Ron DeSantis & the history of Gubernatorial suspensions in Florida
Bottom Line: Reading and listening to coverage of the conclusion of the Scott Israel suspension saga caused me to recall my first visit to one of Palm Beach County’s parks after moving to South Florida fifteen years ago. I’ll never forget reading the dedication sign of county commissioners who had all been removed from office or were facing indictment. The nickname corruption county didn’t come from nowhere. Anyway, the reason it came to mind is the coverage Governor DeSantis has received for what’s often been called an aggressive approach to suspensions. But the truth is, while he’s been decisive, he hasn’t acted more aggressively than his predecessor's.
A review of suspensions by Governor Scott showed a total of 50 during his eight years in office. That included at least one in every year and as many as 14 in a year. Governor DeSantis is responsible for three thus far, a pace that’s less than half of Governor Scott and lower than the average of Florida’s governors going back to Bush. Yes, two of the three, Scott Israel and Susan Bucher were high profile, but that’s really been the only difference.
We’ll see what the future holds for Governor DeSantis when it comes to using executive authority to remove officials. As of now, the characterization assigned to him being aggressive with that authority, isn’t accurate based on Florida’s recent history of executive suspensions.