outtakes

By Rick Outzen

The new brand of Republican conservatism championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis isn't shy about spending money and growing the size of government. For decades, Republicans professed to want to cut budgets and let voters keep more of their hard-earned paychecks. GOP candidates fought to cut regulations and reduce the number of state and federal agencies.

Not anymore. Today's Republican leaders don't hesitate to waste money and add more departments and employees.

Our state was the model of successful election administration in 2020. Of the nearly 11 million votes cast in the last presidential election in Florida, the state election commission only received 262 election fraud complaints. According to the Florida Department of State, less than 80 were handed over to law enforcement or prosecuting authorities for further investigation.

Despite the overwhelming level of election integrity in Florida, Gov. DeSantis wanted more. Last year, state lawmakers created the Office of Election Crimes and Security to "probe allegations of election law violations or election irregularities." It initially had 15 people and a budget of $1.2 million.

And of the 14 million people registered to vote in the state, the new state agency arrested 20 people for voter fraud—not precisely the return on investment that the governor wanted during the 2022 election cycle. However, his proposed 2023-24 budget request has increased the agency to 42 positions and $4.3 million.

Last year, Gov. DeSantis announced he would re-establish the Florida State Guard, which had been disbanded since 1947, claiming the Biden administration had refused to increase the National Guard in Florida. In February, the governor announced he wanted to triple the size of the State Guard and increase its budget from $10 million to more than $95 million.

In the current fiscal year, Gov. DeSantis has spent $1.565 million 'to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state." The facilitation included $615,000 paid to Vertol Systems Company Inc. to fly 50 migrants in Texas to Martha's Vineyard flights, with a stop in Crestview. The stop in Okaloosa County was neces- sary so that DeSantis could claim that he was transporting migrants out of Florida and protecting Panhandle residents.

A special legislative session was convened in February so lawmakers could create the "Unauthorized Alien Transport Program" within the state Division of Emergency Management and provide $10 million to transport more migrants from anywhere to wherever he wants.

His budget spends $147.4 million from the Opioid Settlement Agreement to establish the Office of Opioid Recovery. Instead of using the current agencies, the governor wants a new one to oversee these funds, an accredited Graduate Medical Education program to increase the number of psychiatric residents and other initiatives that support education, treatment and prevention for individuals with substance use disorders.

Then there is Gov. DeSantis' agenda to remake the New College of Florida into the Hillsdale College of the South. New College is a small liberal arts college with fewer than 800 students and has been ranked as one of the best public liberal arts schools in the country. The governor couldn't leave it alone.

In January, he removed six of the college's 13 trustees and replaced them with allies with his conservative views. The supporters weren't Reagan-era conservatives that believed in saving money and cutting red tape. The DeSantis cabal wasn't afraid to spend big bucks to remake the school in the Hillsdale image.

The new board fired the New College president and hired former education commissioner Richard Corcoran for $699,000 a year, more than double what his predecessor earned. The governor asked state lawmakers to give the college $15 million to overhaul the faculty and recruit new students—ones less liberal and LGBTQ+.

The DeSantis conservatives don't hesitate to spend money and grow government to suit their political agenda. Their brand of "freedom" is expensive and is only "freedom" for those who agree with their ideology.

I'm not even sure Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater would recognize it as conservatism. {in} rick@inweekly.net