Collier County School Board defers decision on invocations

*The Collier County School Board votes on holding invocations before its meetings. (Image: CCSB)*

Sept. 14, 2023 by David Silverberg

With thanks to reporting by Sparker’s Soapbox.

On Monday, Sept. 11, the Collier County Public School Board voted 4 to 1 to defer a decision on holding an invocation prior to its meetings, pending a similar decision by the School Board of Miami-Dade County.

Members Jerry Rutherford (District 1), Stephanie Lucarelli (District 2), Chair Kelly Lichter (District 3) and Erick Carter (District 4) voted to approve the resolution. Tim Moshier (District 5) voted against it.

The vote followed hours of public comment on both sides of the issue.

The debate and vote were prompted by a proposal that a religious invocation be conducted prior to Board meetings.

The background

*School Board member Jerry Rutherford. (Image: CCSB)*

Last year’s election brought Rutherford, Moshier and Lichter to the School Board. All had campaigned as ideologically conservative candidates. Only Lichter had previous School Board experience and a professional background in education.

At the July 31 meeting Rutherford proposed that the Board adopt a policy opposing seven ideologies that he characterized as “Anti-American, Anti-God ideologies whose net effect is to alter or abolish the Constitution of the United States of America and damage our American Culture.” The seven were: critical race theory; social emotional learning; diversity, equity and inclusion; Black Lives Matter; “Anti-Fa” [sic]; “Gay Agenda”; and “Woke.” (The original document with definitions can be accessed here.)

Discussion of the policy was expected at the Sept. 11 meeting and both opponents and advocates mobilized for the event.

However, the proposed policy was not put on the official agenda, which was issued publicly about a week before the meeting.

Instead, there was a proposal to establish a religious invocation prior to Board meetings. In some ways the invocation debate became a proxy for the ideological debate.

The proposal for an invocation was made at the Board’s Aug. 8 meeting by Keith Flaugh, head of the Florida Citizens Alliance, an organization advocating conservative education and policies. The suggestion was favorably received by Board members and put on the Sept. 11 agenda.

The Board’s existing practice prior to the start of meetings is to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and have a moment of silence for contemplation or prayer.

A 2015 invocation proposal was defeated by a 3-2 vote of the Board.

The discussion and debate

Numerous speakers made points on both sides of the debate. Opponents included Rev. Anthony Fisher, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples. Advocates included Flaugh.

When the Board members discussed the invocation proposal they ran into the difficulties of actually implementing an invocation. The District’s attorney, Jon Fishbane, concluded that to be legally acceptable, the Board would have to establish standards for the invocation that would include a prohibition on proselytizing or disparagement. That led to a discussion of what any invocations should or should not include.

Rutherford was the Board’s chief advocate for an invocation. He argued that the “wall of separation” between church and state was a misreading of Thomas Jefferson’s 1801 letter to the Danbury, Conn., Baptist congregation, in which he had first used the phrase.

Alan Gabriel, attorney for the School Board, noted that any invocation had to be religiously neutral and not denigrate or discriminate against any faith.

Lucarelli suggested a trial period for invocations and that they last no longer than 90 seconds to 3 minutes and that clergy of all faiths be invited to participate.

Sandra Eaton, the District chief of staff proposed that instead of an invocation, the Board could extend the length of its regular moment of silence.

Rutherford responded that the problem with that was that a moment of silence might not be long enough for a prayer to be completed, heard by God and answered. “If a prayer isn’t heard, how do I know if it’s been answered?” he asked. He said he made lists of his prayers and knew when they had been answered.

An invocation, on the other hand, was a form of encouragement to the Board members, he argued.

Luccarelli noted that there were times during her worship when she was unable to finish her prayers but a set moment of silence provided sufficient time for people to plan and pray.

Schools Superintendent Leslie Ricciardelli noted that all schools provided one minute of silence for prayer or contemplation.

Luccarelli pointed out that the Board would be modeling behavior for the schools and that a misstep could result in a lawsuit.

She also argued that she did not want Board meetings “to become a circus.” In the past, she pointed out, passions had flared in Board meetings and faith leaders taking positions had been verbally attacked when they left the chamber. She did not want a repeat of that due to invocations.

Both Lucarelli and Lichter argued that entirely too much time was being spent on the matter. “I think the point here that this is a distraction from what we are, what we are supposed to focusing on,” said Lucarelli.

Lichter agreed. “There are so many layers that we heard tonight that gives me major pause. It’s becoming bureaucracy!” she said. “What we’re going to end up doing is spending a lot of time, energy effort, money and then, is it going to explode in our face with litigation?” She added: “To me it’s going to be out of control and we’re losing focus on the real priorities of why we’re here.”

But Rutherford was ready for a fight. “Anybody for any reason can sue,” he said.

“Believe me, I know!” interjected Lichter. (The Collier County School Board was sued by Francis Alfred “Alfie” Oakes III when it selected Ricciardelli as superintendent against his wishes.)

Rutherford continued: “Anybody can sue. The ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] and some of these other organizations, some of them here tonight, use intimidation and threats in order to get their way. They don’t want to see our point of view but they want to see their point of view.”

He continued: “I would say the best thing to do is put it out there as a challenge because if they do it, OK, they’re going to have to win the case.” But there was little appetite expressed by anyone in the room for that approach.

The attorneys and members noted that the Miami-Dade County school district had been revising a policy and developing a standard for an invocation over the past several months but had not yet formally adopted it.

Given that the Miami-Dade school district is the largest in the state and fourth largest in the country, Lichter suggested that Collier wait and see how their invocation proposal was developed and received.

She then suggested that the invocation idea be tabled for later consideration, especially pending Miami-Dade’s action. That prompted a discussion of whether the item should be “tabled” (postponed for a definite period) or deferred indefinitely.

Lichter tried to move the Board members to unanimity that they would defer the question of the invocation until after Miami-Dade makes its decision. However, she was unable to gain a consensus and the motion was put to a formal vote. Moshier was the sole member voting in opposition.

Commentary: Church and state, past and future

Rutherford may not have intended it, but the whole discussion of an invocation demonstrated the wisdom of the Founders in separating church and state.

The proposal and discussion was actually a colossal, wasteful distraction that veered away from the real business of the Board and into the metaphysical when Rutherford started complaining that a moment of silence might not be enough time to have his prayers heard and answered. It was like a digression into the Middle Ages.

The whole proposal also unnecessarily stirred up community passions and divisions without providing any solutions to the real issues facing Collier County schools.

When it came to the boring but vital stuff like budgeting and millage rates that are the real nuts and bolts of school administration and which were discussed during a work portion of the meeting, Lichter expressed frustration that Rutherford and Moshier, the two most ideological members, hadn’t done their work—or their homework. Both had campaigned on cutting the school budget but neither had done any work on making actual cuts to the actual budget. Indeed, they sought to abstain when the time came for decisions.

“I’m having a hard time understanding what you guys are bringing to the table here today,” she said to them at one point.

The entire discussion of the invocation proved just how complex and unnecessarily burdensome injecting religion into secular proceedings could be.

President Thomas Jefferson was quite clear on the benefits of a separation in his letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1801: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

That’s a solemn reverence the Collier County School Board should share when it comes to injecting religion into the school system on any level. The wall between church and state will not only serve them, the people of Collier County and its students well, it protects them from all the ills that the Framers sought to avoid by adopting the Bill of Rights.

To see the entire 7-hour and 45-minute meeting, click here. The Board’s discussion of the invocation begins at mark 6:19.

*The Collier County Public School administration building. (Photo:CCSB)*

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The Donalds Dossier: How a shutdown threat hurts hurricane victims, SWFL and reveals legislative failures

*President Joe Biden surveys the damage from Hurricane Idalia during a visit to Live Oaks, Fla. (Image: CSPAN)*

Sept. 4, 2023 by David Silverberg

On Saturday, Sept. 2, President Joe Biden came to Live Oak, Fla., to see the damage from Hurricane Idalia for himself.

During a press conference, Biden was asked: “Are you confident there will be enough money to deal with the disaster and other disasters that have happened and will continue to happen around the country?”

Biden answered: “The answer is I am confident because I cannot imagine Congress saying, ‘We are not going to help.’ There are going to be fights about things that do not relate to this. But I think we will get through it, I cannot imagine people saying ‘No,’ they are not going to help.”

And yet there is a very significant faction in Congress saying exactly that.

The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 and this year, as in past years, the far right Freedom Caucus in the US House of Representatives is threatening to shut down the government if its policy demands aren’t met.

In an Aug. 21 statement, the Caucus listed their demands before approving government appropriations for the next fiscal year. They demanded that the United States vastly restrict border access and end “woke” policies of inclusion and non-discrimination in the military. But their truly significant demand was that Congress “address the unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI to focus them on prosecuting real criminals instead of conducting political witch hunts and targeting law-abiding citizens;” i.e., stop investigating and prosecuting former President Donald Trump and other insurrectionists like fugitive Proud Boy Christopher Worrell of Naples.

If these demands are not met and the Freedom Caucus succeeds in stopping next year’s appropriations in any form, the government will stop functioning at midnight on Sept. 30. Critical services and functions will shut down. Most importantly, federal aid and assistance to people and communities suffering from natural disasters like Hurricane Idalia will suddenly stop at a time when need will still be extremely high.

Among the members of this extreme, Trumpist, invitation-only 45-member Caucus is Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), who is ready, willing and eager to bring government to a halt. (Another member is Rep. Greg Steube (R-17-Fla.))

“I’m not afraid of shutdowns,” Donalds told Punchbowl News, a website that focuses on Washington news. “American life doesn’t halt because government offices are closed … We have to be serious about spending.”

As early as July 25 he told reporters “If it’s [a government shutdown] a requirement to break bad habits, so be it. And this town [Washington, DC] has a bad habits problem.”

Of course the people who would suffer to break these bad habits would not be in Washington, DC; they would be in Florida and in the places where they’re still recovering from the effects of the storm.

In a more immediate impact for his constituents, Donalds’ support for shutting down the government sabotages his own legislation, introduced early in the session, to help protect Southwest Florida from the effects of harmful algal blooms (HABs) even if there’s a government shutdown.

In fact, this contradiction brings to light Donalds’ legislative record in the current Congress, which is, to put it mildly, abysmal. He’s introduced 46 bills and then ignored them all.

Background to the blooms

The HABs bill has its origins in 2018’s massive and persistent red tide and blue-green algal blooms. Then-Rep. Francis Rooney, the Republican congressman who represented the 19th Congressional District covering the coastal area from Cape Coral to Marco Island, introduced two pieces of legislation.

One was the Harmful Algal Bloom Essential Forecasting Act. This bill ensured that federal agencies would monitor HABs even if there was a government shutdown. The agencies included the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. Their monitoring enables local communities to prepare for bloom effects and warn residents of health and water hazards.

The other bill added HABs to the official roster of major disasters eligible for federal aid. The Protecting Local Communities from Harmful Algal Blooms Act consisted of a three-word amendment to The Robert T. Staff ord Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Under this, Southwest Florida businesses and residents would be eligible for a variety of federal support if businesses or livelihoods were damaged by a bloom just the same as if they were hit by a hurricane.

Neither bill made any progress during Rooney’s two terms in office, which ended in 2021.

This year Donalds reintroduced Rooney’s two previous pieces of legislation.

In January he introduced the Harmful Algal Bloom Essential Forecasting Act as House Resolution (HR) 325. In February he introduced the Combat Harmful Algal Blooms Act as HR 1008.

(Also in February he introduced a new water-related piece of legislation, the Water Quality and Environmental Innovation Act (HR 873). This established and funded a Water Quality and Environmental Innovation Fund that for five years would provide money to the Environmental Protection Agency to use advanced technologies to protect water quality. This proposal would also be sabotaged by a government shutdown.)

These bills directly benefited Southwest Florida. But none of them have made any progress after being introduced. In fact, of 46 bills he has introduced, he has not worked to advance any of them. None have made any progress at all.

To understand why this constitutes such a legislative failure, it helps to understand the legislative process.

Protocols and procedures

When a member of the House of Representatives introduces a stand-alone bill (one not attached to any other piece of legislation), the Speaker of the House (actually, his office) refers it to a committee for consideration.

Especially when a bill is of a technical or scientific nature, the committee chair usually refers it to a subcommittee handling specialized topics.

The subcommittee holds hearings, gets input from the public and listens to experts before recommending that the bill be considered by the full committee. The committee considers it, often does a “mark-up,” in which it is edited and revised, then votes whether to send it for consideration by the full House of Representatives.

