend $20, $30 million to get the message out of my own cash, I’m not putting that off the table.’”

VETTING — “Anna Paulina Luna’s first congressional challenger has checkered past,” by Tampa Bay Times’ Jay Cridlin: The Gulfport Democrat running for the seat “was once jailed and involuntarily committed to a medical facility following an arrest on domestic assault charges. John Liccione, 62, saw the charges dismissed and later expunged from his record when his now ex-wife declined to testify against him, according to filings in the U.S. District Court of Maryland.”

CAMPAIGN MODE

SUCCESSION — “'He's 100% in': Matt Gaetz widely expected to run for Florida governor,” by NBC’s Matt Dixon: “‘There was a lot of talk about it at the reception last night, and Gaetz was telling people to basically expect him to be in,” one longtime Florida GOP lobbyist said. (Gaetz called the story “overblown clickbait.”)

NOT IMPRESSED — “Billionaire Ken Griffin, former DeSantis donor, sits out GOP presidential primary,” by CNBC’s Brian Schwartz: “I don’t know his strategy,” Griffin said of DeSantis. “It’s not clear to me what voter base he is intending to appeal to.”

NEW AD — “Pro-DeSantis super PAC rolls out ad on border,” by The Hill’s Julia Manchester: “The ad, titled ‘Warzone,’ will start airing in the early contest states of Iowa and New Hampshire this week and is a part of a $25 million ad buy that was announced last month.”

TRANSITIONS

The nonprofit American Conservation Coalition has a new Florida state director, Danielle Lindsay, coming to the organization from The Vertex Company.

ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN

SYMBOLISM? — A bear was on the loose at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom yesterday, requiring the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to intervene.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) compared his fashion choices to DeSantis’ presidential campaign.

BIRTHDAYS: Bill Varian, local government editor for Tampa Bay Times

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