The Paradise Progressive is an effort to cover, analyze and comment on news affecting the Paradise Coast of Southwest Florida that is overlooked, ignored or avoided by local traditional media. It does this to fulfill the role of a free and independent press in a democratic republic.
As the Washington Post states: “Democracy dies in darkness.” But we say: “Liberty lives in light.” Our goal is to shine a light as best we can to dispel the darkness.
The Paradise Progressive is not affiliated with any political party or organization. It was begun on Dec. 20, 2018. The Paradise Progressive can also be viewed on its Facebook page, which features links to other Florida-related postings, and on its website, ParadiseProgressive.com. Videos related to political activities in Southwest Florida can be seen at The Paradise Progressive YouTube channel.
Alex Vindman speaks in Naples, Fla., March 4, 2026. (Photo: Author)
Aug. 8, 2026 by David Silverberg, Democratic candidate for Florida Senate, District 28
Every political endorsement carries with it risks of disappointing people and fostering disagreement but with so much at stake it’s important that the best qualified people be selected for the most important positions in the state and nation.
That’s why I am endorsing Alex Vindman as the Democratic nominee for US Senator from Florida.
I’m not doing this for any personal political gain or advantage. I could easily sit this out.
But I feel called upon to add my voice because this is a contentious race within the Democratic Party with strong passions on both sides. It’s also why I want to fully explain my reasons for doing it.
First, I want to express my respect and admiration for Florida Rep. Angela “Angie” Nixon (D-13-Jacksonville). I met Rep. Nixon when she came to Naples and was very impressed. She is strong, committed, passionate and determined. Her demonstrations against unconstitutional mid-decade gerrymandering, while dramatic, were warranted by the gravity of the violations she was protesting. She is articulate and a powerful voice for Floridians who otherwise have none. That voice will be valuable in the long term.
Alex Vindman too is strong, determined and committed to American values and ideals. I’ve also had the privilege of hearing him in person and meeting him when he came to Naples. He too is a very impressive candidate.
He’s quieter than Nixon but in his softer voice is the steel of experience and knowledge, tempered in the fire of both physical and political combat.
He’s a man of great integrity and that integrity was put to one of the most grueling tests possible.
No one should forget that it was his fearless and honest reporting of President Donald Trump’s illegal and improper pressure on Ukraine that led to Trump’s first impeachment trial. No one should forget that his honesty and integrity led to the end of what was a promising and distinguished military career that had made him an advisor at the highest levels of government.
That experience is critical to serving as a US Senator. He will be able to face the threats to America with courage and firmness. He will bring unparalleled expertise of the highest workings of government to the US Senate. He will be influential from day one and that will work to Florida’s benefit. When he speaks, the rest of the Senate will listen. When he represents Florida’s interests, they will have weight. A Vindman victory will be a huge victory for Florida.
Vindman’s ability and professionalism are so outstanding it has been recognized outside the United States. These qualities even led the government of Ukraine to offer him the job of Defense Minister three times in the days before the Russian invasion of 2022—an offer he rejected because while he was born in Ukraine he is a proud American citizen.
And his loyalty is reinforced by the fact that he is an immigrant, coming to the United States with his twin brother at the age of four in 1979, so he has a full appreciation of what America means at its best.
Amidst all the hatred and bigotry and lies aimed at immigrants today—especially in Southwest Florida—he is a living demonstration of the value and strength that immigrants bring to America.
America—and Florida—will be richer and stronger by having him serving in the United States Senate and as a senator he will be an example of the promise and hope that America inspires.
Florida is lucky to have Alex Vindman living in the state and being willing to represent it in the Senate. His candidacy is an all-too rare confluence of integrity, ability and electability converging, not in a perfect storm—but in a perfect candidacy that will serve the state and the nation well.
This is the reason that I am endorsing Alex Vindman. I will be voting for him in the August 18th primary and I urge all other Democrats to vote for him as well—and then go on to ensure his victory in the general election on Nov. 3.
This message is approved by David Silverberg and the David Silverberg4Florida campaign.
It’s time to shed light on financial doings in Tallahassee. (AI illustration for TPP/ChatGPT)
July 31, 2026 by David Silverberg, Democratic candidate for Florida Senate, District 28
With so much waste, fraud and abuse in Tallahassee, it’s easy to lose sight of individual scandals.
Remember Hope Florida? It has raised its head again.
It’s to end and probe these scandals and shady deals that I’m running for the Florida Senate in District 28, which covers all of Collier and Hendry counties and part of eastern Lee County. If elected, I want to enact reforms ensuring that nothing like Hope Florida ever occurs again. In short, I want to give Florida real hope—hope for honest government and full fiscal enforcement.
The full details of the Hope Florida scandal are in a separate section, below. But to summarize: back in 2024, $10 million in a Medicaid settlement that should have gone into fighting poverty was funneled instead into a political action committee (PAC) to fund opposition to women’s right to choose.
When Hope Florida happened, Ashley Moody was Florida Attorney General and James Uthmeier was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff. Both were involved in the movement of the $10 million. Now Moody is a senator and Uthmeier is Attorney General.
After the scandal broke, state Rep. Alex Andrade (R-2-Pensacola)—a Republican like DeSantis, Moody and Uthmeier—said, “This is a misuse of Medicaid dollars, a misuse of taxpayer dollars, I believe it’s money laundering and wire fraud.”
Importantly, this year Andrade proposed some reforms to prevent this kind of scandal from happening again. They were contained in House Bill 593, which, among other things, prohibited future settlement monies from being diverted. It also required that the legislature be notified of any future settlements. (A full summary is below.)
The state House passed the bill by an overwhelming 110-to-0 vote. However, it died in the Florida Senate, which never brought it up for a vote.
Andrade is term-limited, so he’s leaving the House and won’t be back next year.
But these are good ideas and they shouldn’t be abandoned. That’s why, if I’m elected to the Florida Senate for District 28, I’ll introduce the “New Hope for Florida Act,” which will reintroduce these sensible, anti-corruption measures.
What’s more, if we get a rational legislature and a great governor like David Jolly, they’ll take effect. If we elect an effective attorney general like Jose Rodriguez, the laws will actually be enforced. And if Alex Vindman is elected, we’ll have a person of proven integrity serving Florida in the US Senate.
There’s much to be investigated in Tallahassee. I intend to pursue the investigations and ensure that no abuses occur again.
I hope you agree. Please go to my website, Silverberg4Florida.com, to learn more. Please donate, volunteer and most importantly, get out and vote for me, David Silverberg, in the general election on November 3rd.