If the bill gets to the floor and passes, it’s then sent to the Senate for consideration. If it passes the Senate in the same form as received from the House it then goes to the president’s desk for signature and implementation.

Any member of Congress can introduce a bill on any topic. But the art and craft of legislating is in moving a piece of legislation from introduction, through committee, to full passage—to say nothing of getting Senate approval and presidential signature. It’s an arduous process full of compromise, contention and often controversy. It takes skill, perseverance and attention to get a piece of legislation all the way through the process.

In this session of Congress, Donalds has not advanced a single stand-alone bill he introduced.

He counts as successes three amendments to other people’s legislation, which passed. Two were related to the nuclear industry, one streamlining the permitting process (House Amendment (H.Amdt) 133) and the other (H.Amdt. 149) to require a report on the status of US uranium. A third, (H.Amdt. 265) established an aircraft pilot apprenticeship program.

None directly affected Southwest Florida.

Legislation introduced this year by Rep. Byron Donalds and its status

Below is a list of all the stand-alone bills introduced this year by Rep. Byron Donalds with their status and a brief description. They are in chronological order. Categories are assigned by the author. No bill has advanced further than its initial introduction. More details on each individual bill can be obtained by going to Congress.gov and entering the bill number in the search box or by accessing and downloading the Excel Workbook available at the end of this article. (Source: Congress.gov)

Analysis: Going nuclear

Instead of attending to the legislation he introduced that directly affected Southwest Floridians, Donalds chose to become a champion of the nuclear power industry and is putting all his effort into promoting and expanding it through legislation. No doubt most—if not all—of the legislation he has introduced on this topic, some of it very technical and specific, was drafted by nuclear industry lobbyists and simply introduced under Donalds’ name.

None of this is directly related to the 19th Congressional District, which is drenched in 266 days of sunshine a year and perfectly situated to take advantage of solar power. As of this writing, no known nuclear power plants are planned for the district.

Opponents of nuclear power will be comforted, however, by the fact that Donalds hasn’t advanced any of his nuclear bills, nor is there any prospect of him doing so. Like his every other piece of original stand-alone legislation, they sit at their committees’ doors, ignored by their sponsor. They are more likely to be promoted by far more active and attentive nuclear industry lobbyists than anyone working on behalf of Southwest Florida.

More than any legislative efforts, Donalds has put his real energy into ideological crusades, either promoting extreme Make America Great Again positions, defending former president Donald Trump, raising money, impeaching President Joe Biden, or trying to rise in the Republican Party. Political speculation is that he’s either angling for a slot as Trump’s vice president or positioning himself to run for Florida governor in 2026.

Whatever Donalds’ aims, protecting Southwest Florida from harmful algal blooms and helping hurricane-devastated Floridians are not among them.

Commentary: Moving the legislation

When it was introduced, HR 325, the bill keeping forecasting going in the event of a shutdown, was referred to the Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. It was also referred to the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

HR 1008, treating blooms as a natural disaster, went to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials. It was also referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

In normal times, it’s unlikely that either of these would be passed by the whole Congress this late in the legislative session. But with a government shutdown looming, it may make sense for Southwest Floridians to take matters into their own hands and try to lobby for the legislation that their congressman seems to have forgotten.

As a start, concerned, active Floridians can contact the subcommittee chairs and ranking members (the most senior member from the other party) and tell them that in light of their congressman’s inaction, they themselves are urging that these pieces of legislation be advanced as soon as possible to beat a possible shutdown.

It’s a Hail Mary play but when the quarterback is missing in action, there’s not much else anyone can do. (Contact information is at the end of this article.)

Commentary: No time to shut down

Donalds’ embrace of a government shutdown at this time is incredibly irresponsible. A government shutdown will be a new form of devastation for Floridians already suffering from the devastation of Hurricane Idalia. It would certainly hinder, if not bring to a screeching stop, operations by FEMA. Assistance to individuals, communities and the state could be cut off just when people need it the most.

Donalds’ willingness to shut down the government is especially illogical in light of the fact that legislation he introduced is intended to ensure that essential forecasting services helpful to his district continue despite a possible government shutdown—a shutdown which he himself is now accepting and promoting as a position of the Freedom Caucus—which might better be termed the Crazy Caucus.

Donalds’ action (or inaction) on these matters has brought to light his gaping failure to responsibly advance the legislation he has introduced during this session. Clearly, to Donalds, introducing bills is nothing more than throwing mud at a wall, hoping some of it sticks and not even waiting around to see if it does. He’s not serious about what he proposes; it’s merely an ancillary activity while he concentrates on ingratiating himself with the nuclear industry and Donald Trump.

And his efforts are in the service of the Crazy Caucus’ efforts to disrupt, derail and destroy the government. These people want to shut down the government chiefly to protect Donald Trump, who is finally facing justice in a court of law.

President Joe Biden has other priorities more critical to Florida: “As I told your governor, if there’s anything your state needs, I’m ready to mobilize that support,” Biden said at his news conference. “Your nation has your back, and we’ll be with you until the job is done.”

The Crazy Caucus threat to the nation’s appropriations comes as FEMA’s disaster fund is running low because of all the climate change-related natural disasters it’s had to handle. The administration is asking Congress for $16 billion to cover not just the Idalia cleanup but everything else as well and looming future challenges.

Providing that funding in the next fiscal year or sooner is really what Congress needs to be doing—not wrestling with a government shutdown caused by a handful of fanatics that will hurt all Americans and especially those suffering in Florida and its Southwestern region.

Donalds should be giving his loyalty to the people he represents, not an indicted former president and a suicidal cultic caucus.

*At a May 30 press conference at the Capitol building Rep. Byron Donalds and other members of the Freedom Caucus listen to Rep. Lauren Boebert. (Photo: Washington Post)*

__________

To contact members of Congress and urge them to advance legislation to full committee consideration, contact the following key chair people and ranking members. E-mail addresses are only for constituents so this requires a paper letter or phone call. In any messages, it should be made clear that you are contacting them in their capacity as leaders of their subcommittees. Be sure to mention the bill number and your concern for the 19th Congressional District of Florida.

For HR 325 in the Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Subcommittee:

Chairman, Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-2-Ore.)

409 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-6730

Ranking Member Rep. Jared Huffman (D-2-Calif.)

2445 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-5161

For HR 1008 in the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee:

Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-5-Ore.)

2188 Rayburn House Office Building

45 Independence Ave. SW

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-2006

Ranking Member Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6-NJ)

2107 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-4671

Click below to access and download a Windows Excel interactive version of the Donalds legislative record spreadsheet.

rep.-byron-donalds-legislative-record-2023-the-paradise-progressive Download

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A hurricane, a fugitive and the fall of Troy: Fallout from Collier County’s anti-federal ordinance

Aug. 28, 2023 by David Silverberg

Beginning this month, the nation baked in relentless, climate change-induced heat; wildfires and storms took lives and wreaked immense havoc; former President Donald Trump was charged with a total of 91 alleged crimes under four indictments; he and 18 of his associates were indicted in Georgia for trying to overthrow the 2020 election; all were arrested and processed in the Fulton County Jail; Trump’s mugshot was released; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) steadily dropped in the polls; Republican presidential candidates except Trump held a televised debate; in Naples convicted Proud Boy Chris Worrell and his girlfriend fled before his sentencing and disappeared; Collier County commissioners passed an ordinance asserting their right to ignore federal law and Hurricane Idalia formed in the Gulf of Mexico.

Other than that, it was a typical, sleepy August.

Looking ahead, of all these monumental events, the one that looms largest, with the greatest, longest and most far-reaching consequences for Southwest Florida in particular was…

Passage of the anti-federal ordinance.

Why is this? Let us count the ways.

The vote

On Aug. 22 the Collier County Board of Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to pass the “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” ordinance. Commissioners Rick LoCastro (R-1), Chris Hall (R-2), Dan Kowal (R-4) and William McDaniel (R-5) voted for it. Commissioner Burt Saunders (R-3) cast the only negative vote.

The decision came after weeks of intense debate and hours of testimony on the day of the vote that saw 52 speakers argue both sides.

Proponents, in particular Hall, the bill’s sponsor, maintained that the ordinance protects Collier County citizens from an overreaching federal government by giving them standing to sue officials whom they might allege violated their basic rights. They argued that it actually enhanced adherence to the United States Constitution.

“Collier County has the right to be free from the commanding hand of the federal government and has the right to refuse to cooperate with federal government officials in response to unconstitutional federal government measures and to proclaim a ‘Bill of Rights’ sanctuary,” the ordinance asserts.

Opponents argued that the law was unconstitutional, illegal, unnecessary, vague, unenforceable and would encourage lawlessness and confusion.

(The Paradise Progressive extensively covered this debate both in 2021 when it was first raised, and in 2023 and expressed strong opposition. Past articles can be seen here. The ordinance’s full final version can be downloaded at the conclusion of this article.)

Now that the ordinance is law in Collier County, what are some possible effects in both the immediate and long term?

Hurricane hell

*Debris lines a street in Naples, Fla., following Hurricane Ian in 2022. (Photo: Author)*

Ironically enough, the Collier County Board of Commissioners passed the anti-federal ordinance right in the depths of hurricane season, just when the “I” storms seem to come at Southwest Florida (Irma, Ian, Idalia).

Hurricanes are an annual fact of life in Southwest Florida and last year’s Hurricane Ian showed just how devastating they can be. Just north of Collier County the town of Fort Myers Beach was virtually wiped off the map. Collier County too suffered flooding and wind damage.

After Hurricane Ian, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stepped in to aid the affected area. Search and rescue crews from all over the United States were brought into Fort Myers. People were sheltered and fed. Housing was provided to those left homeless. FEMA worked hard to restore communications and infrastructure. When it came time to clean up, FEMA funding helped with debris removal and restoration.

But FEMA works according to an extensive and complex set of federal laws and regulations and those laws and regulations govern its relationships with the states and localities it helps.

There is a real question whether FEMA would be legally able to assist a county that proclaims itself outside federal law.

Hurricane season lasts until Nov. 30 and Collier County could be hit at any time. This year, if it’s struck, FEMA leadership will have to weigh whether it can assist a county that has proclaimed its right not to obey federal law and may not follow any of the rules and regulations that govern disaster assistance.

If that’s the case, Collier County alone would have to bear the costs of debris removal and clean up and would get no federal assistance with rescue and restoration. Those costs could run into the billions of dollars and the county could be crippled financially for decades. Physical damage that might otherwise be quickly repaired could linger just as long.

What is more, this could affect insurance and insurance rates in the county. Insurance companies are already fleeing the state and rates are skyrocketing, but with a county outside federal law and beyond the reach of FEMA, Collier County and everything and everyone in it will become uninsurable.

With its anti-federal ordinance, Collier County proclaimed its determination to go it alone. If it finds itself devastated by a hurricane, it may just get its wish.

Law enforcement

*The FBI poster for Naples Proud Boy Christopher Worrell. (Image: FBI)*

The anti-federal ordinance injects a degree of uncertainty in the federal search for Proud Boy Christopher “Chris” Worrell.

On May 12, Worrell was convicted of 19 crimes related to his participation in the riot and insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. On Aug. 15, a warrant was issued for his arrest because days before his scheduled sentencing. Worrell and his girlfriend, Trish Priller, had disappeared.

His flight made national news and he is now on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) most wanted list.

In a regular, law-abiding jurisdiction, the local law enforcement agency would be expected to join with federal law enforcement in investigating and apprehending this criminal as a matter of course. However, in a jurisdiction that has carved an exception for itself that kind of cooperation cannot be assumed.

This is particularly true in Collier County where Sheriff Kevin Rambosk, the highest ranking local law enforcement official, endorsed the anti-federal ordinance, not once but twice. The first was in 2021 when it explicitly nullified federal law and the second was this year’s slightly less harshly worded statute.

Whether Rambosk would be able to execute federal warrants was the subject of considerable discussion during the Board’s debate and while Worrell’s name wasn’t explicitly mentioned, it certainly seemed he was on commissioners’ minds.

After one rambling introduction, Kowal asked Rambosk, who testified through Zoom: “If that came to you, for you, and the FBI walked down here with a warrant in hand that was signed by a judge and a law that was created in the federal statutes, that don’t mean you’re going to deny him the right to serve that warrant. Yes or no?”

Rambosk returned an equally meandering response. “No, that’s exactly correct. We would never operate outside the Constitution and particularly as we talked about the 4th Amendment [against unreasonable searches or seizures and requiring a warrant or probable cause], nor should any other law enforcement agency in this country, because if you enter someone’s…. If there’s an expectation of privacy and you enter into somebody’s residence without a court order to do so that was lawfully issued, we’ll arrest you for burglary.”

