Today we’re talking about cities’ rights to monitor their own police departments and parents’ rights to raise their own kids the way they want — two rights Florida lawmakers are trying to take away.
Interestingly, though, in one of these cases, Gov. Ron DeSantis is warning fellow Republicans legislators to back off — and may end up embarrassing quite a few Democrats in the process.
Let’s start with the police.
Many cities, including Orlando, have long had police review boards where mayors and council members ask civilians to vet questions posed by the public and make recommendations to the chiefs.
These boards have no power to charge anyone with crimes nor even reprimand officers. They’re merely a public place to assess actions, ask questions and sometimes make policy recommendations, such as making body cameras standard equipment.
But GOP lawmakers want to end these boards by passing a law that would make them illegal. Forget local control. Forget checks and balances. These politicians don’t want anyone else asking questions.
First of all, let’s be candid about what this is — politicians kowtowing to police unions. While GOP lawmakers loathe teachers’ unions, many crave police union endorsements and cozy up accordingly.
But the red-herring reason they’re giving for wanting to end police review boards is so laughable, you should probably swallow your coffee before hearing it.
As the Sentinel reported last week, Senate sponsor Blaise Ingoglia said he’s concerned about “political appointees” lacking experience.
Florida Senate panel votes to ban police citizens review boards
That is rich. These guys cheer when their pals without higher-education experience get appointed to run universities. They actively bypass water experts to help their developer buddies get on water-management boards. Heck, we even have a guy without local government experience running Disney’s governmental services district.
These guys constantly put foxes in charge of the henhouses with the express hope that the foxes will slaughter the hens. But when it comes to police, for that they demand experience.
Ingoglia has a history of filing absurd bills — like his one last year that would have dissolved Florida’s Democratic Party. But this bill seems to be gaining support, probably because of the union’s backing.
Senate Bill 576 advanced out of its first committee last week with one Democrat, Jason Pizzo, joining the Republicans. It also made its way out of two House committees with support from a handful of Democrats as well.
If you care about this issue, you should let your local legislator know before it gets to a full vote of the House and Senate. (Contact info for legislators can be found at leg.state.fl.us)
This state has too many politicians who don’t care anymore about accountability and local control than they do upholding the U.S. Constitution — which brings us to our next topic.
Editorial: Shutting down citizen police review boards would be a mistake
Outlawing parental rights
Two weeks ago, I made the case that the Legislature’s plan to ban social media accounts for anyone under 16 — even teenagers who have their parents’ permission — was an assault on both parental and constitutional rights.
Then last week, something weird happened: The governor suggested he agreed with me.
During a visit to Central Florida, DeSantis expressed concerns about the constitutionality of government trying to tell a parent that they can’t allow their children to set up a social media account for educational purposes or any other reason, saying “that may create some legal issues.”
DeSantis cautious about social media ban for kids, cites legal woes
I don’t know if this is the new, softer, post-presidential-campaign DeSantis, but this take of his was pretty remarkable, considering DeSantis has previously shown little concern for passing laws later ruled unconstitutional. And also because he was basically taking a policy poop on the No. 1 priority of House Speaker Paul Renner. (Literally, Renner made this House Bill 1.)
DeSantis’ take might embarrass Renner. But he’s also humiliating all the Democrats who agreed to do the speaker’s bidding — as most did.
Only 13 reps in the entire House voted against against this bill. All were Dems, including Central Florida reps Lavon Bracy-Davis, Anna Eskamani, Rita Harris and Johanna Lopez.
All the other Democrats and Republicans were eager and willing to run roughshod over the Constitution and parental rights.
Before DeSantis spoke up, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo seemed to dismiss constitutional concerns about the House Speaker’s bill, saying: “Whenever someone doesn’t like a bill they say, ‘Oh, it is unconstitutional.’”
No, Madam President. Not just someone. The Legislature’s own analysts are among those raising constitutional questions about this bill. In fact, House analysts spent three pages rattling off potential problems with this bill, citing everything from the Supremacy Clause and Contracts Clause to the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.
The state pays these analysts good money. Consider listening to what they say.
Many of us have concerns about the impact of social media on young minds. But parents should make that call — the same way they do for movies, books and other media.
Most people don’t believe government should dictate the information citizens are allowed to consume — unless those people have last names like Castro or Jong Un.
DeSantis said he wants “to be smart” about this. My guess is the bill will be watered down but still passed, allowing Renner to save face.
But if you’re cheering for government to take your own rights away, you’re cheering for the wrong team.
Social-media ban: Florida’s latest assault on parental and constitutional rights | Commentary
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