Gov. Ron DeSantis has done what no other Florida Governor in history has — suspended two elected State Attorneys. And the first to get suspended says DeSantis is acting out of a desperate attempt to bolster his floundering presidential campaign.
Suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, who was removed from his job last August, held a media availability following Wednesday morning’s suspension of Orlando-area State Attorney Monique Worrell to decry the move as “a dark day for democracy in the Sunshine State.”
“This is another illegal, unconstitutional attack on democracy by a small, scared man who is desperate to save his presidential campaign,” Warren said. “He wants to be a bully, but he’s actually a coward who has repeatedly violated the rule of law to cover up his own weakness.”
Ever since DeSantis officially launched his bid for the White House, his standing up against former President Donald Trump has been dropping as they compete for the Republican nomination.
DeSantis cited Worrell’s failure to prosecute actual crimes. And Warren was suspended for signing pledges regarding gender-affirming care and saying he wouldn’t prosecute violators of the state’s abortion ban. But Warren said DeSantis’ motives are really the same in both cases.
“A court found that he suspended me illegally, in violation of the state constitution, for politics and publicity and it appears that’s what’s happening here again,” Warren said.
Warren’s case against his suspension was heard in May by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Montgomery, Alabama.
In Worrell’s case, DeSantis’ executive order cites Worrell’s failure to get minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes. It notes that out of 58 non-homicide robberies that involved firearms that the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office referred to Worrell’s Office in 2021 and 2022, only one had resulted in a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years.
But Warren said weighing in on prosecutorial discretion by suspending a State Attorney is not in keeping with the system’s design.
“If the State Attorney … ends up exercising discretion in a way that they (the voters) don’t agree with, then we have a perfect mechanism for removing her — and that’s at the ballot box,” he said.
Worrell has filed for re-election.
Warren said DeSantis’ thinking represents a slippery slope.
“What are we going to start doing? he asked, rhetorically. “Start suspending deputies because they hand out more tickets than warnings?”
Warren advised his fellow Democrat to stay strong and wished her well in fighting what he calls an illegal suspension.
“This is a Governor who has shown he’s willing to do whatever it takes to turn Florida into some kind of Chinese or North Korean-style regime,” he said. “Floridians who care about our democracy are standing with her and I wish her and her family the best as they’re going through this very difficult time.”
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