This seemed to indicate that the Collier County Sheriff’s Office would still assist federal law enforcement agencies.

But further questioning by Saunders revealed the dilemmas created by the ordinance. Saunders pressed Rambosk to explain how he would determine if an action was unconstitutional or not.

“If we believe and our legal staff told us that it is in their opinion that it is unconstitutional, and we had the right evidence, court cases, information to support that then we would take the appropriate action,” said Rambosk.

“Would that appropriate action be going to the judge to rule in whether that statute is constitutional?” Saunders continued. “I mean, I’m just trying to get at: can you make that determination? I think you’re saying no, you can’t but maybe you can.

Rambosk answered: “Yeah, well, pardon me, we do that each and every day. We look at a case, we determine whether we believe it fits within the criteria of the law and I think even with a constitutional complaint we would make that assessment and if we believe that it goes to that level we may have to take it to court. I’m not even sure if any of us know that at this point. We would take that act.”

The vagueness and illogic of the ordinance was clear in this dialogue. Rambosk said he wouldn’t impede a lawful federal investigation but he wasn’t sure how he’d determine whether it was lawful or not and he might go to a judge to get a ruling. But he wasn’t sure.

The confusion was the result of the confused thinking in the ordinance itself.

So at this point it’s not clear, at least in public, if the Collier County Sheriff’s Office is assisting the FBI in pursuing Worrell or if they would assist this or any other federal investigation in the future. According to Rambosk, they’ll make it up as they go along.

At the very least the ordinance creates a fog of uncertainty in policing, since it carves out an ill-defined exception to the clear and uniform application of law and its enforcement. This is particularly relevant in the Worrell case, since Worrell has claimed to be a political prisoner subject to “blatant civil rights violations,” in his own words. Indeed, it almost seems as though the ordinance was drafted with him in mind, to allow him to evade federal justice.

The ordinance is almost certain to be challenged in court at some point, although when and under what circumstances cannot be known in advance. However, the US Department of Justice would be a prime candidate as plaintiff given that the ordinance is not only unconstitutional, it has the potential to hinder and impede uniform law enforcement nationally, especially if it is taken up by other jurisdictions, as its advocates propose.

The sky could fall

*The Naples Airport terminal. (Image: Naples Airport)*

The Naples Airport is what is called a “general aviation” airport; it doesn’t serve regularly scheduled commercial flights but rather private aircraft, including charter flights, sightseeing tours, training flights and businesses. Private jets and aircraft are especially in evidence when the wealthy fly in on weekends and holidays in season and at the time of the Naples Wine Festival.

The airport handles over 100,000 takeoffs and landings a year and serves an estimated 200,000 passengers. It employs 85 people directly, according to its website. Economically, it affects an estimated 3,250 people in related businesses and services, making it a significant economic engine in Collier County.

It is also an official port of entry into the United States and governed by the federal rules governing customs, immigration and security.

Like every airport in the United States, the Naples Airport is subject to the federal laws, rules and regulations that govern aviation as administered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Federal rules also govern hiring, non-discrimination and working conditions. Port of entry regulations are overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.

These rules and regulations must be national. Rogue airports making their own rules would make safe and orderly travel and commerce impossible.

By legally asserting its right not to follow federal law, Collier County may have created an aviation hazard, a civil rights violation and a border vulnerability.

The FAA could conceivably order the airport closed as a result.

The funding conundrum

Everyone grumbles when paying taxes and headlines usually concentrate on instances of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. But what often goes unnoticed is the vast majority of times when taxpayer money is put to work for good.

This includes federal support for infrastructure including roads, bridges, housing, education, Internet access and a wide variety of other goods and services that help people, towns and counties prosper, flourish and stay safe. For example, President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed in November 2021, invests $1 trillion in America’s foundations.

But all of that federal money comes with strings attached and those strings are intended to ensure that the money is used for the purpose intended and to prevent any misuse.

By declaring itself outside federal law, Collier County has also declared itself outside the rules and regulations governing federal funding. As a result, it may have cut itself off from that pipeline, which means it will get no help on any improvements, repairs or assistance.

Even worse, it is conceivable that by passing this unconstitutional measure, the federal government could try to claw back money currently in the pipeline or already distributed. On a personal level, the ordinance could create a loophole that encourages people to try to evade federal taxes, incurring the intervention of the Internal Revenue Service.

The curse of Cassandra

These are just some of the potential consequences of Collier County asserting that it has a right to ignore federal law.

When the Collier County Board of Commissioners voted for its anti-federal ordinance the skies did not darken and the earth did not open up. Lightning did not strike and whirlwinds did not blow. The sun still shines and the waves of the Gulf still lap the beaches. People go about their business.

The effects of this ordinance will not be felt all at once. However, over time they will have their impact. It will come in boardrooms and offices as officials or businesspeople try to conclude contracts or negotiate deals. It will come when people get their insurance bills or when the effort to clean up storm debris drags on interminably because there’s no federal money provided to speed it. It will come when lawyers review documents to reach some goal and hit the complicating roadblock of a county outside federal law.

This article doesn’t even go into the impact of giving citizens the standing to sue county officials for simply carrying out their mandated duties, as covered previously.

As for dismissing these concerns as overdrawn or extreme, perhaps that is best answered by the Greek myth of Cassandra.

Cassandra was a princess in the ancient city of Troy. The god Apollo blessed her with the gift of prophecy but when she refused his advances, he imposed a curse: she could see the future accurately but no one would believe her prophecies.

Cassandra warned the Trojans against keeping the Greek queen Helen in their city. They ignored her. She warned them not to go to war with the Greeks. They ignored her. She warned them that the Trojan horse left by the Greeks was a trap. They ignored her. She warned them that Troy would fall. They ignored her. And Troy fell.

Those warning of the consequences of Collier County’s anti-federal ordinance may be dismissed by its advocates as alarmist—but like Cassandra, the opponents may also be right.

The so-called “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” ordinance is a Trojan horse and Collier County commissioners have taken it inside the city walls. They and all residents will have to live with the consequences.

One can only hope that Collier County does not go the way of Troy. But as Cassandra might have said: “You have been warned.”

*Trojans celebrate their acquisition of a monumental horse left by retreating Greeks in the 2004 movie “Troy”. (Image: Warner Bros.)*

Editor’s Note: From 2004 to 2013 the author was editor of the magazine Homeland Security Today, whose coverage included the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and the Transportation Security Administration.

Click on the button to access the final, signed, engrossed version of the “Collier County Bill of Rights Sanctuary County ordinance.” (Contact TheParadiseProgressive@gmail.com regarding any difficulties accessing or downloading the document.)

collier-county-ordinance-2023-39-engrossed-final Download

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The Donalds Dossier: Will Donalds condemn anti-Semitism at home in Southwest Florida?

*Eyes wide shut: Rep. Byron Donalds and Rep. Pramila Jayapal appear simultaneously during a Donalds interview on The National Desk TV program. (Image: Office of Rep. Donalds)*

July 25, 2023 by David Silverberg

Hypocrisy in politics is as old as human interaction itself.

People have become inured to blatant hypocrisy, which Webster’s Dictionary defines as “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel, especially the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion.”

As common as it is, especially since 2016, sometimes political hypocrisy is so pure, so unadulterated and so outrageous it stands out on its own.

But sometimes it also presents a challenge to do right.

So let us set the stage for this instance. It concerns anti-Semitism, which is emerging as a chronic problem in Southwest Florida.

The local context

For months Southwest Florida has been plagued by instances of anti-Semitism, whether in the form of vandalism in Cape Coral, or leafletting in Naples or in one of the most egregious cases, the posting of an overtly anti-Semitic video by Katie Paige Richards, the then-campaign manager for Collier County School Board candidate Tim Moshier.

But this is also a problem throughout Florida, which has seen anti-Semitic banners hung from overpasses, anti-Semitic light projections on stadiums and buildings in Jacksonville, and Nazi fanatics complete with swastika flags demonstrating outside Disneyworld in Orlando. Moreover, its two leading presidential nomination candidates, former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), have used anti-Semitic tropes and stereotypes in their election campaigns.

To its credit, law enforcement has fought back when crimes were committed. For his part, DeSantis signed state House Bill 269 prohibiting a variety of actions taken by anti-Semites, while also condemning anti-Semitism in a speech delivered in Jerusalem.

Throughout this, Southwest Florida’s Republican political establishment has remained notably silent. For example, the Collier County Republican Party never condemned anti-Semitism in general or repudiated Richards’ video. Neither have Southwest Florida’s congressional representatives spoken out.

But now one has. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), who represents the coastal area from Cape Coral to Marco Island, has condemned anti-Semitism—and he blames the Democratic Party for it.

The congressional context

What prompted Donalds to finally weigh in were remarks by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-7-Wash.), head of the House Progressive Caucus, on July 16 at a conference in Chicago by Netroots Nation, a progressive training and political activism organization.

When she was speaking she was confronted by angry, rowdy people who felt that progressives weren’t doing enough to condemn Israel for its actions.

“Hey guys, can I say something? Can I say something as somebody that’s been in the streets and has participated in a lot of demonstrations?” Jayapal told the group. “I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us, that it does not even feel possible.

“While you may have arguments with whether or not some of us onstage are fighting hard enough, I do want you to know that there is an organized opposition on the other side, and it isn’t the people that are on this stage,” she added.

Jayapal’s characterization of Israel as racist brought an immediate wave of condemnation from Democrats and provided Republicans an opportunity to both condemn her statement and try to drive a wedge into Jewish support for Democrats.

Jayapal herself subsequently issued a lengthy statement saying “I attempted to defuse a tense situation” and “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist.” However, she also noted, “I do, however, believe that Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government.”

She continued: “As an immigrant woman of color who has fought my whole life against racism, hate, and discrimination of all kinds and viscerally feels when anyone’s very existence is called into question, I am deeply aware of the many challenges we face in our own country to live up to the ideals of our nation here. The only way through these difficult moments is to have real conversations where we develop our own understanding of each other and the traumas we all hold. These are not easy conversations but they are important ones if we are ever to move forward. It is in that spirit that I offer my apologies to those who I have hurt with my words, and offer this clarification.”

Forty-one congressional Democrats, including six from Florida, issued a statement condemning Jayapal’s statement: “We will never allow anti-Zionist voices that embolden antisemitism to undermine and disrupt the strongly bipartisan consensus supporting the US-Israel relationship that has existed for decades,” it stated. The signers wrote they were “deeply concerned” with Jayapal’s comment and “we appreciate her retraction.” (The six Floridians were: Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-25-Fla.), Jared Moskowitz (D-23-Fla.), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-20-Fla.), Frederica Wilson (D-24-Fla.), Darren Soto (D-9-Fla.) and Kathy Castor (D-14-Fla.)).

On July 18, the House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 57 affirming that Israel is not a racist or apartheid state, rejecting all forms of anti-Semitism and xenophobia, and affirming that the United States will always be a staunch partner of Israel. It passed by an overwhelming vote of 412 to 9 with one member voting present.

The Donalds context

Donalds, like all his Republican colleagues condemned Jayapal and attempted to exploit the controversy.

But he also went further, painting all Democrats as anti-Semites. “There is a strain of anti-Semitism embedded deep within the Democratic party,” he tweeted on July 19. “Many Dems believe Israel should give up more territory & even question its existence.”

He elaborated in an interview on “The National Desk,” a news program produced by Sinclair Broadcasting, prior to the congressional vote.

“Let me be clear on this one,” he said. “They do believe that the state of Israel should give up much of its territory and that maybe they shouldn’t even be in that region. It’s really unfortunate that you have this strain of anti-Semitism that is embedded deep within the Democrat Party. This was not a mistake, this is actually a main line thought process amongst congressional Democrats, senatorial Democrats and it’s the Democrat Party. And so their Party’s got a lot to answer for and for Jewish voters in our country, please keep in mind that these aren’t just comments here or there that go away because the media chooses not to talk about them anymore and ignore these statements, these are a state of fact within the Democrat Party. So we’re going to vote today, that’s all well and good but that vote is not going to be indicative of the mindset of too many Democrats.”

In fact, the vote revealed the pro-Israel, anti-hate mindset of 195 Democrats who supported the resolution. A tiny minority of only 9 Democrats opposed it. (Reps. Jamal Bowman (D-16-NY), Cori Bush (D-1-Mo.), Andre Carson (D-7-Ind.), Summer Lee (D-12-Pa.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-14-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-5-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-7-Mass.), Delia Ramirez (D-3-Ill.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-12-Mich.))

