Police union backs DeSantis
Gillum, criticized for ties to rights group, is endorsed by 5 sheriffs.
WEST PALM BEACH — Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis picked up the endorsement of Florida’s largest police union on Wednesday and accused Democratic rival Andrew Gillum of being aligned with a “radical, anti-law enforcement” group and presiding over high crime as mayor of Tallahassee.
“The men and women of law enforcement want to tell Floridians Ron DeSantis has our back. That’s why I’m here to announce that we have his back,” said Florida Police Benevolent Association President John Kazanjian during a brief event at the union’s Palm Beach County headquarters with DeSantis and his lieutenant governor nominee, state Rep. Jeanette Nuñez, R-Miami. The Police Benevolent Association represents about 30,000 law enforcement officers in the state.
Gillum garnered some law enforcement support of his own on Wednesday, announcing endorsements from five Democratic sheriffs.
DeSantis took aim at Gillum’s ties to the Dream Defenders, a group that gained widespread attention in 2013 for organizing a 31-day sit-in in the state Capitol to protest Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. The Dream Defenders’ website says: “Police and prisons have no place in ‘justice’ ”
and calls for “an end to the current prison and policing system.”
“The Dream Defenders are a radical, anti-law enforcement — they have an antilaw enforcement agenda,” DeSantis said. “They actually say that they want to abolish the police and abolish prisons. That is very troubling to have somebody that has such a close relationship with the Dream Defenders given how hostile — overtly hostile — they have been to the men and women of law enforcement.”
During a Democratic debate in Miramar in June, Gillum praised the Dream Defenders for “standing in the gap on behalf of marginalized communities, shaking up the political process, having politicians across the state run scared because they are afraid of your power.”
The Dream Defenders were among several groups that participated in a $3.5 million effort to turn out voters for Gillum before the Aug. 28 Democratic primary. In endorsing Gillum before the primary, the Dream Defenders stated that “no one running for Governor of Florida is running with all of our principles as their platform,” but that Gillum “creates much more favorable conditions for our movement and our people.”
In response to DeSantis’ comment about Gillum and the Dream Defenders, Gillum campaign spokeswoman Carlie Waibel accused DeSantis of “lying to voters in a desperate attempt to save his campaign and distract from his record of taking healthcare away from Floridians. Mayor Gillum has worked with law enforcement during his time as mayor to reduce crime and build safer communities for our kids.”
Crime in Tallahassee dropped 14.3 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement statistics — but the city still had the third-highest crime rate in Florida for municipalities with 100,000 or more residents.
In 2016, Tallahassee’s rate of 6,726.8 crimes per 100,000 population was the highest in Florida for cities with 100,000 or more people. In 2017, Tallahassee’s rate fell to 5,764.5 per 100,000 residents, which trailed Orlando (6,291.5) and Fort Lauderdale (6,186.6) among large Florida cities.
Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, one of the sheriffs who endorsed Gillum on Wednesday, said the Tallahassee mayor has a cooperative relationship with law enforcement.
“I have personally worked with Andrew, and have watched him work to build a safer community for our kids, work side by side with law enforcement to tackle violent crime, and stand up for common-sense gun reform,” McNeil said.