I’m David Silverberg, Democrat for Florida Senate District 28 and I wrote, produced and approved this message.
In brief, in 2024 the State of Florida reached a $67 million settlement with Centene Corp., for Medicaid overbilling. As part of the settlement, Centene donated $10 million to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charitable organization founded by Casey DeSantis, wife of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The purpose of Hope Florida was to lift people out of poverty and off of public assistance. However, the $10 million was then distributed by the Foundation to political action committees fighting Florida constitutional amendments 3 (legalizing recreational cannabis) and 4 (providing for a woman’s right to choose).
When he concluded his probe of the transfers, Andrade stated: “I am firmly convinced that James Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron [the Foundation’s attorney] engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud and that several parties played a role in the misuse of $10 million in Medicaid funds. I’ll leave the rest of the investigation up to the FBI and Department of Justice.”
Prohibits state agency or officer from directing funds offered to state to third party as condition of settlement; provides that state agency or officer must provide written notification of terms of settlement to Legislature & Attorney General within specified time; prohibits authorization or approval of reimbursements for travel expenses to & from person’s residence & his or her headquarters for specified positions; requires that official headquarters for specified positions be city or town in which department’s official headquarters is located; prohibits persons serving in specified positions from being reimbursed for certain travel expenses; prohibits lobbyist or principal from making, & prohibiting district governing board member, executive director, or any district employee who qualifies as local officer from accepting, any expenditure; removes provision prohibiting state residency requirements for university board members.
This message is approved by David Silverberg and the David Silverberg4Florida campaign.
The Everglades. (Photo: National Park Service/Robert Krayer)
July 15, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida Senate District 28
In August 2025, after a judge ruled that Alligator Alcatraz, the concentration camp in the Everglades, should be shut down, I gave some thought to what might be put in its place and made what I called “a modest proposal.”
Now comes word that not only has Alligator Alcatraz been officially shut down, the notorious sign announcing its presence has been removed.
I haven’t seen it myself, but if true it marks the end of a dark and disgusting chapter in Florida history.
The time has come to write the next chapter and I offer as a possibility the idea I put forward last year: an experiment that both restores the natural environment and honors William Mitsch, a respected academic, scientist, and wetlands warrior, who devoted his life and career to the health and purity of the wetlands that benefit us all.
I’m not sure how the future of the former Alligator Alcatraz site will play out. However, I can certainly pledge that if elected to the Florida Senate from District 28, which includes the site as well as all of Collier and Hendry counties and eastern Lee County, I will do my utmost to see that what replaces Alligator Alcatraz enhances the environment of Southwest Florida and the Everglades, as well as human knowledge and well-being.
Below is the proposal I first made in my blog, The Paradise Progressive on Aug. 24, 2025.
A modest proposal: Restoration and renewal
Bill Mitsch in his natural habitat, 2021. (Photo: Bill Mitsch)
William Jerome Mitsch was one of the world’s foremost scientific experts on wetlands like the Everglades and did much of his work at Florida Gulf Coast University. In 2022 he retired after a 47-year career and passed away in February of this year at the age of 77.
In 2018, Mitsch proposed a solution to the problem of pollution affecting the Everglades.
He called it “wetlaculture.”
The concept was that pollution could be defeated by creating new wetlands and this could be done by planting sawgrass, which is native and thrives in this area. The sawgrass would filter out contaminants while letting water flow. These new wetlands could be created on previously cultivated land. He believed that the grass would create soil so fertile that nitrate fertilizers would be unnecessary.
He calculated that new wetlands could be created over a 10-year time period. At the end of that time, the soil would be flipped and used for farming for 10 years. Then, it could be flipped again to lie fallow for another 10 years and so on, indefinitely.
A small-scale Wetlaculture experiment is already under way in Freedom Park in Naples, Fla. There, 28 bins hold sawgrass and researchers experiment with different levels of water and nutrients in the different bins as the sawgrass grows. Scientists measure nutrients in the soil and see if nitrates and phosphorous are being removed. When the soil is deemed to be clean and fertile enough they’ll plant crops and see how well they grow.
A sign marks the spot of the current Wetlaculture experiment in Freedom Park in Naples, Fla. (Photo: Author)
If Alligator Alcatraz is in fact closed and dismantled the “William J. Mitsch Memorial Wetlaculture Experiment and Everglades Restoration Project,” would be a most fitting replacement.
The concrete, asphalt and especially the runway could be scraped and removed and in its place be planted with sawgrass with an eye to flipping it after 10 years, or whenever scientists deem it appropriate. The plantings would likely restore water flow, cleanse pollution and prepare the soil for crops in their turn.
Instead of destroying the natural environment, the “William J. Mitsch Memorial Wetlaculture Experiment and Everglades Restoration Project” would restore it. Instead of the constant floodlights, the area would be restored to the darkness that made it part of Big Cypress’ International Dark Sky Park. Instead of noise and traffic, there would be quiet and calm. Instead of harming wildlife, animals could thrive. Instead of fencing out the public and the Miccosukee Indian Tribe, all would have access.
As for the expense, it would be far less than the $450 million expected to cost Florida taxpayers to run Alligator Alcatraz this year alone. It would also cost Florida and the nation far, far less to maintain in every subsequent year. Moreover, because it would be a scientific experiment, it would be eligible for academic and research funding.
Most of all, it would replace a concentration camp that is likely to be a blot and a stain on Florida’s history and on the history of the United States. Rather than a disgrace, Florida and the Everglades would have a site that improves the future, addresses environmental challenges and would be in harmony with the land, water, plants, animals, people and climate. Instead of punishment, the Mitsch Memorial Experiment would be a place of possibilities.
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” Yogi Berra, the Yankee baseball catcher famous for his malapropisms, supposedly said. Along the old Tamiami Trail, right on the Collier County-Dade County line, Florida and the American people have come to a fork in the road. One path leads to a concentration camp of deliberate human suffering, oppression and brutality. The other path leads to a restoration of nature’s balance, a hopeful future and great potential benefits.
The time has come to take the fork in the road. A “William J. Mitsch Memorial Wetlaculture Experiment and Everglades Restoration Project” is clearly the better path to follow.
This message approved and sponsored by the David Silverberg for Florida Senate Campaign.
July 9, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida Senate, District 28
Consider the humble tomato.
When it comes to Florida and the 28th Senate District, consisting of Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County, there’s nothing humble about it. Tomatoes pack a wallop.
