Why Now? Florida Republican Legislature
Sealing Ron DeSantis Travel Records from
Public Review
Conservative Treehouse,
by
Sundance
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
5/3/2023 11:58:33 AM
The easiest way to cut through the pretending nonsense is to ask the obvious question, ‘Why now?‘
The Florida Republican Legislature is changing the Sunshine Laws in Florida to block people from reviewing the travel records of the Florida Governor. [HB1495 Link]
The claimed justification is security, to protect the governor and high-ranking state officials. However, the obvious timing of Ron DeSantis pending run for the White House, in combination with his administration refusing to give details on who/how the funding for his private charter flights have been taking place during the “book tour,” makes the new law much more suspicious as constructed.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Ida Lou Pino 5/3/2023 12:05:51 PM (No. 1461861)
De Santis has disappointed me. His burning ambition is way too obvious. The smartest thing for him to do - - is to enthusiastically back President Trump - - serve out the remaining two years of his governorship - - then run for president in 2028 - - when he will still be a young man under 50 years old.
I can never warm up to any politician - - who puts his personal ambition above his love for his country. De Santis has done that - - and it makes me sad.
28 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Corndoggies 5/3/2023 12:11:02 PM (No. 1461865)
How I check my prejudice is to think what my reaction would be if the other side did this. This is not a good look.
23 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
seamusm 5/3/2023 12:24:24 PM (No. 1461875)
What is DeSantis afraid of us finding out - that someone with money paid for his travel? Really? Our side should never be afraid of the light.
18 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
49 Ford 5/3/2023 12:31:23 PM (No. 1461880)
Plainly, this Sundance character is determined to help destroy Ron DeSantis by breathlessly reporting on any arcane trivia. And to what end? A blind devotion to Trump (who IMO cannot win another national election)?
Great idea, Mr. Sundance. Deliberately destroy our brightest rising star in pursuit of some tilting windmill somewhere.
13 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
stablemoney 5/3/2023 12:31:59 PM (No. 1461881)
This could be very dangerous to expose someone's travel times and habits.
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 5/3/2023 12:45:36 PM (No. 1461885)
This is the kind of hit piece I expect from a lefty rag.
Not Sundance and Conservative Treehouse.
They can claim DeSantis is traveling to Russia and giving them Ukrainian battle plans.
Then DeSantis travels to China and gives them Taiwan's defensive capabilities.
Cut the BS.
13 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/3/2023 1:37:23 PM (No. 1461921)
Sundance is for sunshine. He knows that billionaire backers do not do that out of the goodness of their hearts. They consider their donations to be investments, and expect an eventual return on those investments. Any attempt to mask them, keep them secreet, is sketchy to the max. If this were a Democrat, we’d be all over it.
Skip shooting the messenger. He has high expectations of the politicians who seek to represent us. BTW, this has also been reported by Dem Politico. It looks that bad.
18 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/3/2023 1:47:27 PM (No. 1461935)
This report is in all the major media outlets, some with headlines that include “secrecy”. Here’s where they go:
The bill, which passed the Florida House along a party-line vote of 84-31 after clearing the Senate last month, would exempt the travel history of the state’s governor and their immediate family, the lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, Senate president, House speaker and the state Supreme Court’s chief justice from public records laws.
While Republicans argued it is for the safety of the state leaders and law enforcement officials to keep the records from the public, Democrats have blasted the bill, saying it is intended to help DeSantis in his likely run for president.
Democrats argued that while the bill also shields information about where the governor went, it also blocks the disclosure of whom he met with and what for.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3984650-florida-gop-lawmakers-desantis-travel-records/
And we pitch a fit when Democrats pull this stuff...
13 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
49 Ford 5/3/2023 1:50:58 PM (No. 1461939)
How about this, # 7 - how about we judge the man on the basis of his performance, rather than on the murky speculations of people who wish him ill?
We all have reasonably high expectations of our public officials. This Sundance guy has no monopoly on that. But if you follow his malicious and needle-nosed route, guess what? You'll be left with no one you deem fit to represent you. Swift.
10 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
felixcat 5/3/2023 1:57:19 PM (No. 1461946)
Sorry #4 and 5, but releasing information about his travel after the fact is routine for federal senior executive branch officials like the Secretaries of the various departments. As a former member of Congress, he should know better about oversight, transparency, etc., but apparently does not. If any bit of his travel was paid by the Florida taxpayer, then it had better be released. Where he went on vacation with his family and paid for out of his own pocket is his business.
12 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
thomthomp 5/3/2023 1:59:15 PM (No. 1461949)
I understand why they might not want to publish travel PLANS, but how is it a security risk to know where the Governor has BEEN...and how he got there? It doesn't pass the smell test.
20 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/3/2023 2:13:17 PM (No. 1461958)
Any defense of secrecy comes from a position of weakness and desperation, IMO. I am not happy to see Republicans who are willing to engage in compromise out of fear that their candidate won’t make it.