Commentary: Hypocrisy and its cure

While Donalds may have suddenly discovered the menace of anti-Semitism, it did not prevent him from turning around and exploiting tired anti-Semitic tropes and scapegoating in his fundraising.

“Radical left-wing Democrats funded by George Soros are targeting me with a disgusting smear campaign,” he declared in a July 22 fundraising appeal. He didn’t identify either the smear campaign or these radical, left-wing Democrats. Using the specter of Jewish financier George Soros to make his appeal more urgent is a common conservative, anti-Semitic tactic used both by DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.

“Fighting back against their vicious attacks won’t be cheap…Which is why I was so concerned when my finance director flagged our fundraising numbers on our campaign’s weekly call yesterday.” Then, of course, he asked for money.

To condemn anti-Semitism in others and then exploit it to one’s benefit is the essence of hypocrisy. This instance was particularly glaring and, to use a Yiddish word, “chutzpadik.”

First, for the record, George Soros, 92, retired as head of his foundations and hedge fund on June 12.

Still, Soros will no doubt continue to be a scapegoat for far-right, conspiracy-minded conservatives for the foreseeable future.

But now that Donalds has established himself as a staunch defender of Israel and put himself on the record opposing anti-Semitism and xenophobia with his vote, can he bring himself to condemn and fight the ground-level, grassroots anti-Semitism infecting Southwest Florida, especially among Republican MAGA conservatives?

Congressional Democrats can take care of themselves. But it’s everyday Jewish citizens who need to hear him repudiate the extreme anti-Semitic conspiracy fantasies and baseless accusations infecting his district in Southwest Florida.

He should do it. Constituents will be watching closely.

What’s more, it’s in his personal interest. After all, the kinds of people who hate Jews don’t like him, either.

_______________________

Editor’s note: From 1981 to 1983 the author worked as Assistant Editor of The Near East Report, the newsletter of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the premier pro-Israel lobbying organization on Capitol Hill. He extensively covered Middle East policy and politics during his active career in Washington, DC.

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Shot taken at Rep. Spencer Roach home has historical impact

*Florida state Rep. Spencer Roach interviewed at his home in North Fort Myers yesterday. (Image: Fox4)*

July 21, 2023 by David Silverberg

Until now, Southwest Florida has been free of political violence despite some strong passions and fanatical loyalties.

However, yesterday, July 20, state Rep. Spencer Roach (R-76-DeSoto, Charlotte and north Lee counties) revealed that someone had fired a bullet into his home.

“I called (the Lee County Sheriff’s Office) this morning because someone shot out my front window at my home,” Roach told Florida Politics. “Honestly, I’m a little shaken up about it. They shot through the window of the kids’ room, where the foster kids sleep.”

What makes the shot at Roach’s home more significant than the everyday shootings that occur in gun-saturated Southwest Florida is that it appears politically motivated. Like a first drop of rain that heralds an approaching storm, it could be a precursor of greater violence to come unless the perpetrator is found, arrested and prosecuted—swiftly.

The Roach record

Roach pointed out to The News-Press that “As you can see, there’s 20-25 houses on this street and there’s only one that got a bullet hole in it. I have to think that was deliberate.” He spoke to virtually all local media about the incident and it has been extensively covered in print, broadcast and online.

It’s not the first time a gunshot threatened Roach. In August 2022, a bullet was fired into the wall of his district office. However, that was found to have been an accidental shot from a neighboring women’s self-defense class.

Roach, a Louisiana native and Coast Guard veteran, is a staunchly conservative Republican. He backs Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president. In the Florida legislature he proposed that school board races be made partisan. In September 2021 he sent a letter to the superintendent of Lee County schools threatening to seek his firing if he didn’t immediately withdraw a mask mandate for school students (this after an outbreak of COVID in the schools).

But Roach has also enraged extreme, Trumpist, Make America Great Again (MAGA) Republicans.

In January 2022 he penned an op-ed that appeared on the website Florida Politics titled, “No Coronation for Donald Trump in ’24.”

After predicting (incorrectly) that Trump wouldn’t run for president, that DeSantis would and would beat Trump, “all hell broke loose,” he wrote. “Overnight I’ve become a pariah within the Republican Party. I’ve been vilified by many of my supporters and called out as a ‘RINO,’ ‘sellout,’ a ‘traitor fit for GITMO,’ and publicly denounced as a ‘Never Trumper.’” (To clarify, Roach maintained that while not a “never Trumper” he was also not an “only Trumper.”)

It wasn’t the only reason for Roach to feel outcast.

In December 2022, Roach denounced the election of Michael Thompson, an extreme Trumpist and fringe conservative as chair of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee (REC). Thompson won the election by a single vote after numerous, contentious rounds of balloting. Roach called the outcome “a dark day for the future of the Lee GOP.”

This brought forth a new round of vitriol.

“Apparently Spencer Roach has just jumped the proverbial shark and is now a full-on establishment RINO,” posted a MAGA supporter calling himself Ragnar Danneskjöld on Facebook. “He really doesn’t like it that you ‘holocaust deniers’ (aka America First folks) won the Lee county REC. There has always been doubts as to his ‘conservative’ bonafides, now he’s let us all know the real Roach. That’s one of the benefits to the America First movement…these RINOs just have to expose themselves, like moths to a flame, or bugs to a roach motel.”

Most recently, the Lee County REC considered resolutions condemning the Florida legislature’s vote providing a resign-to-run loophole that allowed DeSantis to run for president and contending that a new Florida law allowing permitless carrying of concealed firearms did not go far enough. The resolution argues that under the Second Amendment, citizens do not need even that permission.

“Amongst the delegation, I’ve been the most vocal critic of this new regime, what I would call a hostile takeover of the Lee County Republican Party, so there’s no love lost there,” Roach told Florida Politics after the shooting.

“But I don’t (think they’re behind the shooting). I hope not. It’s Florida politics, so nothing would surprise me, but I have a hard time believing those people — many I’ve known for years — would be so upset with my political decisions that they’d come and try to assassinate me.”

Commentary: Marceno time

Given that the crime scene is in Lee County, it’s in the jurisdiction of the tough-talking, publicity-seeking, ostentatiously aggressive Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

While the most dangerous place in Lee County may be anywhere between Marceno and a microphone, the sheriff has produced results. The shooting into Roach’s house is a new opportunity for Marceno to back up his talk with action.

Solving this crime should be a priority. Like the breaking of a single window pane, allowing it to go unsolved and unpunished invites bigger, badder and possibly more deadly crimes.

Furthermore, the fact that this seems politically motivated makes its resolution even more important. It was in an atmosphere of unpunished political violence that fascism thrived in post-World War II Europe. Historically, political violence has fed on itself and proliferated, bringing down law, order and democracy.

Roach himself seems to recognize the stakes.

“Perhaps my greater concern for the future of the GOP lies in the vicious backlash I have experienced since daring to express an opinion contrary to accepted dogma,” Roach wrote in his January 2022 op-ed. “Blind loyalty to Trump has become a litmus test of conservative bona fides, and any opinion to the contrary — real or perceived — is met with immediate public reproach, repudiation, and ostracization.”

And now it may be met with bullets.

Whether the latest bullet represents a broken pane or a drop of rain, history imbues this kind of crime with much more significance than just a random discharge. It needs to get more than just an ordinary response.

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Responding to Chris Hall and the really bad idea of Collier County’s anti-federal ordinance

*Collier County Commissioner Chris Hall speaks during the July 11 Board meeting. (Image: CCBC)*

July 16, 2023 by David Silverberg

At the Collier County Board of Commissioners meeting on July 11, Commissioner Chris Hall (R-District 2) gave a brief speech explaining his justification for planning to introduce a “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County Ordinance” at the upcoming August 22 meeting.

The speech contained a number of points that merit further examination, analysis and comment.

These were different than the arguments for a nearly identical ordinance introduced almost precisely two years earlier in 2021. That ordinance was defeated by a 3 to 2 vote of the Board.

In the discussion prior to the 2021 vote, members of the public advocating passage insisted that commissioners pass the ordinance or resign. Their tone was bullying, dictatorial and autocratic. They demanded that the Board ignore all the potential consequences pointed out by opponents—illegality, unconstitutionality, litigation, disruption, loss of federal funding, and damage to the county, to name a few—and nullify federal law simply because they demanded it.

That approach didn’t succeed then.

So what arguments is Hall using to promote this ordinance now and how valid are they?

The speech

Hall stated in his speech: “And so, this whole thing is brought up, we heard comments today that we’re looking to cherry-pick federal law, that we’re looking to secede from the union, that we’re looking to nullify federal law that we don’t like and that’s so much baloney.”

In fact, those comments were valid arguments from opponents. The proposed ordinance does all those things. But Hall is confusing intentions and impacts.

Hall and his allies, most notably lawyer Kristina Heuser, who drafted the 2021 version, may not have intended to treat American laws as a buffet, selecting some and rejecting others, or effectively seceding from the United States, or nullifying federal law in Collier County, but that’s the ordinance’s impact.

When a jurisdiction rejects federal authority, it rejects everything that comes with it; all the laws, acts, orders, rules, and regulations as well as the federal government’s grants, funding, benefits, support and protection.

The law of the land must be adhered to in its totality. Rejecting it makes one an “outlaw”—literally, someone outside the law and subject to all the resulting penalties and punishments. Law is an all or nothing proposition. There’s no picking and choosing; the law is the law.

It has been well established that US federal law supersedes any city, state or county’s preferences. Remove it and there’s nothing but chaos. In this case, nullifying federal law leaves Collier County lawless.

It’s also worth noting that Collier County is already on the record accepting, adhering and faithfully supporting the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States, now and in perpetuity. It expressed this allegiance in a resolution that passed the Board of Commissioners on July 13, 2021, the same day it rejected the first nullification ordinance.

What’s deeply disturbing here is that Hall—and presumably his allies—seem unable to distinguish between the intentions in their heads and the impact they’re imposing on the ground. That’s not a good attribute for lawmakers or legislators.

And, as the old saying goes: “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

“I don’t know where all that started but it’s out there.”

It started with drafting an ordinance that nullifies federal law! There’s no mystery here. Any literate citizen can read the proposed ordinance and drawhis or her own conclusions—and they did. It’s “out there” because the ordinance is “out there.” Whatever anyone may believe to the contrary, people still read, they still think and they can draw their own conclusions—and they have done so about this ordinance.

“I just want to publicly put an end to all of that because this is an ordinance, a sanctuary for the Bill of Rights. A sanctuary is just a safe place.”

Indeed it is and the greatest sanctuary in the history of the world is the United States of America. It was a sanctuary for the Pilgrims who came to find religious freedom, it was a sanctuary for immigrants who came to find life, liberty and pursue happiness, and today it remains a sanctuary for democracy and all the human rights embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Essentially, the nullification ordinance is an attempt in Collier County to de-sanctify the sanctuary for inalienable human rights that is the United States of America.

“So I’m bringing this up because in case things ever twist off in Washington, DC, in case things ever twist off, God forbid, in Tallahassee, we’re going to have a sheriff that’s going to back and honor the Bill of Rights that were given to us in the Constitution of the United States of America.”

Concern that things might “twist off” is justified because things did indeed “twist off” in Washington, DC—on Jan. 6, 2021.

As Southwest Florida’s own Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), who was present that day, put it in a statement at the time: “We are a nation of laws that have governed this exceptional Constitutional Republic for more than two centuries, and no amount of anger should ever compromise that,” and “sadly today, a bunch of lunatics tried to destroy that truth”—that “the Rule of Law, and the institutions…make America the greatest country ever to exist.” He called the mob violence “thuggery” and “a tragedy.”

Fortunately, authorized forces of discipline and order, governed and guided by law, put an end to the insurrection and attempted coup. Those forces of law and order, like the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have investigated and punished the “lunatics” and thugs who attempted to overthrow the government. They continue to investigate and prosecute them to this day.

But it takes all law enforcement—federal, state and local—to protect and enforce the law. A local sheriff is not empowered to abrogate federal law or take its enforcement entirely into his or her own hands. An armed enforcement organization unmoored in law is no longer a law enforcement agency but a vigilante posse, a mob, a horde.

Southwest Florida has experienced this before. Almost exactly 100 years ago, on May 25, 1924 in Fort Myers, Fla., a white mob lynched two African American teenagers who were accused of raping white girls with whom they were seen swimming. The boys were hanged without trial. The local sheriff was unable or unwilling to stop the violence.

Take away the authority of federal law and a local sheriff, far from protecting the Bill of Rights, is more likely to be helpless, or complicit, in the face of its violation—with potentially lethal results.

