The DeSantis endorsement that’s more important than politics
Police union endorses Republican Ron DeSantis for governor – four years after endorsing Democrat - Sun Sentinel
Excerpt: A major union for police officers, the Florida Police Benevolent Association, is endorsing Republican Ron DeSantis for governor.
Four years ago, the Florida PBA endorsed the Democratic nominee for governor, Charlie Crist.
In Wednesday’s endorsement of DeSantis, the PBA president said DeSantis would be the kind of governor who would stand up for what he asserted are unfair efforts to malign police.
“The men and women of law enforcement want to tell Floridians that Ron DeSantis has our backs. That’s why I’m proud to announce that we have his back,” Florida PBA President John Kazanjian, said in a statement distributed by the DeSantis campaign.
In his endorsement of DeSantis, Kazanjian asserted that police have been treated unfairly in recent years.
“As we’ve seen in the past few years, police have been scrutinized for doing their job and ‘kicked to the curb’ by special interest groups, media and politicians which have resulted in the rise of law enforcement officers being killed or assaulted in the line of duty,” he said.
He didn’t offer examples of how scrutiny of police has resulted in police being killed or assaulted.
Bottom Line: There are two very important points implicit within this story. First, I have to calm myself down because my blood was boiling by the end of reading that story. Being a political hack who pretends to write objective news stories is one thing. I’d expect nothing less, sadly. Deliberately being a dick to the heroes who put on a badge and put their lives on the line every day so you have the luxury of being a professional political hack who pretends to write objective news stories is quite another.
He didn’t offer examples of how scrutiny of police has resulted in police being killed or assaulted.
Not only is that offensive. It’s pathetic. I’ll do it since you can’t get past your political animus to do some research. Since 2015, 573 police officers died in the line of duty. Of those 573 officers, 340 were killed. Until this week, more officers had died on duty in Florida in 2018 than any other state.
He didn’t offer examples of how scrutiny of police has resulted in police being killed or assaulted.
There really aren’t words...but it’s ironically exactly what John was stating when he said: kicked to the curb’ by special interest groups, media and politicians. And it’s exactly why I started a weekly series over two years ago to pay tribute to the sacrifices made by those who serve in law enforcement.
As for the second message. Clearly this isn’t about party politics. It’s about much more.