‘Sunshine’ begins at home, DeSantis
Gov. Ron DeSantis next month will lead aweek-long business development mission to Israel, a commendable step for an inclusive new leader who clearly wants to strengthen bonds with the Jewish community in his home state.
On the trip, from May 25-31, DeSantis and the three statewide elected Cabinet members plan to meet at the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, one of many Mideast photo-ops designed to underscore the governor’s support for the Trump administration’s decision tomove the embassy out of Tel Aviv.
The list of events includes a public gathering of DeSantis and the Cabinet, which is typically held at the state Capitol in Tallahassee. Itwould be the first such Cabinet meeting held outside Florida. A full schedule has not been released by Enterprise Florida, the state’s job-creation arm that is organizing the mission.
The decision raises serious public access concerns. Itmay even violate the state’s Sunshine laws. DeSantis should scrap the idea.
As Florida’ s Government-in the-Sunshine Manual notes, “Public access to meetings of public boards or commissions is the key element of the Sunshine Law, and public agencies are advised to avoid holding meetings in places not easily accessible to the public.” A Cabinet meeting in a highly secure overseas embassy hardly meets this simple test.
A public right of access to government decision-making is enshrined in the Florida Constitution.
In a 1994 case, a Florida appeals court ruled that the Alachua County school board violated the Sunshine Law when its members held aworkshop at an Orlando hotel during a statewide education conference— about 100 miles from Gainesville. Jerusalem is more than 6,000 miles and seven time zones away, and about a 14-hour airplane trip.
A Cabinet meeting in Israel has bipartisan support. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only Democrat on the Cabinet, calls it “an opportunity to strengthen our state’s partnership with a key ally and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Fried deferred to DeSantis on questions about public access and Sunshine, however.
The governor’s office plans to stream any overseas Cabinet meeting on Facebook Live. But if such a meeting must take place, the agenda should be strictly ceremonial and devoid of any discussion of official business thatwould invite participation by Floridians.
After three months in office, DeSantis’ overall performance on transparency is encouraging. There’s substantial room for improvement, but he’s far more accessible than his predecessor, Rick Scott.
To conduct any state decisionmaking in a place that most Floridians cannot afford to visit is a step backward for the governor’s administration andwould undermine the positive goals of his trade mission. Come to think of it, it’s already hard enough just to get to Tallahassee.
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, Sergio Bustos, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.