In the United States overall, the planting, picking, processing and selling of tomatoes is a $6 billion industry. Americans eat an average of 19.1 pounds of tomatoes a year and the United States is responsible for 25 percent of worldwide tomato consumption. After potatoes, tomatoes are the second most-consumed foodstuff (and I’m not going to get into the vegetable vs. fruit controversy!).
Florida and California account for two-thirds of the country’s fresh tomatoes.
Collier County produces an estimated 7 percent to 10 percent of the entire US fresh-market tomato supply, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Over 15,000 acres of Collier County is dedicated to tomato farming, That’s nearly 61 percent of all the vegetable acreage in the county. Hendry County is also one of the top tomato packing counties in the state.
The town of Immokalee is the center of Collier County’s tomato production. In tomato-picking season, county residents can see massive trucks full of newly-picked and still-green tomatoes rumbling down Immokalee Road.
But like every other grocery item, the price of tomatoes has gone up in Florida. In fact, it’s so bad there’s even a name for it: ‘tomatoflation.’
There’s a lot of reasons that the price of tomatoes – along with all our other food – has gone up.
There are natural causes like bad weather, freezes and hurricanes. There are also pests and plant diseases.
There’s national factors. Trump’s war with Iran is driving up gas prices and that in turn drives up the cost of transportation, along with every other gasoline-related expense. Trump has also imposed irrational and unpredictable tariffs on imports of foreign tomatoes, which are an important part of Florida’s tomato industry. (Trump did this in his first term too. See: Trump tariff tantrum targets typical taxpayers—and tomatoes.)
These factors hit consumers in the grocery cart.
Those factors are largely beyond the control of state authorities and politicians. But then there are the made-in-Florida factors that are self-imposed and self-destructive. I’m talking about the governor and legislature, what I call “Big Tallahassee,” and their war on the workforce that picks these tomatoes.
For the past eight years Big Tallahassee has been waging war on Florida’s workforce. Whether they’re migrants or fully documented immigrants, Big Tallahassee has been trying to drive out the workers who pick our fruits and vegetables – as well as build and maintain our homes, staff our hotels and restaurants, serve as our first responders, are on the front lines of disaster cleanup and run so many of our businesses.
Hate drives up prices.
Thanks to Big Tallahassee, Florida today is perhaps the country’s most hostile state toward everyone else in the world. It’s not just farm workers, it’s also hostility to foreign tourists and visitors who drive our economy, as evidenced by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ call to have foreigners bear the brunt of Florida’s need for tax revenue.
It’s hostility toward all immigrants. Trump, DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, people in charge of the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arm smear all immigrants as the “worst of the worst.” In the 19th Congressional District, the advertising of Republican congressional candidates employ hateful, bigoted portrayals of all immigrants.
(When I told candidate James Oberweis in person that his advertising was “over the top” and divisive, he responded that “we’re just having fun.”)
The targets of all this hatred, bigotry and rage are people who, in the vast majority work hard, provide essential goods and services at reasonable cost, start businesses and keep Florida innovative and entrepreneurial.
And we’re paying the price at the dinner table and in the grocery cart. That’s a major reason for tomatoflation.
If I’m elected to the state Senate I intend to do everything I can to stop these hateful, divisive, self-destructive, self-defeating assaults on our neighbors. The haters may smear all immigrants as aliens but they’d be surprised how many are citizens, taxpayers and legitimate, legal voters.
I prefer to stand with President George Washington, who wrote that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” and asks only that those who live under American protection give the country their effective support.
That certainly describes the vast majority of Southwest Floridians, whether native-born or of foreign origin. The hate has to stop.
And for those unmoved by the need for simple decency and respect for our fellow Floridians, here’s something you might find more compelling: this hate is costing us all money, every day, in every way.
I want a Florida without this kind of hate. I want Florida to be affordable again for all of us.
And I want my tomatoes to be reasonably priced. I’m sure you do too.
My name is David Silverberg and you can go to my website, Silverberg4Florida.com to learn more.
I hope you agree with me and that you’ll donate, volunteer and most importantly of all, vote for me, David Silverberg, in the general election on November 3rd.
In the meantime, be well, be strong – and happy eating!
This message is approved by David Silverberg and the David Silverberg4Florida campaign.
Speech to the Indivisible Rally for Voting Rights, Collier County Courthouse Naples, Fla.
David Silverberg speaking at the Collier County Courthouse, Naples, Fla., on June 27, 2026. (Image: Author)
Delivered on June 27, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida State Senate, District 28
Text as prepared for delivery
Hello, my name is David Silverberg and I’m a candidate for Florida Senate in District 28, which is Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County.
But today I’m not coming with a partisan political message. Rather, I want to reflect on history.
As we all know, July 4th will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But today is a significant day too because it was on this day 250 years ago that what was called the Committee of Five finished drafting that document.
The Committee consisted of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. Jefferson wrote the first draft, the others—mainly Franklin and Adams—made revisions and on this day they were ready to present it to the full Congress, which then tinkered further with it until it was in final form by the 4th.
Now, I want to make the argument that our situation today is more like what the Committee of Five faced on June 27th, 1776 than what they faced the day after they signed the Declaration on July 4th.
Why is that? Because like then, we are faced with an arbitrary and oppressive ruler who has no concern for the concerns of the people of these states. We’re living under someone who respects no restraints, someone who is above the law that applies to the rest of us. Never, in its previous 250 years has the Declaration been more relevant. Indeed, frighteningly so.
Let’s look at some of the observations and complaints that were in the Declaration of Independence. I quote:
“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”
Sound familiar?
The Declaration then went on to list 27 grievances against King George and some could have been written yesterday—or this morning. I’m not going to read them all. But some are very relevant and could have happened yesterday. Indeed, one really did happen yesterday.
For example, the first complaint is:
“He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”
Just two days ago the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, passed and presented for signature an affordable housing bill. But the chief executive refused his assent despite the consensus of the Congress and the country that it was wholesome and necessary.
“He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.”
King George was blocking immigrants from coming to America and was discouraging immigration. Sound familiar?
The Founders wanted immigration to this country. They knew that immigration brought energy, vigor, innovation and prosperity. They wanted what Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense: “O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.” They wanted an America that was open and welcoming and when the monarch blocked that, it was a key cause for rebellion.
Americans didn’t like the king putting alien armed troops among them. And among the abuses that came from those troops was this:
“For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.”
Remember Minnesota! They could have been speaking of Renee Good and Alex Pretti!
“For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.”
Has anyone been more disruptive and destructive of American trade than the current monarch, with his senseless trade wars and arbitrary tariffs? In 1776 that kind of insanity led to revolution.
