Governor DeSantis Fires Prosecutor Who Refuses to Prosecute LGBTQ and Women's Healthcare
But the police-state presser is even more alarming
Florida governor Ron DeSantis has reportedly suspended the Tampa area prosecutor, Andrew Warren, for refusing to enforce state law. DeSantis has focused on Warren's use of prosecutorial discretion, mainly because Warren had signed letters stating he would not prosecute crimes related to limits on abortion or gender-affirming care for transgender kids.
However, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Constitutional right to abortion on privacy grounds. The case is pending. No current law prohibits gender-affirming care, so Warren's pledge not to pursue prosecutions is theoretical despite the governor's theatrics.
In a recent speech, the governor stated, "My view is very simple: prosecutors have to follow the law. They can't just say they're not going to prosecute cases because the law conflicts with their political ideology. We will not tolerate that type of behavior in the state of Florida."
Interestingly, the governor has said nothing about the boasts of Florida Sheriffs, who have publicly stated they would refuse to enforce a state or federal ban on assault weapons. DeSantis has not signaled he'll remove a rural sheriff who unilaterally released a defendant from jail because he disagrees with concealed carry laws. The governor tolerates the extreme Second Amendment political ideologies of law enforcement officials with whom he agrees.
DeSantis and right-wing politicians and pundits want you to believe suspending Warren is all about law enforcement and crime — the kind of crime we all fear. As a career cop, I am all about honest policing and public safety. But, the crime the governor is obsessed with is not the street crime that threatens citizens.
The governor debunks this claim because if the lack of widespread criminal prosecution angered him, he would have suspended Warren after the George Floyd protests. Repeatedly harping on Warren's defiance of prosecuting reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming treatments is a tell. He suspended Warren for standing up to the DeSantis culture-war attacks on women and trans kids' healthcare. That is what made him angry.
Next, I listened to the former chief's complaints against Warren. Two years after his clash with the prosecutor over arrests during the George Floyd civil unrest, he's still visibly angry. There is always an ongoing tension between police and prosecutors when prosecuting individuals arrested for crimes. Prosecutors drop weak cases and decline to charge hundreds of cases every day. I don't pretend to know all the details in question, but here in the press conference, the former chief seethed:
What does he say at his press conference? He says there were no acts of violence, no property damage. He must not have read the police reports. There were pictures of a police car with a broken windshield. As cops tried to get out of the car, protestors pushed their doors shut on them. So when you say there’s no act of violence, when you say there’s no property damage, where I come from, you’re lying.
At a press conference in the days after the protests, here is what Fox13 and the Tampa Bay Times reported:
State Attorney Andrew Warren announced in a Monday news conference that his office would decline to prosecute those who were arrested on allegations of unlawful assembly. He said he would also work to expunge records of the arrests.
“In each of those 67 arrests, the evidence shows the person arrested was peacefully protesting,” Warren said. “There was no violence. There was no vandalism. There was no attack on a law enforcement officer.”
Warren did make a distinction, though, between those who were arrested for unlawful assembly and more than 100 others arrested since May 30 on a range of other charges. Those accused of battering police, vandalizing property, inciting riots, or other crimes still face prosecution.
Full disclosure, I know former Chief Dugan, and I have known him to be a professional. There is obviously a dispute over some of the arrests, but it seems disingenuous for the chief to claim Warren ignored all the violence. He dropped 67 charges and is pursuing 100 others involving violence. The emotion of the chief indicates a personal grievance impossible to address here.
This press conference isn't about that 2-year-old beef though, or we would have heard of Andrew Warren before now. I see Governor DeSantis using the chief's grievance to stir people's emotions about that difficult summer to bolster his law & order charge against the prosecutor. This is DeSantis telegraphing his Blue Lives Matter bonafides. It appears largely successful, if my social media feed is any indication.
The most disturbing thing to me is the overt police-state vibe of the press conference. Again, I would have no problem if the presser was the announcement of some task force arrest on a major criminal case. Under the guise of enforcing "all laws" with the backing of the leaders of some of the largest sheriff's departments in Central Florida, the governor wants everyone to know he will not tolerate dissent.
Those on the stage must understand this implied threat. They, too, could be removed if the governor thinks they are not sufficiently enforcing the laws he prioritizes. I've seen what happens when politicians pressure law enforcement to do things they want. Citizens' rights get violated.
The law enforcement leaders' presence on the stage seems to telegraph support for the governor's culture wars, where they'd be the morality cops. They are telling you they will use their arrest powers to enforce abortion procedures if pressured. They stand ready to arrest the parents of transgender kids who provide them with gender-affirming care should Republicans pass such a law.
These cops are giving tacit approval to the governor's "anti-woke" laws. Do not forget, these include laws against corporate diversity training, so-called school anti-CRT (Critical Race Theory) and sex-ed curricula, along with prohibitions on teachers from mentioning LGBTQ topics, to name a few.
Teachers and librarians have already been fired or disciplined for running afoul of the edicts. Is it a stretch to imagine criminality is next? When the governor & his staff throw around labels like groomers and pedophiles, it's a short leap to charging a crime. No hyperbole here.
DeSantis has already shown how he intends to use power to silence his critics and dissenters. He convinced the GOP Florida legislature to give him legal authority to create a special police force answering only to him. The optics of intimidation at the press conference made me uneasy even before I heard the former chief pledge allegiance to the authoritarian. "This is a man not afraid to stand alone in the storm," the former chief said to DeSantis. "I will always stand with you."
I can't shake the feeling that someone on that stage will be the first Chief Inspector of the DeSantis Palace Guard.
