Statements
Florida Democratic Party Chair Denounces DeSantis’ Politically Expedient Call for Expensive, Unnecessary “Elections Police”
On Wednesday November 3rd, at a “press conference” that felt more like a political rally, Governor DeSantis called for the creation of a statewide law enforcement office dedicated to combating election crimes. According to a document obtained by POLITICO, the new agency would carry a price tag of almost $6 million.
This comes in spite of the fact that the Governor himself stated in February of this year that: “The result of 2020, from an administrative perspective, was that Florida had the most transparent and efficient election anywhere in the country.”
As a result, Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz issued the following statement:
“Once again Governor DeSantis proves that he is not governing for the people of Florida, but for a radical group of conspiracy theorists and extremist provocateurs in the GOP base. These people are hell bent on keeping Donald Trump’s Big Lie alive and pushing for ever more restrictive election laws that will make it more difficult for constituencies that are not aligned with their far-right agenda to make their voices heard at the polls.
“It only took a threat from Roger Stone to run for Governor to get DeSantis to call for this expensive and unnecessary boondoggle of a new agency.
“If he was truly interested in improving elections in our state, he would push to direct funds to the Division of Elections, which is so underfunded and understaffed that they are currently reporting voter registration numbers more than 3 months late.
“Unfortunately, in DeSantis’ Florida, funding and policy is being driven by the Governor’s political ambitions and his desperate desire to appeal to his party’s radical base, not by the needs of the state’s residents.
“Spending almost $6 million on this clearly political stunt is truly outrageous. Perhaps he should be required to declare it as a campaign contribution from Florida’s taxpayers. In the final analysis, that is all this is.”