“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us…”
January 6th, anyone? Does anyone remember that?
American colonists tried to do what they could within the laws and system they had.
“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”
These rights were so important that the Founders wrote into our Bill of Rights the right to peaceably assemble and petition government for a redress of grievances. How many times have we done this here? And how many times have our petitions been met by repeated injury?
And then comes the conclusion that the founders reached.
“A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
A ruler who does these things, who pursues tyranny, whether his title is King or President is “unfit to be the ruler of a free people!”
The Founders saw tyranny and rejected it. We have to reject tyranny when we see it too.
We are a free people and we intend to remain a free people.
Ultimately the Founders committed themselves to independence and through independence, to freedom. To achieve that freedom, to become a free people, the founders concluded that they must rise up and as they said:
“with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
As they did, so we must do now. We have to be the same change that they were. It’s up to us to ensure that the 250th anniversary of the American experiment is not the end of the experiment but the prelude to the next 250 years of freedom and independence and democracy for the sake of our grandchildren’s grandchildrens’ grandchildren.
And so we too have to resolve, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence to pledge to this great cause our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Thank you for listening.
This message is approved by David Silverberg and the David Silverberg4Florida campaign.
The specter haunting Florida. (Art: AI for TPP/ChatGPT)
June 5, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida Senate, District 28
As one Tallahassee politician recently stated: “Floridians deserve roads, bridges and clean water that meet the highest safety standards.”
It’s true—but it’s not what we’re going to get if property taxes are slashed and Florida’s communities are starved for funding.
The politician who said that, Rep. Lauren Melo (R-82-Naples), voted in the Florida House to deny Florida’s communities the money they need to keep going and have the highest safety standards for their roads, bridges and clean water.
And starved for funding is what they’ll be if an anti-property tax amendment passes a referendum in November. This proposal isn’t just anti-property tax. I call it “The Anti-Local Amendment.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis and his legislature—what I call “Big Tallahassee”—is aiming to end the fiscal freedom of Florida’s towns, cities and local governments. They want Florida’s roads, bridges and infrastructure to fall into disrepair while their donors enjoy massive tax breaks on their extensive property holdings. They want every town, city and county and everyone in them to come begging on their knees to get whatever pennies the political bosses feel like throwing their way.
I’m David Silverberg and I’m running for the Florida Senate in District 28, consisting of Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County. I’ve already taken a stand for Florida’s local governments and I’m here to warn you that the Anti-Local Amendment is a scam that has much darker purposes than what you’re being told by Big Tallahassee.
I’m not the only person warning of the dangers of destroying local government’s funding.
“The greatest trick DeSantis ever pulled was convincing Floridians that local government is the problem and state government is the solution,” wrote Jeff Brandes, President of the Florida Policy Project, a non-profit, non-partisan research institute that “advances evidence-based policies to improve the lives of Floridians.”
“If your mayor, sheriff, and county commission have to fly to Tallahassee every year to ask permission to fund basic services, the state didn’t shrink government. It just moved it farther away and gave you less control,” wrote Brandes.
Rick Wilson, a Florida-based former Republican political operative and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, agrees: “Killing all local control and moving it to Tallahassee is fundamentally anti-conservative,” he wrote.
In the contest for District 28, I’m the conservative candidate. I want to conserve our towns, cities and counties so they’re strong and responsive to the people who live in them.
Also, you have to realize that even if the homestead exemption is expanded the money has to be found somewhere and we will be paying more—and probably much more—in other taxes like sales taxes. Also, our millage rates (the rate per $1,000 in assessed value at which property taxes are calculated) will likely skyrocket to counteract the massive loss of money. Businesses and commercial properties that provide much of Florida’s employment will be heavily taxed to make up the shortfall. Many will either be driven out of business or jack up their prices to cover their own costs. Employment will likely fall and the entire economy will probably weaken.
How much will the counties in this district lose? Make no mistake: it will be a major blow in Senate District 28.
According to estimates from the Florida Association of Counties, Collier County would lose $62.9 million in the first year and $121.4 million in the second, under the bill passed in Tallahassee. The Florida Policy Institute estimates the loss at $71.4 million. However it plays out, these are devastating numbers.
When it comes to schools, The Florida Policy Institute estimated Collier County’s school district would lose nearly $94 million ($93,619,633 to be exact) if the homestead exemption is increased to $250,000 as the bill proposes in its second year.
Hendry County will likely lose $5 million under the $250,000 homestead exemption, according to the Florida Policy Institute estimate.
Lee County as a whole stands to lose a whopping $142 million.
Why is Big Tallahassee doing this? I see several reasons.
One is to get ahead of the affordability issue.
Floridians are suffering from skyrocketing costs and Big Tallahassee politicians don’t want that hanging over their heads as the midterm elections roll around. They see the Anti-Local Amendment as a way to tell Floridians that they’re addressing the issue.
However, much of the reason for rising prices is way beyond their control. It’s the result of Donald Trump’s unconstitutional and unnecessary war with Iran, the shock of gas prices because of the war and the federal administration’s overall mismanagement of the economy. (And don’t forget Trump’s immortal words on all this: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”)
Of course, no Big Tallahassee politician will admit this. Instead, they’re renaming places all over the state in Trump’s honor (which is also costing the state infrastructure money that would be better spent on Floridians’ real needs).
Instead of actually helping people, they’re trying to say that they’re cutting taxes so we won’t look behind the curtain at the carnage that entails. They think we’re too stupid to see through this.
A member of the Florida House put this very well. “It’s a political game,” state Rep. Rob Long (D-90-Boynton Beach) told the USA Today Network-Florida. “It’s a turnout mechanism.”
Long said that many Republicans in Tallahassee don’t believe the amendment will pass but thought it would get the base voters to the polls to improve the party’s chances.
Secondly, the Anti-Local Amendment is part of an overall war on Florida’s local governments. I have pledged to fight against this assault on local government and grassroots democracy. I want you, wherever you live, to have a say in the decisions that affect your life. Big Tallahassee doesn’t want that. It wants to centralize all power in the governor’s mansion, which, no doubt, it hopes will be subservient to Mar-a-Lago, which it views as the real seat of power in the state.
Again, I’m not the only one saying this.
“Imagine counties and cities that can no longer fund themselves. Imagine local officials traveling to Tallahassee not to seek a grant for a new project, but to keep deputies on patrol, firefighters in stations, and ambulances on the road,” wrote Brandes in another posting. “At that point, who is really running local government? The answer is not the county commission. The answer is not the city council.” As he put it: “The answer is whoever controls the money.”