“We’re going to have the right to bear arms, we’re going to have the right to due process of law, we’re not going to have to take soldiers and put them in our house, every one of those Bill of Rights.”

Those are exactly the rights that American citizens have now under the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. There’s no need to carve out a county exception to them. In fact, it’s more important to strengthen them, as Collier County’s existing Bill of Rights resolution does.

“The one gentleman said. ‘What about the 11 through the 27th?’ We’re not nullifying those.

Yes you are, if you nullify federal law in Collier County. And it’s worth remembering that those other amendments include things like birthright citizenship and prohibition of slavery, as the gentleman, Todd Truax, pointed out.

Those rights also include the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Hall and his allies may not be consciously threatening women’s suffrage but they will put it in jeopardy if they nullify federal law. The Supreme Court has struck down a woman’s right to abortion. Will an outlaw Collier County now strike down a woman’s right to vote—however inadvertently?

“We just want to make it a safe place here. We’re not looking to do anything other than live life happily ever after. But in case anything ever happens, I would like to have an ordinance that the sheriff has the authority to enforce.”

Collier County, Florida, USA, is a safe place thanks to the supremacy of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Its residents can live life happily ever after under the protection of American law at the federal, state and local levels. If they deem a law unconstitutional they can challenge it in court. If they want to make their opinions known, they have a right to free speech and to petition government for redress of grievances. Standing behind those rights is the full force and faith of the United States as empowered by its Constitution.

Compared to that majesty, a rogue Collier County unmoored in federal law, as this ordinance proposes, would be a place of extreme unsafety, without any guarantee of protected rights or personal security.

Not only does the ordinance threaten individual citizens, it threatens the county in every way, from its smooth functioning and management to the personal security of its leaders and employees. Every Collier County official—especially its commissioners—would be at risk for personal bankruptcy for simply doing their duty since the ordinance will be enforced through civil lawsuits and officials will have to pay for their legal defense out of their own pockets.

As the county attorney pointed out in 2021, the ordinance invites frivolous litigation. Collier County would become a legal hellscape of greedy attorneys jostling like jackals to rip chunks of county money from its coffers and officials’ personal bank accounts—and those of their families.

It would also empower a single, wealthy, litigious individual alleging, however flimsily, that his rights had been violated, to beggar the county’s officials, impose a reign of legal terror and nullify not just federal laws but all county ordinances protecting its citizens. This single individual would be able to bring the county’s functioning to a halt and force it to bend to his whim just as surely as if he held a gun to every official’s head—and by passing this ordinance commissioners would in effect hand him that gun.

An issue that was not raised at the meeting is the fact that this ordinance would render Collier County and everyone and everything in it uninsurable. At a time when insurers are pulling out of Florida due to extreme risk, Collier County would add another incentive to avoid insuring the homes, businesses and persons in its jurisdiction.

The insurance industry is heavily regulated at the federal level. A county that declares itself unbound by federal law would be a market in which insurance companies would be unable to function without potentially violating their governing charters and regulations. They could lose their licenses and be prosecuted or sued for operating there.

So in addition to suffering the extreme risk of storms and natural disasters, this ordinance would not only be a disincentive to insure anything in Collier County, it would be a near-insurmountable barrier if a company actually wanted to do business.

“So with that, I want to bring that forward on July the 25th [later changed to Aug. 22] and I’m sure we’re going to hear a million comments about it.

It’s not sufficient to simply resign oneself to receiving “a million” comments in opposition, and just dismiss them as a reaction of liberals, or leftists or chronic malcontents. It’s more important to ask oneself why there are “a million” negative comments. Might there be some wisdom in this overwhelming perception? Could it be because “a million” people recognize this ordinance as A REALLY BAD IDEA?

Nor should a public servant simply scan the subject lines of “a million” e-mails and simply ignore them. Perhaps it’s important as a public servant to read what these constituents and citizens are actually saying and ponder the substance of their messages.

“You know, when I ran for this office, I ran to protect and secure the rights of the people and we’re not looking to do anything other than to do that. We want to enhance your rights and protect them even more than what you feel you already have protected. So I wanted to say that publicly because there’s going to be those out there…I’m sure I’m going to get e-mails. But flame-suit on.”

It’s a worthy aim to protect and secure people’s rights. But the way to do it is not to carve out exceptions from the laws and the Constitution. The best thing that can be done is to withdraw the threat of nullifying federal law in Collier County and drop this deeply flawed ordinance altogether.

Sometimes the noblest act of all is simply to do no harm.

The very best outcome would be to let August 22 pass as just another steamy summer day in Southwest Florida.

Going forward

During the meeting, Commissioner Burt Saunders (R- District 3), asked that the vote on the ordinance be held over until September, when many residents were back in the area—including him.

Hall rejected holding it that long, although he agreed to hold it until August 22 as a professional courtesy to Saunders.

But Hall made the point that anyone could participate remotely.

“People have every opportunity to send us e-mails, to call us, to write us, to Zoom in. I mean, just because they’re not here and there’s going to be other items that I’m going to be on the other side of, that my people are going to have the same opportunity.”

It’s interesting that Hall referred to ordinance supporters as “my people.” As a county commissioner, “his people” should be everyone in the 2nd District, which stretches from the county line in the north to Pine Ridge Road in the south and from the coast in the west to roughly Interstate 75 in the east. He should be serving all of them, even those with whom he disagrees. Instead, he sees himself serving only a small and ideologically-driven minority.

But in his larger point, Hall was right: people should take the opportunity to call, write and Zoom and express their opinions on this issue at any time before August 22.

This otherwise obscure and remote county is facing a choice. It can become a lawless, outlaw MAGAstan that rejects America’s laws, history, Constitution and, most importantly, its Bill of Rights. Or it can celebrate its past century and prepare itself for a happy and prosperous next century and remain Collier County, Florida, USA, with all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the dignity and protection bestowed by 247 years of history, struggle and democracy.

And yes, the choice is that stark.

________________

Commission Chair Commissioner Rick LoCastro (R-District 1) has complained in the past that too many e-mails sent to his office were repetitious and unoriginal, seemingly automatically generated by bots. Messages to commissioners should be original and individual and the more personal the better.

*Collier County’s Commission districts.*

Collier County commissioners can be reached by mail at the address:

Board of County Commissioners, Collier County Government Center, 3299 Tamiami Trail East, Naples, FL 34112.

To contact commissioners by e-mail and phone:

Rick LoCastro, Chairman
Commissioner, District 1
Rick.LoCastro@CollierCountyFL.gov

239-252-8601

Chris Hall
Commissioner, District 2
Chris.Hall@colliercountyfl.gov

239-252-8602

Burt L. Saunders
Commissioner, District 3Burt.Saunders@CollierCountyFL.Gov

(239) 252-8603

Dan Kowal
Commissioner, District 4
Dan.Kowal@colliercountyfl.gov

239-252-8604

William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Commissioner, District 5
Bill.McDaniel@colliercountyfl.gov

239-252-8605

A full copy of the proposed ordinance can be read and downloaded by clicking on the button below. (Contact TheParadiseProgressive@gmail.com regarding any difficulties accessing or downloading the document.)

2023-bill-of-rights-sanctuary-county-ordinance-final-2 Download

*The Collier County Bill of Rights reaffirmation resolution passed unanimously on July 13, 2021.*

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ALERT! They’re baaaaaaack: Proposed anti-federal ‘Bill of Rights Sanctuary County’ ordinance threatens Collier County

*Like the ghosts in the movie Poltergeist, the idea of an ordinance nullifying federal law in Collier County threatens to return again. (Image: Poltergeist)*

July 9, 2023 by David Silverberg

On this coming Tuesday, July 11, longtime county observers expect Collier County Commissioner Chris Hall (R-District 2) to introduce a “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” ordinance that will attempt to take Collier County out of the authority of the US federal government.

If the Board of Commissioners approves putting the proposed ordinance on the agenda on Tuesday, it may be advertised as a county ordinance for a vote at the next regular meeting on Tuesday, July 25.

This will mark the second time that extreme conservative activists have attempted to nullify federal law in Collier County, Fla.

On July 13, 2021, the Board voted down an identical ordinance by a vote of 3 to 2.

Like its predecessor, the current proposed ordinance argues that the federal government is encroaching on citizens’ rights and privileges, particularly through executive orders. It attempts to nullify federal authority by allowing lawsuits against county officials.

“Collier County has the right to be free from the commanding hand of the federal government and has the right to refuse to cooperate with federal government officials in response to unconstitutional federal government measures, and to proclaim a Bill of Rights Sanctuary for law-abiding citizens in its County,” it proclaims.

If passed, Collier County would effectively secede from the United States, lose the protection of US law and essentially be rendered lawless.

The proposed ordinance

The proposed ordinance has 13 establishing clauses (paragraphs beginning “whereas,” that state the facts as viewed by the drafters). (A link to download the full ordinance is at the end of this article.)

These paragraphs argue that the federal government is increasingly encroaching on citizens’ rights and privileges, particularly through executive orders that are not based on legislation. It then goes on to list a variety of laws and precedents that the drafters believe are being violated.

The second section lists the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.

It is in the third section that the draft gets to the substance of the proposal. It defines an “unlawful act” as any “federal act, law, order, rule, or regulation, which violates or unreasonably restricts, impedes, or impinges upon an individual’s Constitutional rights including, but not limited to, those enumerated in Amendments 1 through 10 to the United States Constitution.”

Such federal acts will be “invalid in Collier County and shall not be recognized by Collier County, and shall be considered null, void and of no effect in Collier County, Florida.”

The fourth section prohibits the county and its officials from enforcing “unlawful acts” as defined by the ordinance. Any official who violates the ordinance can be sued in court and punished under the county code.

The fifth and sixth sections hold that if the ordinance conflicts with any other law, the more restrictive rule will apply and that even if sections of it are invalidated in court, the rest of the ordinance will remain in force.

The previous effort

The new proposed ordinance closely tracks its predecessor, which was introduced in June 2021 and defeated by a 3 to 2 vote of the Board of Commissioners on July 13, 2021. It was drafted by lawyer Kristina Heuser who is of counsel to the Naples firm of Boatman Ricci.

It was introduced by Commissioner William McDaniel Jr. (R-District 5) and supported by a group of allied individuals that included retired firefighter James Rosenberger, his wife Carol DiPaolo, anti-COVID vaccination activist Beth Sherman, and Keith Flaugh, head of the Florida Citizens Alliance, a conservative education advocacy organization.

It was also backed by a variety of officials and legislators, including Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), state Rep. Bob Rommel (R-currently-81, then-106, Naples) and the county’s top law enforcement officer, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk.

The same coalition is likely to back the current proposed ordinance.

Some things have changed, however.

The composition of the County Commission changed with the 2022 election of commissioners Chris Hall (R-District 2) and Dan Kowal (R-District 4). Both were endorsed by conservative grocer and farmer Francis Alfred “Alfie” Oakes III and backed by the Citizens Awake Now political action committee he heads.

Another difference was passage on April 11, 2023 of a Collier County Health Freedom Ordinance, prohibiting mask and vaccination mandates in the county, duplicating state law. Passage of that and an accompanying resolution—although both were heavily revised and diluted—likely emboldened the effort to reintroduce the current ordinance.

At the time of its first introduction, the United States was still in the midst of the COVID pandemic, which fed advocates’ anti-vaccination passion, paranoia and conspiracy theories. It was also closer in time to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and attempted coup at the US Capitol. At the time of the 2021 debate, ordinance advocates feared federal law enforcement officers arriving in Florida to arrest Jan. 6 rioters and mentioned that in their arguments for passage. Since then, 91 arrests have indeed taken place in Florida, more than any other state.

Analysis: Ordinance consequences

What remain unchanged since its first introduction are the potential consequences of the proposed ordinance. These were enumerated and discussed by residents and County Attorney Jeffrey Klatzkow during the 2021 consideration and vote.

The ordinance would bring the orderly functioning of Collier County to a halt. Any resident could bring suit against virtually any action by any county official or law enforcement officer if the resident argued his or her constitutional rights were being violated. The officials would be personally liable for providing their own legal defense, potentially beggaring them for simply running the county.

“The big issue here is not going to be damages,” Klatzkow told commissioners at the time. “It’s going to be attorney’s fees. There is an incentive for attorneys to bring actions under this because every hour they put in is an hour they can bill.”

Exactly what would constitute a violation and how that violation would be determined remain unclear in the current draft as in the first version. Attorneys testifying during the 2021 debate pointed out the ordinance’s vagueness, unenforceability and unconstitutionality.