I will never want an obviously “bought and paid for” person in the presidency of the United States.
15 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Birddog 5/3/2023 2:17:37 PM (No. 1461963)
It's "Troubling" that he has had TWO separate bits of legislation crammed through on party line votes to simply be able to delay/avoid announcing that he is running for President, which would trigger campaign, spending, fundraising , travel restrictions. The 1st of those was to actually change the :AW that barred him from running for another office without stepping down from his current office.
Smart would have been...keep his campaign pledges not to run, focus on Florida, helping other candidates, avoid fighting with Trump, ...then...IF Trump looked like he was going to lose or be "In Jail", step up for "The good of the Party and the MAGA Goals", either cram through the Law change at that point or step down from the Governors seat and go "All in" for President....before the "New" wore off, it's already wearing off and the election is a loooong ways away.
12 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Rama41 5/3/2023 2:20:37 PM (No. 1461968)
Sundance remains really nervous about DeSantis. I fully expect him to enter the race shortly. As for all the pro-
Trump primary polling data against an unannounced candidate, people clearly aren't looking at general election polls: Trump continues to lose all the swing states as of today.
7 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/3/2023 2:29:55 PM (No. 1461974)
Shooting this messenger is weak. He has been a reliable source for a long, long time. He doesn’t fall in love with candidates, but supports those who support our country’s best interests. As i recall - from his reporting on the last big hurricane - he grew up in Florida and still lives there.
If there is obvious manipulation that makes DeSantis look less than the hero we have thought him to be, he won’t be a winner in 2024.
13 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
RayLRiv 5/3/2023 2:41:13 PM (No. 1461981)
Trump always plays the long game - that's good enough for me. I'll wait to see where this all plays out.
Trump's leading all other contenders by a YUGE margin - something DeSantis knows.
He hasn't officially announced his run but the moves he's making (however awkward they appear) seem to indicate that intention. I think he's playing both sides of the nomination fence - if it looks like Trump's unable to lock it, DeSantis Mighty Mouse will be ready to "save the GOP's day". If Trump beats all dubious accusations and IS the eventual nominee DeSantis abandons pretense, smugly hoping Trump asks DeSantis to be Trump's VP.
6 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Californian 5/3/2023 2:53:30 PM (No. 1461989)
Trump'24
11 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
DVC 5/3/2023 4:03:08 PM (No. 1462047)
ANY TIME any politician starts "sealing records" of ANY KIND...that is a red flag that something crooked is going on.
Bet on it.
DeSantis is undermining his own credibility, rapidly and steadily.
14 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 5/3/2023 4:26:00 PM (No. 1462066)
Ron DeSantis has shown to be a liar and an opportunist. He ran for re-election knowing Florida's state law prohibited second term governors from running for president. Floridians put this law into place so that their governors would stay focused on the issues of importance to their state, and not gallivanting around the country (or Europe) securing their next job. During his re-election campaign, only six months ago, he never mentioned that he was planning on having the state legislature change the law so he could run for president. He also failed to mention that he would have them change the state's Sunshine Laws about office holder's travel and meetings for his personal benefit. These are very basic and bedrock laws that made Florida a thriving, conservative state.
In my book Governor Ron DeSantis has betrayed his constituents, and has led the Republican controlled Legislature to also betray the people of Florida. I really don't find DeSantis' actions as any endorsement or enticement for my vote as President of the United States. Sundance has been exposing the backstory on hot topics since the Zimmerman case. Don't dismiss the messenger just because you don't like the message.
12 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
YorkieMom 5/3/2023 5:13:57 PM (No. 1462097)
Agree with #4/9. No one I know likes Trump’s tactics of his lefty sounding ads knocking what DeSantis has done with Disney and how bad Florida is now. Trump loves the polls that show him way ahead, but he’d better be paying attention to the polls in the states he needs to win. My state already shows Trump losing to Biden and DeSantis. If Trump is so sure he’s got the nomination locked up, stop whining about how bad DeSantis is. As for shooting the messenger, I guess some posters would never think of doing that. As for the DeSantis record, I wish my state had him as our governor, and we just elected a new Republican Governor. Bottom line, polls are meaningless right now, and Trump has a big road ahead of attracting independent voters.
6 people like this.
And some people who love DeSantis can't understand why I do not. He is acting like the creature of Jeb Bush and associates, and I really don't want the Bush cabal near the WH again. If they are sealing records, it isn't for security, it is because there is a whole lot of dirt being hidden.
5 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
lawless11 5/3/2023 10:57:49 PM (No. 1462258)
Hey "Sundance", even though we were assured it was Ted Cruz's father, maybe it was Desantis' dad that shot JFK. You know, seeing how Ted isn't running this cycle...
1 person likes this.
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