He summarized the situation very well: “The real question is whether Florida wants independent local governments or dependent local governments. Because independent local government means paying your own bills.”
When the Anti-Local Amendment is on the ballot in November, I’ll have one vote just like everyone else. I am speaking out now because I think it’s a terrible idea in the form that it’s written.
I’m not against expanding the homestead exemption but if we do it we need to do it far more gradually over a longer period of time and in consultation with our local governments—not in opposition to them or laying down a dictatorial command. It should only be done after hearings, widespread consultation and in a way that helps, not harms, everyone from renters, to homeowners, to businesses, to county, city and town governments.
In the meantime, if elected I will do whatever I can to stop Big Tallahassee’s war on our communities. Instead of weakening them, I will work to strengthen them. Instead of spending our tax dollars on renaming roads and airports to satisfy one man’s ego or to open up concentration camps in the Everglades, I’ll work to ensure that we spend our tax dollars to help the taxpayers who make everything possible in the first place.
I hope you agree with me. Together, we can make sure our dollars are spent where we live and to make all our lives better—not for political games and partisan scams.
Even with the onset of hurricane season, Floridians should be able to face their sun and skies with hope and confidence. (Art: AI for TPP/ChatGPT)
June 1, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida Senate, District 28
June 1st is a special date for me personally. It marks the date in 2013 that I became a full-time resident of Florida. Very appropriately, it also marks the start of hurricane season.
Long-time residents of Southwest Florida, and particularly Senate District 28—Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County—know the hurricane drill: have plenty of batteries, bottled water and supplies sufficient for two days without electricity or assistance, although preferably for seven days. Make a plan if the worst happens. Know your evacuation zone and the routes out of town.
Every sitting politician with even a sliver of sense posts these suggestions on his or her website or Facebook page. It’s standard practice. Usually, at that point they wash their hands of the topic.
But here’s an idea: What if we actually gave some thought to the impact of hurricanes and other potential disasters? What if we actually worked to prepare our districts and the state for the ravages of natural calamities? What if we actually did something to help and protect the people and the state?
And here’s a really big idea: What if we acknowledged that we are in the midst of climate change and came up with ways to respond to it?
You read that right: climate change. Florida’s forbidden words!
Not only will I acknowledge it but I’ll state it again: Climate change! Climate change! Climate change!
We’re in it. It’s happening. We have to face it.
My name is David Silverberg and I’m running for the Florida state Senate in District 28; Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County. Not only will I acknowledge that climate change is real but if elected I intend to prepare this district and state for the impacts and I’ll do what I can to reduce its effects.
Then, in 2024 the legislature passed, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed, a law banning use of the term in all state laws.
That’s like passing a law stating that the sun revolves around the earth, or revoking the law of gravity. You can get it through the legislature but that doesn’t necessarily make it true in the real world.
But this head-in-the-sand attitude isn’t confined to just Tallahassee, it’s national and it starts at the very top. In 2024 the notorious Project 2025, the blueprint for the current presidential administration, stated that it wanted to dismantle what it called the “climate change alarm industry.”
To do this, Project 2025 recommended gutting the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and America’s weather and climate predicting capabilities.
The logic is obvious: If you don’t collect data that you don’t like, then what science indicates is happening isn’t really happening, right?
It needs to be noted that the author of that chapter of Project 2025, Thomas Gilman, was a former auto industry executive protecting a fossil fuel-based industry that was substantially contributing to climate change.
The current presidential administration is deliberately returning to the age of fossil fuels. This has given us fossil fuel wars in Iran and Venezuela and skyrocketing gasoline prices at the pump. It’s also leading to oil exploitation in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which threatens the environment of Southwest Florida and District 28. (It could also mean destruction in the Everglades, something I will deal with in detail in a future essay).
What we’re getting is fossil wars and fossil prices fueled by fossilized thinking from fossilized politicians. We’re being led by dinosaurs—and we know how that turned out the first time.
And all this, of course, fuels climate change.
Scientists, climatologists and meteorologists have theorized that climate change is making storms more intense and destructive. It is obviously making the oceans warmer, which in turn drives the power of the hurricanes.
But climate change isn’t just manifesting itself in hurricanes and tropical storms; it’s making all forms of weather more unstable and unpredictable.
Look at our own region of Southwest Florida. We’re only now coming out of one of the most damaging droughts in years, one that sparked numerous wildfires. We had no seasonal storms last year and that hurt our aquifers. In 2018 we had what I call the “Big Bloom”—an intense algal bloom that saw both red tide in the Gulf of Mexico and blue-green algae in the Caloosahatchee River at the same time. It made life on the Gulf coast extremely difficult for residents and hurt tourism and the economy.
Meteorologist Matt Devitt, before his departure from WINK News, pointed out in a Jan. 6 Facebook post that: “Data is in for 2025 and it shows it was the 10th hottest on record for the city of Fort Myers in Southwest Florida. Data goes back to 1902 (123 years). With that said, the past 7 years straight have all been in the Top 10 hottest.”
As he stated further: “There are several contributing factors to the warmth in recent years. One of the most obvious that I’m sure you see all the time is the rapid development of Southwest Florida. If you replace cooler grass and trees with asphalt, concrete and buildings, materials that absorb heat, you’re expanding the urban heat island. As a reminder, I don’t do politics on this page. That’s just the pure physics of the situation. We’ll see what 2026 has in store ahead, I’ll keep you posted.”
This year we may see record heat, more drought or catastrophic hurricanes. But who really knows?
That uncertainty is a result of climate change.
Ironically, everyday, on-the-ground Floridians know we’re in the midst of climate change. In 2019 the Conservancy of Florida released The Southwest Florida Climate Metrics Survey that found that Floridians acknowledged climate change even if their leaders would not. Its most outstanding finding was that people are aware of and believe there is climate change—something not previously apparent in Southwest Florida: 76 percent had noticed more severe weather and changing seasonal weather patterns over the previous years; 75 percent believed that climate change was happening; 71 percent were concerned about climate change; and 59 percent believed that the effects of climate change had already begun—and all that was in 2019. (To read more about the survey, see: “Analysis: Conservancy climate change survey represents a sea change in SWFL attitudes, politics.”)
To his credit, one sitting politician did acknowledge climate change. On Sept. 11, 2019, Francis Rooney, then representing Southwest Florida in Congress, published a revolutionary article in Politico Magazine titled: “I’m a conservative Republican. Climate change is real.”