Since it would put Collier County outside federal law, the ordinance would jeopardize all of the county’s federal grants and benefits, which are so numerous that they ran to five single-spaced pages when presented to the Commission during the debate. It would also likely make the county ineligible for federal assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the event of a hurricane or other natural disaster.

Since it does not recognize federal authority—including federal courts—enforcing the ordinance would be a Catch-22. For enforcement, county authorities would have to refer cases to federal courts that they did not recognize and these courts would hand down verdicts that the county wouldn’t recognize because it won’t accept federal law.

A way around this was never satisfactorily explained during the 2021 debate.

The ordinance would interfere with federal law enforcement in the county, including immigration regulations and criminal investigations.

It would complicate commerce as businesses both inside and outside the county would have to deal with a jurisdiction that didn’t recognize any federal commercial rules including health and safety, labor, and taxation regulations.

The ordinance could interfere with the orderly administration of federal programs like Social Security, Medicare and food assistance on which county residents are dependent.

In addition to all these impacts within the county, passage of the ordinance would make Collier County a national laughingstock, if not an international pariah. Potential visitors and guests would hesitate—to put it mildly—traveling to a destination that didn’t recognize national law and was effectively lawless.

Given its obvious unconstitutionality, the ordinance would immediately be subject to court challenge and the county would have to pay the costs of defending it—likely in federal courts whose authority the county would be fighting not to recognize.

“It is so unconstitutional in so many ways I would say, ‘Let’s go out and have a beer and forget about this,’” said David Millstein, a retired civil rights attorney who also taught civil rights law and served as former head of the Collier County American Civil Liberties Union, at the time.

Commentary: Stopping stupidity at the source

On the day that the Board of Commissioners defeated the first ordinance, it also unanimously passed a resolution stating that: “…The County Commission of Collier County, Florida reaffirms its loyalty, its patriotism and its allegiance to the United States Constitution, its Bill of Rights, its Amendments and the duly constituted laws, acts, orders, rules, and regulations of the United States of America and that these have force in Collier County as they do in the rest of the United States, now and in perpetuity.”

That resolution should reassure all who are worried about the applicability of the Bill of Rights in Collier County, Fla.

There is no need for a “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” because the United States itself is a sanctuary for the Bill of Rights in every jurisdiction and in all places where American law holds sway.

What is more, the Commission rejected it after fully debating it in 2021 and examining all its aspects and implications. The arguments then also apply now.

The clear and obvious fact is that this proposed ordinance is nothing more than a legalistic expression of rage and paranoia ungrounded in actual law or reality from people who simply don’t want to follow rules they don’t like. It is part of a wave of politically-driven sanctuary proposals that have cropped up around the country.

The ordinance is not formally on the published agenda of the next meeting of the Collier County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday morning.

However, as happened in 2021, it may be slipped onto the agenda without prior notice. If the Commission chooses to schedule formal debate, the ordinance will have to be advertised and is likely to formally appear for a vote on the agenda of the next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, July 25.

To register an opinion on this ordinance, whether it should be considered by the Commission at all and whether it is right for Collier County, residents can weigh in with commissioners or speak at the July 11 scheduled meeting.

That meeting will take place at 9 am in the Board of Commissioners chamber on the third floor of the Administration Building at 3299 Tamiami Trail East, Suite 303, Naples, Fla.

Public petition speakers are limited to 10 minutes and general address speakers to 3 minutes. Speakers must fill out request slips available outside the chamber prior to the meeting.

Commissioners can be contacted at:

Rick LoCastro, Chairman
Commissioner, District 1
Rick.LoCastro@CollierCountyFL.gov

239-252-8601

Chris Hall
Commissioner, District 2
Chris.Hall@colliercountyfl.gov

239-252-8602

Burt L. Saunders

Commissioner, District 3

Burt.Saunders@CollierCountyFL.Gov

(239) 252-8603

Dan Kowal
Commissioner, District 4
Dan.Kowal@colliercountyfl.gov

239-252-8604

William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Commissioner, District 5

Bill.McDaniel@colliercountyfl.gov

239-252-8605

A full copy of the proposed ordinance can be downloaded here. (Contact TheParadiseProgressive@gmail.com regarding any difficulties accessing or downloading the document.)

2023-bill-of-rights-sanctuary-county-ordinance-final Download

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Polling and surveying could put FGCU on the national map—and benefit Southwest Florida

Public opinion research has impact on the region

*Volunteers canvas a Naples, Fla., neighborhood during a 2018 campaign. (Photo: Author’s collection.)*

June 20, 2023 by David Silverberg

Southwest Floridians could be forgiven if they don’t pay attention to polls. After all, there’s an avalanche of polling going on right now.

Every day political news junkies can see a spectrum of headlines: Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) or former President Donald Trump up or down in polls measuring sentiment in different states; good news or bad news for presidential candidates in increasingly exotic and narrow slices of Republican potential primary voters; approval and disapproval ratings for President Joe Biden and Democrats versus Republicans, are just a few.

Most times, national pollsters don’t bother with Southwest Florida. It’s too obscure and unpopulated to make a decisive difference in any election or have an impact as a market (as compared, say, to Miami).

But popular sentiment in Southwest Florida is important and deserves to be measured regularly, scientifically, apolitically and objectively. Right now there are no reliable, public sources of information about Southwest Florida public opinion. What is more, regional public sentiment will become more important as the area’s population grows.

Southwest Florida should have a better finger on the pulse of the region’s people. Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) could provide an academic, non-political center for such polling and surveying that would be an asset to the region and potentially to the nation. What is more, it could provide a source of income to the school, boost its national reputation and train students for future jobs.

Two examples explain why public opinion research is important in Southwest Florida and the impact it can have.

On the Table and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida

(Terminology note: This article distinguishes between “polls” and “surveys.” A “poll” or “polling” examines choices, whether between candidates or anything else, for example, between different products. A “survey” or “surveying” gathers information to determine attitudes and opinions. Both use representative samples to extrapolate conclusions and probabilities about larger populations.)

Two surveys conducted in Southwest Florida have provided significant insights into the region’s public thinking.

On the Table

One survey was just released yesterday, June 19, by the group On the Table for Southwest Florida. It sought opinions on the area’s most urgent social challenges.

Started in 2014 by the Chicago Community Trust, On the Table is a non-profit organization that attempts to bring communities together to discuss issues of common interest and concern. It claims to have involved over half a million residents in over 25 communities across the country.

In Southwest Florida’s case, the Charlotte Community Foundation, the Collier Community Foundation and the Collaboratory, a community problem-solving network based in Fort Myers, collaborated to hold a community forum on March 30. The forum consisted of networked but physically remote conversations by participants across the region, including people in Glades and Hendry counties. According to On the Table, over 4,000 people participated.

Of those participants, 811 completed a survey on the area’s social problems. FGCU participated in processing the results.

By 70 percent across all counties, the participants ranked the need for affordable housing and the problem of homelessness as the area’s most urgent need.

That was followed by mental health and substance abuse issues at 61 percent, healthcare access and cost at 52 percent, employment and economic development at 49 percent and kindergarten through high school education also at 49 percent. Other issues mentioned included hunger and food insecurity, transportation and traffic, crime and violence, social justice and equality, environmental issues, services for the disabled and senior citizen issues.

*Regional social issues listed by On the Table participants, grouped by county and priority.*

These results are not statistically authoritative; there are many arguments that could be made about the sample and the methodology and On the Table acknowledged this. “Respondents constitute a non-random sample, as such conclusions cannot be scientifically generalized beyond the collected survey,” it stated in its final report.

However, it added: “Yet, even with that caveat, data provided powerful insights into the most important social issues facing the region.”

That is absolutely true. The On the Table survey was significant in providing insight into people’s concerns about the challenges to the region. In the absence of any authoritative, dedicated think-tank comprehensively analyzing the region’s needs, this was a good start. The results can be used by lawmakers and government officials in shaping solutions and proposals and setting priorities.

It was a significant surveying initiative in a region that has too little such insight as it moves forward.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida

On Feb. 20, 2019, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, an environmental advocacy organization, released The Southwest Florida Climate Metrics Survey.

It was a survey of 800 adults over 18 years of age that had been done the previous October. It covered 401 respondents in the Fort Myers area, with proportions in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.

This survey was significant in revealing that Southwest Floridians understood and believed that climate change was real and was happening—in contrast to their public officials and politicians who until then denied it as an article of faith.

According to the respondents in that survey:

76 percent noticed more severe weather and changing seasonal weather patterns over previous years;
75 percent believed climate change was happening;
71 percent were concerned about climate change;
59 percent believed the effects of climate change were already happening.

The survey found that public attitudes changed after 2017’s Hurricane Irma, which Rob Moher, president and CEO of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, characterized as “a wake-up call for Southwest Florida.”

It also revealed that residents supported government action to deal with climate change, with 93 percent calling for more government protection of mangroves and wetlands and 67 percent saying the government needed to protect everyone from the impacts of extreme weather.

It cannot be overstated just what a revelation these results were at the time. They helped change attitudes throughout the region. On Sept. 11 of that year, then-Rep. Francis Rooney, the Republican representing the 19th Congressional District, published an article in Politico magazine: “I’m a conservative Republican. Climate change is real. It’s time to stop denying a crisis that our constituents are already seeing every day.”

The Conservancy survey was a solid example of how the revelation of citizen attitudes can inform official actions and positions.

It would be very interesting to see the results of a follow-up survey on attitudes in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

A modest proposal: A public opinion research center at FGCU

Given the importance of public attitudes on regional issues, public surveys shouldn’t be as infrequent and sporadic as they are in Southwest Florida.

The region has an institution in FGCU that could serve as an impartial, politically neutral center for public polling.

In this, it can look to the example of Monmouth University in Long Branch, NJ. A liberal arts institution founded in 1933, in 2005 it created its own Polling Institute and recruited Patrick Murray, a professional New Jersey pollster, as its founding director.

“At small schools, the idea is to use the poll as a loss leader for visibility for the institution,” Cliff Zukin, a Rutgers University professor who taught Murray, said in a 2018 New Jersey Monthly magazine interview. The idea, according to Zukin, is to hire good pollsters, then watch them and their numbers flash across screens, emblazoned with the institution’s name. Quinnipiac, Siena, Marist, Fairleigh Dickinson—all are schools that followed this playbook.

Today, Monmouth University is not only highly respected for its polling, which is considered some of the best in the country, it monitors public opinion, works with faculty and students on public opinion research and provides input into government decisionmaking. What’s more, it trains students for jobs in public survey research.

There is no reason that FGCU could not also follow this playbook. Not only would it raise the school’s profile, it would provide regular insight into Southwest Florida public opinion. With time and as its reputation grows, it could expand its reach throughout Florida and the Southeastern United States and then nationally. It could take on commercial, non-political polling and surveying, creating a revenue stream for the University. It could partner with other established academic polling centers like Monmouth University. And it would do this while training students for jobs in public opinion research, which is a field in much demand.

Whether FGCU decides to go this route or not, there is a real need for insight into public opinion in Southwest Florida. The two major surveys done to date have shown how this kind of research can have a real impact. For a growing region, knowing how people are thinking and feeling would provide a useful tool and be an asset both for FGCU and for all of Southwest Florida.

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Southwest Florida and entire state likely to feel labor, economic woes from anti-immigration measures

*Farm laborers load freshly picked produce. (Photo: Coalition of Immokalee Workers)*

May 17, 2023 by David Silverberg

A pair of recently-passed anti-immigration and border restriction measures appear set to do significant economic and labor damage to Southwest Florida.

At the state level, on Wednesday, May 10 Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed Senate Bill 1718 into law, imposing new restrictions on immigration in Florida. At a Fort Myers news conference last Friday, May 12, he stated: “The border should be shut down. I mean, this is ridiculous what’s going on. You shut it down. You do need to construct a wall.”

At the national level, Southwest Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-26-Fla.) led the Republican effort in the US House of Representatives to put new restrictions on immigration and revive the building of former President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.

That measure, the Secure the Border Act of 2023 (House Resolution (HR) 2), passed in the House last Thursday, May 11, by a narrow vote of 219 to 213.

However, the bill is unlikely to make any headway in the Democratic-dominated Senate and President Joe Biden has promised to veto it.

(A note on terminology for this article: By definition, an “immigrant” is a person who has entered and/or settled in a country legally. All immigrants are, ipso facto, “legal” and technically there is no such thing as an “illegal immigrant” or “illegal immigration.” By contrast, a “migrant” is someone who is migrating from one place to another, whether or not over international borders. An “undocumented migrant” is someone who lacks proper documentation and permissions to travel or settle in a place. An “alien” is someone from another country, whether traveling or in residence, documented or not.)

