Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a $116.5 billion budget, but not before vetoing $511 million for mostly local projects.
The veto list is a drop in the bucket compared to past years—it’s less than half of the $1 billion-plus he vetoed in what he called the “veto equivalent of the Red Wedding)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://floridapolitics.com/archives/344583-gov-desantis-signs-corona-impacted-state-budget-vetoes-more-than-1-billion/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFREse26x_A$">veto equivalent of the Red Wedding” three years ago, and far below the $3.1 billion)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://floridapolitics.com/archives/529361-desantis-signs-109-9b-budget-vetoes-3-1b/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRHrz3nEpQ$"> $3.1 billion he excised last year.
Some of the vetoes were expected. Nobody expected DeSantis to let the “1619 Fest)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article276431816.html__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRF0dwcRgA$">1619 Fest”—a Black History Month celebration in Orlando—snag $160,000 from the Free State of Florida.
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But what the veto list lacked in quantity, DeSantis made up for in vindictiveness. Here are seven vetoes that prove the governor can be a prick.
1. Screwing the Farmers
The governor’s budget vetoes fell hard—for the second year in a row—on top priorities of GOP Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. DeSantis vetoed $100 million the state uses to pay farmers who agree to preserve their land from development, and he eliminated nearly $30 million for energy programs Simpson oversees.
Simpson, who has stayed neutral in the primary fight between DeSantis and former President Donald Trump, questioned DeSantis’ support for agriculture, a statement that could haunt the governor as he tries to pick up support in the crucial early nominating state of Iowa.
“There is no conceivable reason to target agriculture in a year when we have billions of dollars in reserves,” Simpson told Gary Fineout of Politico, who also endured large budget vetoes a year ago when he was still Senate president. “Agriculture was harmed today and so was the state of Florida.”
2. Retaliating Over Not Getting an Endorsement
No community was named as frequently in Gov. DeSantis’ veto list as Sarasota. The region’s state senator, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, says that’s no accident.
Sen. Joe Gruters, Sarasota County’s longest-serving state lawmaker and the former Chair of the Florida GOP, didn’t mince words when asked why he thought the reliably Republican pocket of the Sunshine State was given the cold shoulder.
It was because he had an opinion—the wrong one, in DeSantis’ eyes—of who should be in the Oval Office come January 2025.
“The governor is clearly upset I endorsed Donald Trump for president, and so he took it out on the people of Sarasota County,” Gruters told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “Trump and I understand that people come first, and it’s our job to deliver clean water, jobs, and a better America for the next generation. The governor clearly sees politics differently.”
The projects axed by the governor include items addressing critical state needs. Florida’s health-care leaders have warned the state will be short tens of thousands of nurses in the coming years, yet one of the largest single vetoes DeSantis made was a $20 million earmark for a STEM nursing facility at the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus.
Without a doubt, this was a cut made in the service of vengeance, not fiscal responsibility.
3. Gunned Down
The biggest “public safety” measure to get DeSantis’ approval this year wasn’t all that safe. Midway through the legislative session, he signed a bill that removes Florida’s current requirement for gun owners to obtain a concealed firearm license.
The permitless carry bill cruised through the legislature despite concerns from some lawmakers, mostly Democrats, who groused that the measure would make Florida more dangerous, which is a view held by the vast majority of Florida voters, including more than 60 percent of Republicans)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://floridapolitics.com/archives/593963-poll-shows-voters-high-on-recreational-marijuana-school-choice/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRF5ZaCotw$">more than 60 percent of Republicans.
Their concerns either didn’t grab the governor’s attention or, more likely, he decided to rub salt in the wound by vetoing gun violence prevention funding.
St. Petersburg Democratic state Sen. Darryl Rouson’s funding request was the largest of its kind to get scratched out of the budget—he sought $5 million for groups combating gun violence at the community level.
“It makes sense to expand programs that are actually doing the work to prevent more gun violence,” Rouson said in a release, adding that the funding was needed especially due to the likely increase in gun violence once permitless carry goes into effect July 1.
But Rouson’s proposal wasn’t the only one to get the ax.
The governor also nixed two requests from GOP state Sen. Alexis Calatayud that would have provided a combined $3.9 million to the Miami-Dade County Community Violence Intervention Initiative, to provide emotional and mental health support, resources, and interventions in communities most impacted by violence, specifically gun violence.
It should be noted that Calatayud voted for the permitless carry bill, lauding the inclusion of $60 million into school safety programs and resources, but DeSantis apparently wasn’t impressed.
4. Screw the Animals
Yes, DeSantis vetoed funding for an aquarium project at Brevard Zoo, but you can go ahead and credit GOP state Rep. Randy Fine with an assist.
The lawmaker revels in controversy and seemingly lives to dish out acerbic soundbites on culture war issues such as gender-affirming care. But like the resident of the governor’s mansion, he bristles at pushback from the targets of his barbs. Fine essentially took his rage out on an innocent bystander when he pushed the governor to veto the funding request.
Why the flip?
Brevard Zoo had the audacity to consider—simply consider)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2023/03/16/2m-funding-request-for-brevard-zoos-planned-aquarium-pulled-by-randy-fine-state-legislature/70014264007/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRGBvQXhXA$">simply consider—not allowing its property to be rented out for political events after a fundraiser held by Fine went sideways, drawing a crowd of protesters who railed against the state senate candidate’s stance on transgender issues.
