Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘Mr. Governor, you have 99 problems, but protesters ain’t one’
Florida lawmakers blast DeSantis
One day after Governor Ron DeSantis proposed stronger criminal penalties to quell demonstrations in Florida, a group of state legislators is protesting the move.
The Democratic lawmakers and community leaders said penalizing the First Amendment right to assemble is unconstitutional.
“Governor, with all due respect, you’ve just declared war on our civil rights,” said state Rep. Shevrin Jones.
The group held a virtual video news conference on Tuesday afternoon in response to the Governor’s “Combating Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act.”
The Governor, also on Tuesday, called on fellow Republican legislators to pass his proposals to increase criminal penalties against protesters as soon as November instead of waiting until the next regular session in March.
Democratic state Rep. Carlos Guillermo-Smith welcomed a special session, but to address COVID-19, unemployment, evictions, business bankruptcies and other priorities in Florida.
“The first thing Gov. DeSantis wants to do is he wants to criminalize peaceful protesters?” said Guillermo-Smith during the online news conference. “It’s an outrageous prioritization of a non-issue and it’s obviously political.”
Standing before a line of law enforcement officers in Polk County on Monday, DeSantis outlined his proposals that would create new criminal offenses and increase penalties for those who target law enforcement and participate in violent or disorderly assemblies.
The Democratic lawmakers and their supporters called the governor’s proposal a law in search of a problem instead of a problem in need of a law.
“You already have laws on the books to address vandalism, to address looting,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani. “We know this has nothing to do with public safety. It will lead to the arrests of more Black and brown people.”
State Rep. Fentrice Driskell cited a report that said 90% of the 7,750 protests between May 26 and Aug. 22 were peaceful.
“Leave it to Florida’s Republicans to give 100% to a 10% problem while they give zero effort to the real problems affecting Floridians,” she said. “Mr. Governor, you have 99 problems, but protesters ain’t one.”