State restrictions

According to its official summary, Florida’s new state law restricting immigration does the following (the tense has been altered to reflect its passage):

“Prohibits counties and municipalities, respectively, from providing funds to any person, entity, or organization to issue identification documents to an individual who does not provide proof of lawful presence in the United States; specifies that certain driver licenses and permits issued by other states exclusively to unauthorized immigrants are not valid in this state; requires certain hospitals to collect patient immigration status data information on admission or registration forms; requires the Department of Economic Opportunity to enter a certain order and require repayment of certain economic development incentives if the department finds or is notified that an employer has knowingly employed an unauthorized alien without verifying the employment eligibility of such person, etc.”

It appropriates $12 million to an Unauthorized Alien Transportation Program to transport migrants out of Florida.

The bill was introduced by state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-11- Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties) on March 7 and passed 27 to 10 on April 28. When considered in the state House, 17 amendments to alter it were all defeated and it passed on May 2 by a vote of 83 to 36.

Warning that there would be “huge, huge problems” when the pandemic-restrictive Title 42 lapsed, DeSantis said, “You are going to see a massive surge of illegal aliens, you have a duty to ensure that these borders are secure. This is a huge disaster on our hands,” when he signed the bill in Jacksonville on May 10. Ingoglia called it “the strongest state-led anti-illegal immigration bill ever brought forth.”

“Ron DeSantis’ legacy will forever be rooted in the fact that as the governor of the state of Florida, he signed into law the most brutal, inhumane, and anti-American immigration legislation that we’ve seen in the last 30 years of U.S. History,” Andrea Mercado, director of Florida Rising, a state voting rights organization, declared in a written statement. “It is a life-threatening, intimidating, and dangerous political stunt.”

The Hispanic Leadership Fund, a pro-business group based in Washington, DC, also slammed the new law, stating it “has a very serious potential to promote racial profiling and infringe on the rights of not just immigrants, but American citizens and their families,” according to Mario Lopez, the organization’s president.

The law takes effect on July 1.

The federal bill

On the national level, HR 2 does the following:

requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resume activities to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border;
provides statutory authorization for Operation Stonegarden, which provides grants to law enforcement agencies for certain border security operations;
prohibits DHS from processing the entry of non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) arriving between ports of entry;
limits asylum eligibility to non-U.S. nationals who arrive in the United States at a port of entry;
authorizes the removal of a non-US national to a country other than that individual’s country of nationality or last lawful habitual residence, whereas currently this type of removal may only be to a country that has an agreement with the United States for such removal;
expands the types of crimes that may make an individual ineligible for asylum, such as a conviction for driving while intoxicated causing another person’s serious bodily injury or death;
authorizes DHS to suspend the introduction of certain non-US nationals at an international border if DHS determines that the suspension is necessary to achieve operational control of that border;
prohibits states from imposing licensing requirements on immigration detention facilities used to detain minors;
authorizes immigration officers to permit an unaccompanied alien child to withdraw their application for admission into the United States even if the child is unable to make an independent decision to withdraw the application;
imposes additional penalties for overstaying a visa; and
requires DHS to create an electronic employment eligibility confirmation system modeled after the E-Verify system and requires all employers to use the system.

“Border security is national security,” tweeted Diaz-Balart after its passage. “[House Republicans] passed my bill HR2 to take back control of the border while the Biden Admin keeps saying the border is secure. Biden admin needs to get its head out of the sand.”

On May 2, the National Migration Forum, a pro-immigration advocacy group, in an extensive analysis of the bill, called it “an expansive proposal [that] represents an enforcement-only approach to migration-related challenges at the United States-Mexico border and beyond.”

It continued: “In practice, the bill package would severely restrict the right to seek asylum in the US, curtail other existing lawful pathways, place unnecessary pressure on border communities, intensify labor shortages faced by small businesses and essential industries, establish new criminal penalties, and make other significant changes to U.S. immigration law.”

A date for consideration of HR 2 by the Senate had not been set as of this writing.

Impacts on Southwest Florida

While much of the population of Southwest Florida resides on the coast, most of the region’s land is either protected from development or used for agriculture. The agricultural sector is heavily dependent on seasonal migrant labor. The new state restrictions will undoubtedly affect Southwest Florida’s economy, especially in agriculture, construction, hospitality, tourism and services.

When it comes to agriculture, major local crops include tomatoes, strawberries, melons and citrus. Ranching and livestock breeding are also part of the mix. An estimated 6,626 people were employed in Southwest Florida agriculture, according to the US Census as quoted by Florida Gulf Coast University’s 2022 Agriculture Southwest Florida Economic Almanac Series. Most field workers are migrants, whether documented or not, and work seasonally, depending on the crop.

“Everybody is in a panic because nobody knows what’s going to happen,” immigration attorney Gina Fraga told WPTV in Palm Beach.

Denise Negron, the executive director of the Farmworker Coordinator Council of Palm Beach County, told the TV station: “I’ve been hearing that probably they will not be sending their kids to school, and they are afraid to go to work, and it’s sad,” she said.

The stresses on the agricultural labor force come on the heels of the devastation to crops and the agriculture industry in the area caused by Hurricane Ian. Directly in the storm’s path were roughly 375,000 acres of citrus; over 200,000 acres of vegetables; more than 180,000 acres of hay; as well as 95,000 acres of other field crops, like sugarcane, cotton, and peanuts, according to Growing Produce, an industry website.

One local voice calling for a balance between border security, immigration reform and agribusiness is the area’s former congressman, Francis Rooney, a Republican conservative.

“Congress must balance the need for border security with the need for workers. Secure the border, fix our visa and asylum systems, and finally solve the immigration issue instead of using it as a political football,” he tweeted on May 11.

In contrast, the sitting member of Congress representing coastal Lee and Collier counties, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), has been relentlessly on the attack about border security, hammering Republican talking points and raising money for his own reelection, without addressing the impact on the district.

“Democrats ALWAYS wanted this massive surge at the border with no checks or balances AT ALL,” he tweeted on Monday, May 15. “What’s going on now is due to Biden’s recklessness & desire to end all Trump policies that ACTUALLY secured our border. Now they’re scrambling to find fixes to the problem Biden created.”

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a local farm labor advocacy group, put out a statement on HB 1718 that goes into detail about its possible effects on both labor and the economy. It merits quotation in full:

“We stand firmly against SB 1718, and against the fear, division, and economic hardship it will bring to Florida. The malicious provision requiring public hospitals to ask for immigration status will cruelly discourage people in need of medical attention, including young children, from seeking the care they need. The transportation provision will criminalize everyday Floridians – including travel team coaches and commercial bus drivers, parent chaperones on field trips, and small businesses keeping the state’s fragile economy running – for innocently traveling in and out of our state. The law is inhumane, impossible to fairly enforce, and leaves our communities less safe and more divided than ever.

“When it comes to the law’s inevitable economic impact, lawmakers in Tallahassee have missed critical lessons from recent history. One need only look to the agricultural fields in Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona in 2010 and 2011, full of rotting peaches, peppers, and watermelons, to see the disastrous impact of anti-immigrant legislation on labor supply and tourism. In addition to the contribution immigrants make to our state’s economy every single day, which is easily measurable in ever-rising labor productivity and millions of tax dollars, the authors of this bill also entirely neglect the immeasurable gifts of immigrant families in our schools, our sanctuaries of faith, and our communities everywhere across our state.”

There has been discussion of boycotts of Florida, especially by truckers, particularly in Hispanic social media, although no protests or boycotts have been formally announced by established organizations.

Commentary: Putting the border in perspective

Southwest Florida has a direct stake in the situation on the US southwestern border and US immigration policy but the situation has been overly hyped and politicized to the point where a clear picture is not being presented to the public.

The Republican mantra is that the border is “open,” meaning completely uncontrolled and unregulated. That is simply not true. The United States has considerable controls both at its ports of entry and between them and is adding to them by surging its own resources.

There are “open” borders around the world and one of the most open used to be in Mexico’s south, where there were virtually no controls between Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. People would simply cross the river marking the boundary with Mexico on rafts, while truckers on the bridge crossing the river would bribe guards to let unexamined loads go through. That border has now been tightened up, thanks to US-Mexican agreements.

*Migrants from Latin America cross into Mexico on rafts during a migration surge in the mid-2010s. (Photo: Author’s collection)*

The purpose of rational border control is to facilitate legitimate trade and travel and keep illegal goods and unauthorized people out. US trade with Mexico was worth $614.5 billion in 2019, a commercial flow that neither the United States or Mexico want to cut off, which is what would happen if DeSantis had his way and closed the border.

While tensions between the United States and Mexico date back to Mexico’s independence in 1821, they were deliberately ratcheted up by Donald Trump during his candidacy in 2015.

In his very first speech as a candidate he accused Mexicans of “sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” He painted a picture that has persisted to this day and has not changed for his followers or in the minds of millions of Americans.

Trump’s solution was a brick and mortar wall along the US-Mexican border, which he proved unable to build during his time as president, even with a Republican-controlled Congress. The sections that were erected are already crumbling and corroding.

However, the mirage of a completely sealed, impermeable, walled border through which not a molecule passes continues to mesmerize MAGAs, Republican lawmakers as well as Trump, DeSantis and Diaz-Balart (whose parents came to the United States as refugees from Castro’s Cuba and whose aunt was Fidel Castro’s first wife). This delusional vision is being promoted in HR2 and on the campaign trail as candidates jostle for the 2024 presidential nomination.

What is happening at the border with Mexico is a surge of migrants seeking asylum that has overwhelmed many existing border resources. It needs to be pointed out, though, that asylum seekers are not migrants attempting to cross the border illegally or covertly. They are applying for asylum through procedures the United States has established. When Title 42 ended, contrary to the apocalypse that was feared, the number of applicants dropped by half and applicants were required to apply through an online application or face stiff penalties.

Asylum-seekers are now being processed and sent around the country for adjudication. Illegal border crossers are facing five-year penalties if caught.

Ultimately, the issues of border security and immigration are inextricably intertwined. Until there is comprehensive immigration reform, including a rational guest worker program that works for both labor and business, the crisis will continue. The US Congress came very close to bipartisan agreement on reforms in 2007 and 2013 but both failed in the face of intransigent opposition. The day may come when another effort is made.

The current surge needs to be put into context because the United States is not unique. About 2.3 percent of the world’s population—184 million people, including 37 million refugees—live outside their country of nationality, according to the World Bank.

There is a global south-to-north movement of people seeking better lives, simple refuge, or fleeing climate change and life-threatening situations. In an effort to enter Europe, waves of African migrants have attempted to overwhelm the border controls of the two remaining Spanish possessions in North Africa, the cities of Ceuta and Melilla. In the Mediterranean Sea, migrants from the Middle East and northern Africa have set out on rickety, overcrowded boats to reach Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta. In Asia, poverty in Bangladesh and oppression in Myanmar have led people to flee those countries. Wars in Ukraine, Syria, and Sudan have led to massive refugee flows that directly impact neighboring countries, which try to cope as best they can while providing humanitarian aid.

Around the world, people are on the move toward better lives, greater freedom and simple safety. The United States is no exception.

What is complicating the American situation is the continuing MAGA view of migrants as criminals and rapists threatening the white population physically, politically and demographically.

It also reflects a deliberate attack on American confidence in the power of rationality and the strength of American values. In the past, Americans had confidence that their democracy, their values and their freedoms were so compelling that they could absorb and convert immigrants into loyal, productive Americans. Now, they want to exclude them on the basis of race and national origin. They no longer believe that America is an idea all can embrace; to them it’s a club that should exclude everyone but themselves.

In the short term, Florida’s attempted exclusion of immigrants will work to its detriment and at a cost to its economy and businesses. It is only with time that it will learn just how deep, painful and costly it will prove—and soon, Southwest Florida will be among the first regions to feel those effects.

________________

Editor’s note: From 2004 to 2012 the author served as editor of the magazine Homeland Security Today, which extensively covered border security and policy. A three-part series on Mexico’s drug cartel wars, their history and causes that he conceived, organized and edited, “Savage Struggle on the Border,” won the 2010 National Gold Award for Best Feature Series from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. In 2014 he was also founding editor of the BorderNewsNetwork.com, an online effort to cover news of all the world’s borders.

A *US Border Patrol agent examines a shipment of jalapeno peppers destined for the United States for contraband and contamination. (Photo: CBP)*

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Calling all bloggers: Time to stop a Florida assault on free speech

Florida Sen. Jason Brodeur’s bill would require bloggers to register with the state

*State Sen. Jason Brodeur explains his blogging registration bill. (Image: Twitter)*

March 8, 2023 by David Silverberg

Updated, Sunday March 12 with new contact information for Sen. Jason Brodeur.