Hopefully Brevard Zoo can collect enough liberal tears to fill a salt-water tank, because it didn’t take much convincing for the governor to capitulate to Fine’s petty request.
5. No Soup For You!
South Florida spent a good chunk of the legislative session underwater, and if it was unclear whether DeSantis cared about the emergency, it’s not anymore.
The governor slashed millions in funding requests that would have paid for emergency planning and infrastructure, which could have prevented South Florida residents from having to find a way to make galoshes and highwaters stylish.
Among the $3.14 million)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://floridapolitics.com/archives/618816-more-than-3m-for-south-florida-flooding-fixes-go-down-the-drain-in-veto-purge/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRGvTb8ZEQ$">$3.14 million in South Florida flood control vetoes: $800,000 to improve Lauderhill Maple Run drainage; $600,000 for drainage to improve the area near the Dolphin Mall; $450,000 to rehab pump stations at the Old Plantation Water Control District; $340,200 to fix failed drainage systems on Southwest Ranches roads; $262,500 to repair deteriorating drainage culverts along the South Broward Drainage District’s (SBDD) C-1 Canal; a $200,000 flood mitigation project in Parkland; and $1.5 million that would have improved sanitary sewer overflows for the Glades Community.
Why all the vetoes? Perhaps because the South Florida lawmakers—most of them Democrats—who sponsored the requests also vocally criticized the governor for refusing to tour the damage.
South Florida wasn’t alone, either. DeSantis also slashed $1 million)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/06/19/seminole-midway-flooding-improvements-to-proceed-despite-desantis-veto/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFREkdBITNQ$">slashed $1 million for a project to ease flooding in the historic Black community of Midway.
6. All Things Not Considered
In another move that thwarts public safety, DeSantis nixed more than $6.4 million)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://floridapolitics.com/archives/618712-veto-list-gov-desantis-nixes-funding-for-public-broadcasting-stations/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRHKpXzj0A$">nixed more than $6.4 million that the legislature approved in the budget for various projects at public and community radio and broadcast stations throughout the state.
The tranche of items slashed from the budget were aimed at correcting health and safety issues or building deficiencies or to complete renovations at public broadcasting stations.
Most of these stations are, at least in part, listener-funded, and most carry National Public Radio (NPR) content. It’s no secret that many people view NPR, and public radio writ large, as a liberal mouthpiece. NPR’s own research)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.npr.org/sections/ombudsman/2011/04/28/135775694/views-of-nprs-credibility-tend-to-be-partisan-based__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRF8yfmIZg$">NPR’s own research shows about 26 percent of its listenership identifies as conservative or somewhat conservative, while about 37 percent identify as liberal or somewhat liberal. And efforts to defund NPR among conservatives is nothing new)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3551625-the-time-has-come-defund-the-hopelessly-biased-npr/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRHiGslPkQ$">is nothing new.
Other stations that fell victim to vetoes carry PBS content, which the media bias rating group All Sides ranks as “lean[ing] left”)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.allsides.com/news-source/pbs-newshour*:*:text=Coverage*20is*20generally*20neutral*2C*20though,interest*20to*20right*2Dleaning*20audiences.__;I34lJSUlJSUlJSU!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRHMEcGZ0w$">ranks as “lean[ing] left” and which often faces similar criticism from conservatives as NPR.
But DeSantis’ red pen means these stations, most strapped for cash in a harsh media environment, won’t be getting needed safety features.
That includes nearly $400,000 axed from WUSF in Tampa for replacement of an obsolete electrical system; more than $475,000 for WMNF Community Radio in Tampa to replace a generator and fuel tank; nearly $350,000 for WEDU-TV in Tampa to replace mildewed ceiling tiles; more than $100,000 for WFSU in Tallahassee for emergency equipment and a new FAA-compliant tower; more than $800,000 for WJCT in Jacksonville for restroom renovation and damaged floor replacement; and so much more.
While, individually, the vetoes may not seem like much, collectively it looks more like DeSantis has an ax to grind with what he likely perceives as the liberal media out to tank his governorship and presidential ambitions.
7. The Unkindest Cut of All
Moffitt Cancer Center won’t be getting a road)" href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://floridapolitics.com/archives/618833-gov-desantis-again-kills-road-to-planned-moffitt-cancer-center-campus/__;!!LsXw!TrEnZ9KWd0s5ZSctzFRDHtgAsQcF_nz7O85aKT3QX4F9KVJLMSTifLcGPJnba8rGeNF9FOI3WJxmXzoireEqFRH-Sz82Dg$">won’t be getting a road to its Life Sciences campus in Pasco County after DeSantis vetoed a $5 million line item to fund a connector road.
It’s a weird veto considering DeSantis’ wife, Casey DeSantis, survived breast cancer thanks to treatment she received… at Moffitt Cancer Center.
It would seem like, out of gratitude for his wife’s renewed health, he’d let the $5 million, which the legislature already approved, slide without taking the time to nix it.
That’s especially true considering the $5 million is a fraction of what has ultimately been sought for Moffitt recently. Last year, DeSantis vetoed a priority package put forth by then-state Senate President Wilton Simpson for $600 million for the Pasco Moffitt campus. And the $5 million in this year’s budget was far less than the $25 million Rep. Randy Maggard had requested.
What kind of guy snubs the place that may very well have saved his wife’s life?
Governor Prick, that’s who.