As he stated: “I’m a conservative Republican and I believe climate change is real. It’s time for my fellow Republicans in Congress to stop treating this environmental threat as something abstract and political and recognize that it’s already affecting their constituents in their daily lives.
“If we don’t change our party’s position soon, our voters will punish us.”
Rooney left Congress the next year. Despite his best effort on this score, he didn’t make much of a dent. Conservative dogma remains to deny climate change while trying to grapple with its undeniable effects.
So what can we do, and more specifically, what would I do if elected to the Florida state Senate?
Simply put, I want to prepare our communities for climate change’s likely effects. Most of all, I want the Florida state government to stop doing harm.
This year the legislature passed a law (House Bill 1217) prohibiting Florida communities from pursuing a “net-zero” policy. “Net-zero” was defined as “any policy, program, or initiative designed to achieve a balance between total amount of greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere with an equal amount removed from the atmosphere.” In other words, trying to take responsible action to slow climate change and preserve Florida’s environment, whether in the air, land or water.
But under this law, Florida’s towns, cities and counties must pollute the air and warm the atmosphere. They cannot try to do their small part in preventing climate change. They can’t even use electric-powered leaf blowers in landscaping work, they must use polluting, gasoline-powered equipment.
The bill was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. DeSantis.
That is simply absurd. Big Tallahassee is actively trying to destroy Florida, its environment and a stable climate. What’s more, it’s not enough that Big Tallahassee wants to accelerate climate change and pollute the environment, it insists that everyone accelerate climate change and pollute the environment—or face penalties if they don’t.
Not only was this an insane act of self-destruction, it also pre-empts the home rule and local authority of Florida’s towns and cities, an authority I am determined to preserve. (See “Why I want to keep Florida’s local governments strong.”)
Communities that responsibly try to reduce emissions and protect the climate shouldn’t be punished for doing so.
In fact, they should be rewarded and I am determined, if elected, to find ways to create incentives for our local communities to do what they can to be responsible stewards of the environment. I will explore ways to rescind HB 1217 or at least to mitigate its ill-effects.
But that’s hardly all. I want make renewable energy cool again. We live in the Sunshine State—we should be doing absolutely everything we possibly can to encourage use of solar energy for power.
When it comes to wind, this past March, at the national level, the current administration paid the French company TotalEnergies $1 billion to give up its leases for offshore wind farms. It’s part of an overall attack on all kinds of renewable energy.
Instead of that harm, we can provide for companies and communities to limit their carbon emissions. We can expand our electric vehicle infrastructure so people can more conveniently charge up their electric vehicles.
Instead of trying to cripple our local governments by abolishing property taxes, we can offer tax incentives to towns, businesses and individual homeowners to become more environmentally responsible and reduce pollution—and bring down costs and make Florida affordable again.
These are just a few ideas that I intend to pursue if I’m elected to the Florida state Senate from District 28. Given its environmental sensitivity (for example, the Everglades, the Gulf shore and the aquifers), it’s an area with great potential to lead the state and even the nation in responsible, climate-friendly economic and energy management.
I hope you agree with me and that you’ll express it by voting for me in the November 3 general election.
It’s time to break out of fossilized thinking and let the sun shine on the Sunshine State again.
A cook on an 18th century sailing vessel skims the fat off his stew as he prepares to feed crew members. (Art: AI for TPP/ChatGPT)
May 26, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida Senate District 28
When President Donald Trump reached a deal with his private attorney/acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche for a $1.776 billion payout for himself and anyone else he felt like paying, critics—and most of the public—immediately characterized it as a “slush fund.”
That started me wondering: why do we call it a “slush fund?”
I did some research and I thought the answer was so interesting that I would share it with you.
My name is David Silverberg and I’m a candidate for Florida state Senate in District 28, which covers Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, in the 1700s, the word “slush” meant “refuse grease and fat from cooking especially on shipboard”—the kind of leftover renderings that are caught in restaurant grease traps today.
What slush looks like. In our house we pour cooking fat and grease into a jar that we keep in the freezer until it’s full. Then we toss it in the trash rather than pour it down the drain where it could clog the pipes. (Photo: Author)
In those days shipboard cooks would take the slush from their cooking and store it in barrels or other containers. But that waste didn’t go to waste. When the ship reached port the cooks would sell it to people like candle makers or soap makers or other businesses who had use for it. With the money they earned, the cooks (or whoever was overseeing the transaction), would buy goods for the crew, mostly personal items like musical instruments or books. This money belonged to the entire crew and it was called the “slush fund.”
In the course of a year, on board one of our large frigates, some fifteen or twenty barrels of slush is taken from the cooking apparatus, and sold for the purpose of creating the “slush fund.”
— Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), 1 Apr. 1852
That’s a lot of slush! And it obviously resulted in a lot of cash.
The polite Commissary informed us that they received twelve dollars a barrel for the grounds, and thus added materially to the “Slush Fund.”
— Fort Wayne Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN), 12 May 1864
Up until the middle of the 1800s the term “slush fund” continued to mean just a general-purpose pot of money.
However, as might be imagined, slush funds weren’t always honestly or fairly managed and in the late 1860s it began to take on the connotation of corruption and illegality. From there it was a short step for it to be used in a political sense, usually meaning the source of bribes and corruption.
After referring to the evidence that a “slush fund” of $10,000 had been raised by the “ring” for use where it could be made available in furthering their scheme—in bribing officials?—this report says: We now approach an individual, to whose conduct in these transactions the attention of the public has been chiefly directed.
— The Selma Weekly Messenger (Selma, AL), 30 Mar. 1867
The meaning of “slush fund” hasn’t changed since then and today it has a firmly political connotation.
Make no mistake: Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund is a “slush fund” in the fullest sense of the term.
In fact, it may be recorded as the most outrageously blatant, undisguised act of public corruption in American history. The fact that the term derives from grease, fat and waste is particularly appropriate in this case.
One can only imagine that Todd Blanche as a lawyer must be fully aware of this but he is so subservient and so corrupted himself that he would never push back. (Interestingly, according to author Michael Wolff, writing in his account of the 2024 election, All or Nothing, Trump despises Blanche for lacking the cleverness of his legal idol, Roy Cohen, or the courtroom panache of the fictional Perry Mason. Clearly, Trump keeps him on because he’s a useful tool. Anyone want to take bets on how long he lasts before he’s thrown under the bus?)
Narrowing our focus to Florida, it’s interesting that not a single sitting Republican official from the governor on down, including both senators and all state legislators, have spoken out or condemned this gargantuan criminal act. Obviously, the powers that be—what I call “Big Tallahassee”—is fine with it.