A Florida bill requiring bloggers to register with the state if they cover or comment on the governor, Cabinet officers or state legislators is sparking alarm and outrage.

It needs to be stopped and bloggers in Florida and around the world should immediately raise their voices against it.

The bill was introduced by state Sen. Jason Brodeur (R-10-Seminole and Orange counties).

Titled “An Act Relating to Information Dissemination” (Senate Bill (SB) 1316), the bill was filed on Feb. 28 in advance of the state legislature’s general session. It was referred to three committees for consideration: the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice, and the Committee on Fiscal Policy.

The Florida legislature convened yesterday, March 7, for a 60-day session during which the bill may be considered.

(Editor’s Note: The Paradise Progressive and this author have a clear and obvious interest in this bill and its consideration. Nonetheless, that interest does not preclude factual coverage, analysis or commentary of the bill, its sponsor or its progress. The Paradise Progressive, which is supported by its author and reader donations, will continue to provide coverage, analysis and commentary on politics, especially related to the governance, representation and elections of Southwest Florida and the state as a whole as long as the United States Constitution and its Bill of Rights continue in force in Florida and the United States generally.)

The bill

The bill has two parts. (The full bill as introduced is available for download at the conclusion of this article.)

The first part has nothing to do with blogging. It amends an existing law for court sales of property (“judicial sales”), usually to pay debts in bankruptcy cases, so that the sale is posted on the Web for a specified time period. The second non-blogging clause establishes conditions and procedures for government publication of legally required notices.

It is in its third, entirely new, section that it tackles blogging.

As with all legislation, it first defines its terms.

A “blog” “means a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content. The term does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication.” A “blogger” is anyone submitting “a blog post to a blog.” A “blog post” is defined as “an individual webpage on a blog which contains an article, a story, or a series of stories.”

(Just for historical context, the word “blog” is a contraction of “Web log” that took hold in the early 1990s as the Internet gained popularity.)

It defines “Elected state officer” as the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature.

The key provision of the bill is in its second section: “If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register with the appropriate office, as identified in paragraph (1)(f), within 5 days after the first post by the blogger which mentions an elected state officer.”

The two offices mentioned in the paragraph are the Office of Legislative Services and the Commission on Ethics. If a blogger mentions a member of the legislature, the blogger reports to the first office; if the blogger mentions an executive branch official the report is to the second.

Under the legislation, once registered, the blogger must file a monthly report within 10 days of the end of the month, with exceptions for weekends and holidays.

The reports have to include the person or entity that paid for the blog post and how much the blogger was paid (rounded to the nearest $10) as well as the website and website address where it was posted.

If the reports are not filed on time the blogger is subject to a fine of $25 per day that has to be paid within 30 days of being assessed. If the blog post was about a member of the legislature, the money goes into the Legislative Lobbyist Registration Trust Fund; if about an executive branch official, the Executive Branch Lobby Registration Trust Fund. If about both, then the payment goes to both. Bloggers can get a one-time waiver of the first fine but must report within 30 days of the first infraction.

Bloggers can appeal their fines and the bill sets out the procedures for such appeals through the courts. However, if the blogger doesn’t pay a fine within 100 days, he or she is subject to court action.

This law takes effect upon passage.

Brodeur’s defense

“Do you want to know the truth about the so-called ‘blogger’ bill?” a defensive-sounding Brodeur wrote in a March 5 tweet. “It brings the current pay-to-play scheme to light and gives voters clarity as to who is influencing their elected officials, JUST LIKE how we treat lobbyists. It’s an electioneering issue, not a free speech issue.”

He elaborated in a 1-minute, 48-second video interview with the Florida’s Conservative Voice blog posted to Twitter.

The clip posted by Brodeur started in response to a question. It bears quoting in full.

“The biggest thing that you pointed out is, it is for—only for—bloggers who are paid, compensated to influence or advocate on state elections. And this is really to get an electioneering thing and perhaps, I’m even open to it, even in the wrong place in the statute, because what we have out there today is a system by which someone can pay someone to write a story, publish it online and then use that in a mail piece as a site source when they’re making claims about an opponent. So what we want, is we want voters to be able to know—you can still do it, that is a mechanism by which candidates advertise. You can still do it, we just believe that voters have a right to know when somebody is being paid to advocate, like lobbyists. And so, if you believe, that we should have a state registry of lobbyists, so everybody knows who is trying to influence who, what is the difference between a paid blogger who writes about state government or a paid lobbyist who advocates for state government? One talks and one writes. And so my position on it would really be: ‘So look, listen, we’ll just get rid of the lobbying registration, then?’ Either way, I want to be consistent because if you’re being paid to advocate a position the public should be able to know who’s being paid and make a decision for themselves. So that’s all we’re trying to clean up, is really an electioneering issue.

“Now, what I think the media is getting wrong about it is—you know, I’ve gotten phone calls all day long about it, from Seattle to New York, literally—where people are going: ‘I hate you and you’re trying to ruin free speech, this is how Germany got everything wrong’—no, no, no, this is not a free speech issue, it’s a transparency issue and electioneering. It’s—so all I’m trying to do is say, ‘Treat paid bloggers just like you treat lobbyists.’ That’s it.”

Brodeur may be particularly sensitive to hostile blogging and media coverage and especially hidden funding because his initial, razor-thin 2020 election was clouded by the presence of a “ghost candidate,” a non-party-affiliated candidate whose campaign was secretly funded by the Republican Party in an effort to siphon votes from the Democrat.

As detailed in the Nov. 4, 2022 article “Ghost of 2020 hangs over Jason Brodeur, Joy Goff-Marcil contest in SD 10,” by Jacob Ogles on the website Florida Politics, the ghost candidate, Jestine Iannotti, sent misleading mailers to voters bearing a stock photo of a black woman and succeeded in gaining 5,787 votes.

That was enough for Brodeur to win a squeaker of a victory over his opponent, Democrat Patricia Sigman, by a hairsbreadth 7,644 votes.

As Ogles wrote: “This year, prosecutors brought charges against Iannotti, consultant Eric Foglesong and Seminole County Republican Party Chair Ben Paris, who notably works for Brodeur at his day job running the Seminole Chamber of Commerce.

“Paris was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge in September, and both Iannotti and former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg both told investigators Brodeur knew about or was expected to support her candidacy. Brodeur has denied any knowledge of the scheme,” the article stated.

So apparently, when Brodeur discusses pay-to-play schemes and hidden funding, he knows whereof he speaks.

Reception and denunciation

The instant Brodeur’s bill came to light it attracted national media attention—and denunciation.

One of the first and most prominent people to react was former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is currently a retired resident of Naples, Fla.

“The idea that bloggers criticizing a politician should register with the government is insane,” Gingrich tweeted on Sunday, March 5. “It is an embarrassment that it is a Republican state legislator in Florida who introduced a bill to that effect. He should withdraw it immediately.”

Brodeur’s bill didn’t get any love from the governor it might ostensibly protect, either.

Asked about the bill in a press conference following his State of the State address yesterday, March 7, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) distanced himself from the proposal.

“That’s not anything that I’ve ever supported. I don’t support it, I’ve been very clear about what we are doing,” DeSantis said.

He noted that “every person in the legislature can file bills” and “the Florida legislature, 120 of them in the House and however many, the 40 in the Senate, they have independent agency to be able to do things,” he said. “Like, I don’t control every single bill that has been filed or amendment, so just as we go through this session, please understand that.”

Uncounted and likely uncountable were the denunciations of the bill in online comments, tweets, postings and phone calls “from Seattle to New York” as Brodeur himself put it.

The National Review magazine, the venerable voice of conservative political reasoning, weighed in with a stinging headline that needed no elaboration: “Senator Jason Brodeur Is a Moron, but He’s a Solo Moron.”

“The bill is an unconstitutional, moronic disgrace, and the guy who wrote it, Senator Jason Brodeur of Seminole County, is an embarrassment to the GOP,” wrote Charles Cooke on March 2.

Other than Brodeur himself, defense of the bill was hard to come by, either online or as covered in the media.

Commentary: Putin would be proud

There are so many arguments to be made against SB 1316 that it’s hard to know where to begin.

SB 1316 is a clear and obvious attempt to suppress free speech in the state of Florida. It doesn’t just violate the First Amendment, it violates both its free speech and free press clauses.

In fact, Brodeur’s bill most closely resembles Russia’s “blogger’s law,” passed in 2014 and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin. That law requires any blogger with 3,000 or more followers to register with Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media oversight agency.

In American history it also harks back to the Sedition Act of 1798, which made it a crime for American citizens to “print, utter, or publish…any false, scandalous, and malicious writing” about the government. That law, along with Alien Acts aimed against immigrants, was largely directed against the new Democratic-Republican Party and Democratic-Republican newspapers were prosecuted under it. When Thomas Jefferson won the election of 1800 the acts were repealed or allowed to lapse and those prosecuted were pardoned. The whole period is considered a dark stain in American history and is often overlooked (and no doubt will never be taught in Florida schools).

SB 1316 walks in these notorious footsteps. Not only would it have a chilling effect on free speech, if it were to pass it would immediately be challenged in court where even a legal layman can see that it would lose.

But aside from railing against the bill itself, let’s take Brodeur at his own words that “It’s an electioneering issue, not a free speech issue.”

What Brodeur clearly doesn’t understand is that in a democracy every citizen has a right to electioneer and influence government, whether in person, in print or online. Brodeur apparently doesn’t see it this way. He thinks that advocacy occurs only among a paid lobbying class and that citizens expressing their opinions online are part of that class and need to be registered and regulated, regardless of the source of their funding.

He also doesn’t seem to understand the broader implications of his bill. At its most basic level it would give the state government a mechanism to suppress blogs—and all opinions—it didn’t like. This would apply to blogs and bloggers whether liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican.

It would be nearly impossible to police and enforcement would be intrusive, unconstitutional and expensive. Even if intended only for paid bloggers, the bill’s restrictions would ineluctably affect all blogs on all topics. It would affect blogs used for commercial, non-profit or simply informative purposes, stuntng legitimate commerce and obstructing myriad blog-based enterprises.

Brodeur seems not to understand that he introduced his bill at a moment when people fear that civil liberties and democracy in his state are under unprecedented assault. In Florida a Republican super-majority state house has begun a session in which each legislator is scrambling to prove him or herself more ideologically extreme than the competition. A former president who incited an anti-government insurrection is fighting for a comeback. The governor, effectively running for president on an extreme right platform, is at war with the national media and explicitly wants to overturn the landmark 1964 New York Times versus Sullivan case. Bills are being introduced to make defamation suits against the media easier and the state is emerging as a laboratory for repression, reaction and regression.

Into this state house full of flammable fumes Brodeur casually tossed the match of SB 1316. Did he or any other carbon-based life form imagine that there wouldn’t be an explosion of fear, outrage and alarm? Apparently not.

Beyond its political implications, SB 1316 reveals Brodeur as a singularly inept politician, someone unable to think through the full consequences of a proposal on a policy, political or constitutional level. He clearly thought through the procedural and punitive aspects of his legislation but beyond that narrow vista he had no perspective. Moreover, he appears to lack an understanding of democracy, freedom and advocacy—as well as a simple ability to read the room.

He shouldn’t be surprised that people are calling “from Seattle to New York” to oppose his bill.

Editorial: To the keyboards, bloggers!

It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t just an obscure proposal in what appears to be the increasingly insane state of Florida. If passed, it would set up a government mechanism to suppress online independent thought and the expression of opinion, which could then be applied nationally, especially if DeSantis wins the presidency in 2024. That, in turn could become a global template for Internet censorship and repression.

If Brodeur doesn’t have the good sense to withdraw his bill, it should be defeated. Every blogger who loves freedom can play a role—not just in Florida but everywhere from Singapore to San Francisco, Seattle to Saint Petersburg.

At the very least, people should make their opinions known to the key Florida legislators on the referred committees who have received this bill.

This is one case when the flap of a butterfly’s wings really could bring on a hurricane.

Sen. Jason Brodeur himself can be reached by e-mail through his offcial website, https://flsenate.gov/senators/s10 and clicking the e-mail button in the left column. He can also be reached by phone at his Tallahassee office at (850) 487-5010, at his district office at (407) 333-1802 and at his campaign office by phone or text at 1-407-752-0258.

Other senators can be reached by going to the Florida websites and clicking on the “Email this senator” button in the left-hand column:

Senate Judiciary Committee