We have a lot to cover today, including a local prosecutor changing his sworn statements, a new investigation into a state legislator and thoughts on Florida’s massive $116 billion budget.
But let’s start with some feel-good news.
Do you know someone who deserves public appreciation? Then nominate them for the 2024 edition of “10 People Who Make Orlando a Better Place to Live.”
For 10 years now, this list has honored people throughout Central Florida who don’t normally make headlines but make real differences in our community. Past honorees have worked in education, philanthropy, business, faith, law enforcement, arts, culture and more.
If you’d like to suggest someone, just send me an email with a couple of sentences explaining why. My email address is at the end of this column.
Budget privilege
I wanted to offer an observation on the $116 billion budget legislators passed and Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed into law.
I think it is great that the governor steered $127 million to the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I mean that. My mother is a breast cancer survivor.
Just like I thought it was great when the Legislature beefed up funding for Alzheimer’s research after former State Rep. Scott Plakon’s then-wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Again, I mean that sincerely — as the son of a man whose life has been stolen by frontotemporal dementia.
But when you also read about the Legislature passing another funding bill this past session — this one to beef up funding for rare pediatric cancers after another legislator lost his child to a rare pediatric cancer — you start to see a trend.
It’s politicians addressing problems after they’re personally affected, even though the same problems have affected multitudes of other Floridians for years.
Take, for example, the 22,000 Florida families with disabilities who have languished for years on a waiting list for services. The state used to serve all qualified families. Now the average wait is about seven years. Some children die without ever being served. It’s one of Florida’s greatest shames.
So what would it take for this waiting list to be fully addressed — some state senator’s daughter to also be denied therapy or respite care for years on end? Then would they pass the “The Senator Joe Blow Act for Serving All Citizens with Disabilities”?
If you only deal with a problem when it affects you personally, that’s not service or enlightenment. It’s privilege. And it’s a privilege many Florida families don’t have.
Despite billions in surplus, Florida keeps 22,500 families with disabilities on waiting list | Commentary
“Under penalties of perjury”
One of the weirder things about this year’s race for lead prosecutor in Orange and Osceola counties was highlighted in a recent Sentinel story that noted State Attorney Andrew Bain filed paperwork two days apart saying he was running as both a Republican and as a non-party-affiliated candidate.
Well, he can’t be both. Nor can he run as a member of a party to which he doesn’t belong. So which form — both of which Bain signed “under penalties of perjury” — was accurate?
Bain says the second one; that he’s an NPA who made a mistake when he signed the first sworn statement saying he was running as a Republican. One of his advisors, who said his firm works primarily for Republicans, tried to take the blame, saying he errantly filled out the form. But it’s Bain’s signature and candidacy that are on the line.
Do I think this is Watergate? Nope. Or a slam-dunk case for prosecuting? No again. Bain corrected the mistake quickly. And elections law attorney J.C. Planas, a former legislator, said errors like these are frequently made and rarely prosecuted. Planas also said perjury cases are tough to make because prosecutors must prove the error was intentional. (As a side note: That’s a beef I’ve long had with political crimes. When petty thieves are prosecuted, we don’t require prosecutors to prove the thieves intended to do wrong, only that they did so.)
Bain could also theoretically argue the form he signed didn’t claim that he was a Republican, only that he intended to run as one. (Though that explanation wouldn’t really make sense, since you have to be a member of a party to seek office as one.)
Still, these conflicting, sworn forms will be fair game for both Democrat Monique Worrell and the two real Republicans running against Bain. They not only raise questions about Bain’s political allegiances but also suggest a sloppy mistake (at best) for a guy whose job is forcing others to follow the letter of the law — and whose predecessor was ousted by Gov. Ron DeSantis for supposedly not doing the same.
‘Partisan politics should have no role’: State Attorney Bain touts independence, but DeSantis looms large
Amesty probe
Finally, speaking of properly signed forms, the Sentinel also reported this week that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed it has an active investigation involving state Rep. Carolina Amesty and her family’s small nonprofit school, Central Christian University.
This news comes on the heels of the Sentinel reporting that Amesty had notarized a form where a veteran educator supposedly said he’d worked at the university — only to have that same educator tell the Sentinel he’d never done so nor signed a form saying he did. Three handwriting experts also told the Sentinel that the signature didn’t appear to be authentic.
One thought on this investigation: It’s about darn time.
Maybe Amesty will be totally vindicated. (A spokesman for the freshman Republican from Orlando called the accusation “patently absurd.”) But this state too often turns a blind eye to public officials who do questionable things.
Hopefully here, the FDLE will make a determination sooner than later — like before Election Day — for the sake of everyone involved, including voters.
smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
FDLE confirms investigation involving Orlando-area Rep. Amesty