Indeed, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), running for the Republican nomination as governor, has defended Trump’s slush fund as a magnanimous gesture: “Instead of taking the money, they said ‘put it into a fund for other people,’ and now everybody is losing their minds. I don’t understand that,” he said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday, May 24.
We could explain the problem with this thinking but it would be too time-consuming. Donalds might want to take note that the money will be going to the Jan. 6, 2021 rioters whom Donalds characterized at the time as “lawless vigilantes” who “wreaked havoc on the United States Capitol Building,” an “unruly mob” showing “a warped display of so-called patriotism” and “thuggery” and “a bunch of lunatics.” He praised the Capitol Police as “heroes for their dedicated efforts in dealing with this monumental task” and said he was “eternally grateful” for their efforts to protect him. These are now the same people suing to stop the slush fund from paying the people who attacked them.
At the state level, Florida has its own slush funds. One that came to light last year had to do with Hope Florida, a charity initiated and administered by Casey DeSantis, wife of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Hope Florida received $10 million from a $67 million Medicaid overbilling settlement. The money then took a circuitous route to political action committees fighting constitutional amendments that would have legalized abortion and recreational marijuana.
At the time the scandal broke last year, Casey DeSantis was a credible possibility to succeed her husband as governor.
The Florida House of Representatives launched an investigation, which was led by Florida House Rep. Alex Andrade (R-2-Pensacola) and his efforts implicated state Attorney General James Uthmeier for directing the funds or applications for funds—to groups headed by Uthmeier himself. Andrade accused Uthmeier of money laundering and wire fraud.
“This is a misuse of Medicaid dollars, a misuse of taxpayer dollars, I believe it’s money laundering and wire fraud,” Andrade said in an interview.
Uthmeier refused to cooperate with the investigation and retaliated by calling for Andrade to be ousted from his chairmanship of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, allegedly because of ties to Planned Parenthood.
It was an improper intrusion of an executive branch official into legislative prerogatives but characteristic of the kind of tactics that the DeSantis/Trump administrations have visited upon all restraints, checks or balances of executive power.
And then—poof!—the investigation went away. Andrade introduced a bill in the Florida House that made reforms to prevent this kind of abuse in the future. It passed unanimously there but died in the Senate. Andrade is term-limited and so will be unable to pursue his reforms any further.
Call me old-fashioned but I believe that the legislative branch needs to oversee the executive branch. I believe that crimes that are brought to light ought to be prosecuted. I believe that if non-profits or Cabinet officials are subpoenaed by legislative bodies they ought to be forced to respond, tell the truth and pay a penalty if they don’t comply. I believe that investigations should be pursued whether their subjects cooperate or not. I believe that elected representatives and senators in Florida should safeguard the money that taxpayers provide the state and see that it isn’t illicitly poured into private pockets.
Most of all, I believe that there shouldn’t be any criminal slush funds in Florida.
I intend to pursue these ends if I’m elected to the Florida Senate in District 28. More specifically, if elected I will also reintroduce the reforms that Andrade introduced. If voters overturn all the slush-slingers of Big Tallahassee this year, there might even be a chance that the reforms will become law.
I hope you agree. If you do, please donate, volunteer and most of all, vote for me in the general election. Early voting begins October 22. Election Day is November 3.
A decorated veteran takes his stand in Naples, Fla., as part of the No Kings protest on March 28, 2026. (Photo: Author)
May 21, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida Senate, District 28
When we say “thank you for your service” to an American veteran, we need to provide that person with more than lip service. Veterans living in Florida need some real effort to solve some very real problems. Memorial Day is a time to remember their sacrifice and service—but equally importantly, pursue solutions.
My name is David Silverberg and I’m running for the Florida Senate in District 28, which consists of Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County.
Like all other Americans, Florida’s estimated 1.6 million veterans are being battered from all sides. The rise in prices that affect everyone hit senior and disabled veterans on fixed incomes especially hard.
Make no mistake where these costs are coming from: a war that America’s vets had no say in starting because it was never submitted to congressional approval; absurd tariffs on imports on which they were likewise never consulted; and an increasingly brutal rate of inflation.
And remember Donald Trump’s immortal words in response to all this: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.” So he’s certainly not going to help.
At the federal level, vast and destructive cuts to the Veterans Administration by Elon Musk and his fleeting Department of Government Efficiency slashed the number of personnel who were attending to veterans. On the ground, that translated into longer wait times in hospitals and slower responses to veterans’ needs, even the most urgent ones.
Then, there are the Florida-specific problems. One independent journalist who has focused on these issues is Edmond Thorne, based in Fort Lauderdale.
In his article, “Disgraceful: Florida Veterans Face Nation’s Highest Foreclosure Rates After Key Aid Ends” Thorne detailed how rising insurance rates and other costs are driving veteran foreclosures and homelessness. On top of this was the VA’s termination of the VA Servicing Purchase Program, which helped veterans pay loans and reduce interest rates on their homes.
As Thorne put it: “Behind the numbers are stories that hit close to home and hearts. Veterans who bought houses years ago at stable rates now face rising bills they never expected. Some have already drained their savings. Others have taken on second jobs or leaned on family. For many, the home is more than an asset. It represents stability after years of service and sacrifice. Losing it carries both financial and emotional weight. Many veterans are asking how it came to this point so quickly.”
In addition there are costs imposed by the Florida governor and legislature – what I call “Big Tallahassee” – refusing to admit the dangers of climate change. That means that as the next storm season approaches, the costs of either preparing for those storms or cleaning up after them will fall on individual homeowners. In Florida, that includes senior veterans on fixed incomes.
Veterans need relief and this Memorial Day is a good time to consider the options. What can Florida do?
“Solutions will require focused effort and investment. This means targeted recruitment to fill empty medical positions in Florida’s VA hospitals, streamlining the community care program to prevent veterans from falling through the cracks, and making serious upgrades to harden facilities against hurricanes.”
He continued: “The state’s 1.6 million veterans represent a vast and diverse community. Their health needs are as varied as their service records, but their right to expect timely, competent care is universal. The coming years will test whether the system can adapt to meet that most basic obligation, or if the delays and disruptions will become the new, unacceptable norm.”
I find this norm “unacceptable.” If elected as state Senator from District 28 in November, I intend implement these suggestions and work in any way I can to improve the situation of Florida’s veterans.
I hope that you’ll check out my website Silverberg4Florida.com. If you do agree with me, I hope that you’ll donate, volunteer, and most importantly, vote for me in the general election on November 3rd.
