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Freshman state Rep. Anthony Sabatini hasn’t even begun his first legislative session in Tallahassee, but he’s garnered a lot of attention — most of it not to his liking.
The Republican from Howeyin-the-Hills was warned by his state party chairman to tone it down. He faced lingering controversy over embarrassing teenage photos in blackface. And environmental activists say Sabatini has been blocking them on social media, which they say is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
“There used to be a saying that any publicity is good publicity, even bad,” said Susan MacManus, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Florida. “But I think that’s changing.”
But Sabatini, 30, maintains that he’s focused on lawmaking and dismissed the idea he’s in any kind of spat with his party.
“The media has made this all up,” Sabatini said of reports of tension between himself and GOP leaders. “Public servants are doing their job up here … and the media is stirring up nonsense.”
Sabatini was referring to recent comments by state GOP chair Joe Gruters, who said Monday, “My advice for Rep. Sabatini would be this: Now is the time for less talking and more self-reflection.”
Sabatini rejected the idea there was any kind of “back-andforth” between himself and Gruters, saying a recent comment to a Politico reporter that referenced Gruters language — “The only thing I’ll be reflecting about is about how and when the modern media has become the enemy of the people” — was not in direct response to him.
A spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Florida did not return requests for additional comment from Gruters.
The quotes came after Sabatini was vociferous in defending himself from calls to resign by state Democrats over a photo of himself as a 16-year-old with his face blackened, wearing gold jewelry, sunglasses and a New York Yankees hat. Sabatini and a high school friend said the two of them dressed as each other as a prank.
“None of us thought 14 years later any of us would be a public figure, and the photo would be decontextualized,” he said afterward.
The photo, which was circulated and reported on before Sabatini’s election in November, re-emerged earlier this month after Florida Secretary of State Mike Ertel’s resignation over a blackface photo from a 2005 and blackface scandals in Virginia that include the state’s governor and attorney general.
GOP House Speaker Jose
Oliva responded to Democrats’ calls for Sabatini to resign by saying that while “appearing anywhere in blackface make-up is unacceptable … Rep. Sabatini has rightfully apologized.”
Since then, Orlando Weekly reported on another teenage photo of Sabatini as “a Mexican,” according to an unnamed source, “with a fake mustache, a serape and a straw cowboy hat turned sideways resembling a sombrero.”
“I’m blown away by how far the media is willing to go to create and generate news,” Sabatini said Wednesday, calling the story on the second photo “silly.”
Fellow freshman legislator Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, herself an outspoken member of her party, said she had empathy for Sabatini’s situation, especially since the photos were of Sabatini as a teen, but added “he needs to admit that particular act was hurtful and he needs to do better . ... He has a chance to be better from it.”
But, she said, “It’s up to party leadership to hold him accountable — and I haven’t seen that.”
State Rep. Bruce Antone, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus chairman, defended Sabatini.
“Just give folks another chance, you know?” said Antone, D-Orlando. “And I’m not even sure ‘another chance’ is the right way to put it. We just have to see what happens moving forward. Again, that’s in the past.”
Sabatini has received attention for several of his bills, including one that would allow concealed weapons on college campuses and an ethics reform measure that would prevent public employees from soliciting employment offers arising out of official activities.
One bill has drawn criticism from environmental activists in particular and has led to a standoff over social media.
The legislation would prevent local governments from doing banning plastic straws and require food service restaurants to distribute them on request. It came in reaction to decisions by cities such as St. Petersburg to ban such straws.
Colleen Gill, an environmental activist from Naples, said Sabatini has blocked her on Facebook and Twitter after she and others criticized the bill.
“Basically, he posted pictures of him drinking various beverages with plastic straws, and we tried to call him out with facts about straws,” Gill said. “None of us were doing anything bad. But he doesn’t go as far as to respond, he just blocks us. He deletes all comments and responses and just blocks us.”
She said she filed a complaint with the ACLU of Florida over the issue.
First Amendment Foundation president Barbara Petersen said the question of whether public officials can block people on social media is still being determined in the courts. The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit against state Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, in 2018 and an activist in Miami Beach sued former Mayor Phil Levine for blocking him in 2016.
“In essence, they’re creating a public forum,” Petersen said. “It’s not just public records and Sunshine Law that apply, it’s also the First Amendment.”
President Trump, she added, was sued for blocking people on Twitter and lost in court, a case now being appealed.
“Look who they emulate,” Gill said of Trump. “This is why they think they can do that. He gets away with it himself. They’re empowered by him and his antics, basically.”
Sabatini rejected the idea he couldn’t block whoever he wished on “a private Facebook page.”
“It just says ‘Representative’ in the front,” he said. “It’s not sponsored by government, it’s not controlled by government. It’s private. There’s no law that [specifies] that; there’s no court case that determines that.”