Put your masks on, Florida lawmakers
Way to go, Kelly Skidmore. Masked up and touring the state Capitol with her colleagues this week, the newly elected Democratic lawmaker from Boca Raton called out a colleague, Republican Rep. Scott Plakon of Longwood, for not wearing a face mask as he entered an elevator. “Put your mask on, Plakon,” she said. Plakon paid her no mind.
The fleeting moment, observed by the Sun Sentinel, captured whatwas so wrong with thisweek’s organizational meeting of the Florida Legislature, where two new presiding officers were sworn in and lawmakers took a solemn oath to “support, protect and defend” the state of Florida.
They swore on a Bible to keep us safe. But about a dozen Republican House members— including Rep. Chip La Marca of Lighthouse Point— refused towear face masks and their Republican leader failed to insist, even though the Capitol is in Leon County, which last June imposed a mask mandate that applies to all businesses, including government buildings.
Why is this so difficult? Politics, pure and simple.
For Senate and House leaders to require masks would contradict the irresponsibility of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who refuses to mandate masks that are now required in 34 states. Worse, the governor refuses to let counties like Leon enforce their local mask orders.
DeSantis has disappeared. His last public appearance was the day after the election, Nov. 4, when he publicly criticized Fox News for its projection that Joe Biden had won Arizona, but took no questions. Twice Tuesday, DeSantis dodged reporters waiting for him in the fourth-floor Capitol Rotunda. The questions would have focused on the state’s skyrocketing number of infections, fears about the upcoming holiday season and on his bizarre hiring of a discredited Uber driver from Ohio to track pandemic data.
Not only that, but nine legislator swere forced to miss Tuesday’s ceremonies either because they tested positive for the coronavirus orwere in close contact with someone whod id. They included Sens. Ray Rodrigues of Estero and Tom Wright of New Smyrna Beach. Seven House members also were absent: Adam Botana from Bonita Springs, David Borrero of Sweetwater, Demi Bosatta Cabrera of Miami, Mike Giallombardo of Fort Myers, Michelle Salzman of Pensacola, Geraldine Thompson of Orlando and Jackie Toledo of Tampa. All but Thompson are Republicans.
That the do-as-we-say Legislature would thumb its nose at local laws that apply to the rest of us sends a terrible message to school children, whoare required towear face masks; to business owners, whowant to keep their employees and customers safe; and to healthworkers, whoare facing the life-and-death consequences of those who refuse to believe the virus is real.
Florida’ s new House speaker, Palm Harbor lawyer Chris Sprowls, delivered a thoughtful and ambitious 37-minute speech Tuesday that covered such subjects as family literacy, childhood suicide, patriotism, property insurance, sea level rise and racial disparities in society. But he spent a lot more time talking about patriotism than about the pandemic. He made only a passing reference to COVID-19, which “came roaring into our lives, and nothing has been quite the same.”
In his first speech as then ew Senate president, Wilton Simpson, a Pasco County egg farmer, called for a moment of silence for the 18,000 Floridians who have died fromthe virus. But he offered no immediate action steps. Rather, he said lawmakerswould not convene again until early next year and praised DeSantis’ “balanced” response to the crisis.
“There are consequences to locking down,” Simpson told reporters.
We’re not talking about locking down, senator. We’re talking about state lawmakers serving as role models for howto stem the pandemic. Everyone has got to do the basics to keep the humanand economic consequences from getting worse.
For eightmonths, the Legislature has abdicated its duty to serve as a checkon an executive branch that has become a one-man fiefdom under De San tis. This week we also learned that the governor has spent$4.6 billion infederal stimulus money with virtually no accountability and no oversight fromthe legislative branch.
The Legislature will return Monday, Jan. 11, for the first of five weeks of committee meetings over two months. Theannual 60-day session begins on March 2. Lawmakers face major challenges, including rebuilding a shattered economy, reducing spending and fixing the state’ s broken unemployment system.
Five Florida mayors, including Mike Ryan of Sunrise and Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, said Wednesday that DeSantis’ order in September to fully reopen the state has been a health care disaster. They accused him of following a “herd immunity” strategy and predicted it could result ina loss of50,000 lives. They renewed their call for a statewide mask mandate, better contact tracing, restoring state testing facilities at full capacity, and giving cities and counties the flexibility to adopt stricter safeguards.
Florida’ s mayo rs represent government closest to the people. They hear what parents of school children are saying. They hear what local hospital leaders are saying. They hear what local businesses are saying.
And they know that when it comes to not wearing masks, you get what you pay for. Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.