We need to do much more than just pay lip service to our veterans. I thank our veterans for their service—and if they give me the chance, I intend to serve their needs as well.
A masked ICE agent seizes Gilberto Garcia Cruz in front of his home in Hendry County, Fla., on April 10, 2026. Cruz, a 26-year-old DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient with autism, was ultimately released. (Image: Gulf Coast News)
May 14, 2026 by David Silverberg, candidate for Florida Senate District 28
Not long after Sept. 11, 2001, I had the honor to be invited to serve on the board of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. I was editor of a homeland security magazine in Washington, DC and “homeland security” was something new.
In my year on the board I tried to contribute some expertise in public communications and knowledge of the emerging discipline of homeland security.
My contribution was modest. But far more valuable for me was the insight I gained about policing from a command perspective. The veteran chiefs I worked with were professional, disciplined, prudent, completely committed to the rule of law and its impartial, sensible enforcement. I learned about their concerns with resources, retention, recruitment and community relations. I emerged from this experience with great respect for their mission of serving and protecting the public and the challenges they faced.
I’m reminded of that experience during this, National Police Week.
Sadly, that experience also makes me aware of just how far America and Florida have strayed from the ideals of those chiefs—and there’s one “law enforcement” agency in particular that’s guilty of this deviation.
I don’t know how any self-respecting, professional, experienced law enforcement officer can look at the agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) directorate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with anything other than horror and disgust.
Where professional police officers are open and transparent in their operations, ICE agents are secretive and opaque. Where professional police officers follow evidence to build a case that will win in court, ICE officers seem to detain anyone they want, mostly on the basis of race. Where professional police officers are paid by the communities they protect, ICE officers are mercenaries lured by bonuses (whose terms keep changing). Where professional police officers go through an academy and receive extensive, constantly updated training, ICE recruits walk in off the street and are barely trained at all. Where professional police officers operate according to the law, executing searches sanctioned by judicial warrants for probable cause, ICE officers perform warrantless, unsanctioned searches (and please spare me any arguments about “administrative” warrants, which are baloney, to use a polite term). Where trained, professional police officers understand the gravity of use of force and try to use it sparingly, ICE agents have proven trigger-happy and even murderous.
Even their appearance is an affront to professional policing; masked, motley, ununiformed, unidentifiable, with a bunch of random equipment clipped to their vests, they’re more like a bunch of drunken bros out for a hunting expedition than a cohesive, disciplined force.
It’s long past time for the state government to take a hard look at ICE operations in Florida and the nature and extent of local law enforcement immigration operations.
My name is David Silverberg and I’m running for the Florida state Senate in District 28, which consists of Collier, Hendry and eastern Lee County.
If elected, I intend to do whatever I can to take that hard look at ICE and state immigration operations. Policing should be open, honest, legal and impartial but that’s not what’s happening in Florida now. The terms and extent of local and federal immigration enforcement should be clear and transparent to everyone. Local governments shouldn’t be bullied and intimidated into participating in supposedly “voluntary” cooperation agreements. Nor should agreements between local law enforcement departments and ICE be cloaked in secrecy, which ICE is now attempting to do.
Floridians—immigrants and long-time citizens alike—shouldn’t be terrorized by a masked, undisciplined, paramilitary, mercenary mob unrestrained by legal limits or constitutional protections. The state should not be using taxpayers’ money to pay for immigration operations that are the federal government’s responsibility.
Nor should Florida be stuck with the costs of a blindly bigoted attempt to purge the United States of its Hispanic population, whether migrant or citizen, of which ICE is the chief tool.
That includes state support for facilities like Alligator Alcatraz, the concentration camp in the Everglades.
As this is written, it appears the camp may be shut down. It certainly should be: it’s performing a federal function that costs Florida taxpayers, who can’t afford gas for their cars or groceries for their tables, a million dollars a day. What’s more, despite the optimistic utterings of Gov. Ron DeSantis, it seems that President Donald Trump will welch on any promises to pay for it, the way he has welched on all promises all his life. Florida is unlikely to be reimbursed for the exorbitant costs of this sinkhole in a swamp.
The perversion of ICE and the whole homeland security enterprise is personally painful to me.
I was in Washington, DC on 9/11 and heard American Airlines Flight 77 strike the Pentagon.
With that and the threat to America as an impetus, I turned my journalistic focus from covering Congress to covering the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security. I covered its organization, its development and its sometimes awkward steps toward cohesion and effectiveness. I had the opportunity to personally interview the first three secretaries of homeland security: Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano; all fine, qualified and very patriotic individuals.
Whether Republican or Democrat, the secretaries and the people who served DHS had one purpose and mission: to protect Americans and their homeland.
That included ICE, which incorporated the old Immigration and Naturalization Service and US Customs Service. The whole purpose of ICE was to prevent bad people and bad things (the Customs part) from entering the United States.
ICE was doing its appointed job when Donald Trump became president for the second time. But he and his first Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, decided to turn it into something else. They wanted to use it to purge America of all immigrants and especially those of Hispanic origin. They made no secret of this.
To do it, they have turned ICE into a paramilitary tool of terror. Its job now is not really to find criminals but to terrorize whole communities and drive out populations whom Trump hates for whatever irrational reason obsesses him. Now ICE is unbound by rules of evidence, court procedure, due process, citizenship protections, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the simple, decent principle that the innocent should never be punished for crimes they didn’t commit.
This is a perversion of the mission of ICE and homeland security. In its current form ICE is not a form of protection, rather it’s a form of state-sanctioned domestic terrorism—exactly what DHS was created to prevent.
What is more, as a politically-driven, unaccountable and unrestrained force, ICE has the potential to interfere in our elections and democratic governance, going well beyond any credible enforcement mandate it may claim and threatening our democracy.
This does not belong anywhere in America and especially not in Florida. Floridians should feel safe and protected by legitimate, professional law enforcement, the kind they get from their local police officers, led by 67 county sheriffs who are elected constitutional officers accountable to the people who elect them.
As I stated earlier, if I’m elected to the Florida Senate for District 28, I intend to take a hard look at ICE, its operations and its relationship to our communities as well as the agreements that were sometimes forced on our cities and counties—and I always intend to support legal, legitimate, professional policing in any way I can.
I hope you agree with me. If you do I hope you’ll vote for me for the Florida Senate on November 3rd.
Together, we can make life in Florida safe, happy and fear-free.
See Silverberg4Florida.com for more positions and opportunities to donate and volunteer.
The Paradise Progressive 