Part of the series, Assault on Florida.
On Friday, we asked who ordered Sumter County, Fla., deputies to bar Democrats from a town square where Florida Gov. Rick Scott was holding a bill-signing event.
Now, via Jonathan Turley, we know:
Apparently, it was all the work of a poor misguided staffer, Russ Abrams, a $60,000.00 a year special assistant to the Governor who has a serious First Amendment mental block. Despite newspaper notices that the meeting in the conservative retirement community was open to the public, Abrams told Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies that the event was private and that Democrats and liberals were not required. A reluctant deputy informed the banned folks that he was instructed to remove them.
“Not so” says Scott spokesperson, Lane Wright: “This was a public event. It was brought to our attention that the local authorities had removed some. We don’t know first-hand who was removed or why.”
But wait. Was it a public event? A more reliable source said the “public square” at the Villages is private property and that it was leased for the event by the Florida Republican Party:
A reporter for The St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald witnessed the entire incident. Here’s what happened:
The $69.1 billion budget signing took place in a town square owned by The Villages Community Development District, which functions as the community’s government. The space, however, is leased to The Village’s corporate developer. And in this case, it was subleased by the Republican Party of Florida, said Barbara Vesco, director of entertainment and special events for The Villages.
Scott staffers dressed in dark suits and wearing black ear pieces summoned Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies. They told the deputies that the state budget signing was a private event and that a group of Democrats standing or sitting in the last two rows of the audience must leave.
Deputies went to tell the group to leave. The Democrats mentioned how the event was described as being open to the public in the local newspaper, The Villages Daily Sun. “Well, I don’t read that paper,” the deputy responded.
The group of Democrats then said it was unfair that they were being singled out.
“You all are preaching to the choir,” the same deputy told them. “I’m doing what I’m told.”
Shortly before Scott’s scheduled 1 p.m. appearance, Sumter County sheriff’s deputies ordered about 20 Democratic sign-carrying protesters to move across a street from where the governor was to speak.
Lt. Tim Nordle said that the public square at The Lake Sumter Landing had been “leased” – he said he didn’t know by whom – and that the sheriff’s office had been advised to move protesters to a designated area about 50 yards behind the stage where Scott was to appear.
One protester, Charlene Walker of Lady Lake, who carried a “Support Teachers” sign, told Nordle that she would not leave and said she’d have to be carried out.
“Don’t make me do that,” Nordle said. “I’m six-foot-six, and if these camera crews see me carrying you out, I’m going to make national news.”
Walker laughed – and left voluntarily.
When asked by the reporter why Democrats were being turned away, Abrams at first claimed the event was “private.” When pressed for an explanation, Abrams said, “I don’t need to talk to the press,” and then, “I don’t have anything to say.”
Okay, why did the Florida Republican Party host the governor’s budget-signing event on private property? That seems strange.
What it appears to signal is that the Florida Republican Party is circling the wagons around Scott, whose relentless pursuit of an agenda that would turn Florida into the next Mississippi — an ecological wasteland over-populated by uneducated know-nothings (i.e., reliable Republican voters) — has driven his approval ratings into the 20s in just five months.
Or, just as likely, expelling the liberal protesters was a misguided attempt by the governor’s staff to control the event’s visuals — so that news video of the smiling governor surrounded by adoring fans would not be ruined with intercuts of embarrassing signs and middle-aged, middle-class protesters.
What they got instead is coverage across the state and beyond of Scott staffers and Florida GOP operatives behaving like North Korean apparatchiks who were desperate to keep dissenters out of Dear Leader’s field of vision.
It doesn’t help that these thuggish tactics feed into the image of Scott as a corrupt billionaire and soulless corporate bureaucrat who can’t tolerate dissent.
Worse for Scott and the Florida GOP going forward — reporters smell a story here. From now on, they will be on alert for similar tactics. This new scrutiny could put Scott and his party into a bind.
If they allow protesters into future events, it risks disrupting their careful stage-management of events depicting the governor surrounded by happy and contented followers. The governor’s handlers’ other choice is to go dark, restricting his outings to small, members-only private meetings — local chambers of commerce and such — but otherwise hiding him in his bunker until his term runs out.
This isntypical crap from our liar in command. He had people removed from a public event , then denied it,when that did not work he said it was private, when that did not work he there one of his staffers under the bus. Look we all know he is a thief and a liar, what is bothering most of us is how stupid Prick Scott thinks we are…….
What did you expect, when you elect the former CEO who pulled of the biggest Medicare fraud in history?
It doesn’t matter that the event was held on private property.
What matters is the fact that a bill signing IS a public event, EVEN IF HELD ON PRIVATE PROPERTY!
Which means the police broke the law when they kicked out people solely for being Democrats and liberals.
Also, the police can’t use the lame excuse of “We’re just doing what we are told.” It is their duty to know the law and not just blindly follow orders, especially illegal and unconstitutional orders.
Kevin – You’re right that there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with holding a budget-signing on private property. On the other hand, they could have done it at the governor’s residence or state capitol building for next to nothing. Using a public venue has costs, too, of course, but governors have line items in their budgets to pay for ceremonies like these.
And why would the GOP agree to pay for the venue? State parties don’t have huge budgets. I just can’t imagine, say, Gov. Perry or ex-Govs. Schwarzenegger or Pataki asking their state parties to pay for public events — or that the parties would agree to do it, especially in California where the GOP is broke.
The point is, there should be a distinction between the party (politics) and the government, even when the party holds all the power. A decision was made to treat the budget-signing as a political event. That’s odd, at least.
Follow the money.
“The $69.1 billion budget signing took place in a town square owned by The Villages Community Development District, which functions as the community’s government. The space, however, is leased to The Village’s corporate developer. And in this case, it was subleased by the Republican Party of Florida, said Barbara Vesco, director of entertainment and special events for The Villages.”
Follow the money.
“Kevin – You’re right that there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with holding a budget-signing on private property. On the other hand, they could have done it at the governor’s residence or state capitol building for next to nothing. Using a public venue has costs, too, of course, but governors have line items in their budgets to pay for ceremonies like these.”
Yes, but if the signing had happened at the governor’s residence or state capitol building then the taxpayer-supplied money wouldn’t have gone to the private sector, or in this case, gone to probably one of Gov. Scott’s Republican campaign backers as probable repayment (via taxpayer-supplied funds) of their supporting his gubernatorial campaign. Think of this as a Scott (or Florida Republican Party) “earmark” meant to reward someone in the private sector for helping him get elected Florida’s governor. If not having done so already, he (and the Florida Republican Party) will probably continue this pattern while in office, renting a private space for a public event, which will require special taxpayer-funded security on-site for the event, versus holding an event at the governor’s mansion or a state capitol building where taxpayer-funded security is already present. IOW, will the Florida Republican Party (and Gov. Rick Scott out of his personal funds) reimburse Sumter County for the use its sheriff’s deputies to police this event?
Shouldn’t his pleading the 5th Amendment 75 times have alerted the mindless dolts who voted for him that this person should be behind bars rather than occupying the governor’s mansion and signing into law crazy Republican ideas? Alex Sink was by far the best choice, but the knuckle-dragging Repugs we have down here, coupled with the disenchantment with the coporatist Obama and his sell-out Democratic Party helped paved the way for a criminal like Rick Scott to continue to ply his criminal trade.