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WHAT A FINE SIGHT Rep. Randy Fine, other Central Florida Republicans compare the House Black Caucus’ hour-long seated protest to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building BY JIM TURN ER, N SF
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ouse leaders have remained quiet on calls by some Republicans to punish a group of Democratic lawmakers for a protest last week that led to temporarily suspending activities on the House floor during a special session on redistricting and bills targeting Walt Disney Co. As part of a handful of Republicans who equated the protest to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Blaise Ingoglia of Spring Hill has suggested an investigative committee. Rep. Anthony Sabatini of Howey-in-the-Hills called for arrests. Rep. Randy Fine of Brevard County kept up the pressure, saying in an interview aired Sunday morning on WPLG-TV in Miami that the Democratic protesters should be locked up as felons for a seditious act. “What happened on the floor of the Florida House was far worse than what happened in Washington on January 6,” Fine said. “Constitutional officers, that took an oath to protect the Constitution, attempted to prohibit the Florida Legislature from getting its business done, from actually creating the ability for Florida to send congresspeople to Washington D.C., to the point where we had to pass this Disney bill without a single member getting the opportunity to debate,” Fine continued. “Twenty-one million Floridians were disenfranchised because of sedition on the part of these Democrats. They absolutely broke the law. It’s a second-degree felony what happened. And I do hope there’s accountability for it.” After a suspension of activities that lasted about an hour April 21, the Republican-dominated House returned to the floor and quickly voted to pass a redistricting plan pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the two Disney-related bills.
House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, issued a statement after the session closed, chastising lawmakers “who decided to hijack the legislative process, violating House rules and interfering with the rights of their fellow elected colleagues to debate important legislation.” Otherwise, Sprowls hasn’t suggested punishments. As of Thursday morning, his office hadn’t responded to questions about potential actions that could be taken. The protest included a few Democrats sitting on an image of the state seal in the carpet of the House chamber. Other Democrats gathered around, chanting as they protested the redistricting plan, which, in part, is expected to lead to fewer Black Democrats getting elected to Congress. Rep. Felicia Robinson, a Miami Gardens Democrat who was among the protesters, defended their actions and accused DeSantis of trying to divert attention from the redistricting plan by making a late addition of the Disney issues to the special session. “We were sitting at a press conference about the congressional maps, and the governor decided to bring out his fight with Disney,” Robinson said. “That wasn’t by happenstance. That was a strategy to take up media, to take notice away from the fact … that he was going to cut 50 percent of our [Black] representation.” Robinson added there should be no comparison of the protesters’ actions to the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. “I want to make sure that everybody knows that we were supposed to be there,” Robinson said. “We all were elected. And we were in the people’s house. And what we were doing and what we did was nothing besides making sure that the people’s voice was heard.”
Florida Squeeze publisher Kartik Krishnaiyer (@kkfla73), after DeSantis vetoed a net-metering bill that would have changed rules for rooftop-solar energy:
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DeSantis embarrasses himself by taking credit for Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, calling him ‘Elon’ and ‘continuing his campaign’ to move the company to Florida BY J I M T URNER, NSF
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ov. Ron DeSantis is taking some credit for Twitter’s board accepting a $44 billion acquisition offer from Elon Musk. Meanwhile, the state’s pension fund could get a multimillion-dollar payout from the proposed deal. At a campaign-style event Monday in Spring Hill, DeSantis said that when Musk’s initial takeover attempt stalled, the State Board of Administration, which the governor helps oversee, fired off a letter to Twitter leaders noting that Florida’s pension fund invests in the social-media company. “Last week, they sent a letter to the Board of Directors just saying, ‘Look, Elon Musk is putting a very good offer on the table, and you better have a good business reason why you’re not doing it. Because if it’s for politics, we’re going to hold you accountable,’” DeSantis said. “Well, I’m glad to say that it appears that the Twitter Board of Directors has accepted.” Under the deal’s terms, investors would receive $54.20 for each share of Twitter common stock — once the proposed transaction is closed. Florida’s pension fund holds 934,886 shares. After Musk’s initial attempt to assume control of the company was rebuffed, the Twitter board apparently had a change of mind once Musk showed — through a Securities and Exchange Commission filing — that he had the money, including $25.5 billion in commitments from the likes of Morgan Stanley Senior Funding. Musk, who has a history of blocking critics from his personal Twitter account, said in a statement his goal is to enhance Twitter with new features, “making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans.” DeSantis last year spearheaded efforts to pass a law aimed at punishing Twitter and other social-media companies that strip users from platforms or flag users’ posts. The law came after Twitter and Facebook blocked former President Donald Trump from their platforms after the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. But a federal judge slapped a preliminary injunction on the law, saying it is “riddled with imprecision and ambiguity.” “My hope is that with Elon Musk taking this private, he’s going to open it up and let people be able to speak,” DeSantis said of Twitter’s future. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who along with DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody oversee the pension fund and other investments, issued a statement that said Musk’s “acquisition is both a win for free speech and a win for Florida’s pension system.” “With Elon now in full control of the company, I will continue my campaign of attracting Twitter to Florida,” Patronis said, referring to his recent call for Musk to move the company to Florida. news@orlandoweekly.com
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MAY 4-10, 2022 ● ORLANDO WEEKLY
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