Steve Bousquet: DeSantis plays dirty on abortion rights

We’re all eyewitnesses to history being made — the wrong kind of history.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is engaged in an all-out effort, unprecedented in its scope in Florida history, to defeat two ballot initiatives on abortion and recreational marijuana. What he’s doing is unethical, unconstitutional and possibly illegal.

Voters will vote yes or no on Amendments 3 and 4. They should be able to do so without overt political interference from the governor’s office.

To be clear, DeSantis has the right, and in my view, the responsibility, to forcefully express his opinions about constitutional amendments or anything else on the Nov. 5 ballot. It’s what leaders are supposed to do, and he’s the duly elected governor of this state.

So go right ahead, Governor. Raise money, run hysterical TV ads, stand on the corner, wave signs and accuse the other side of anything you can think of. That’s politics.

But that’s not what DeSantis is doing.

Determined to win at all costs, he refuses to play by the rules and works to rig the system, and nobody can stop him except the courts — and you, the voter.

DeSantis trampled all over the First Amendment by threatening to arrest TV station executives who aired ads in support of Amendment 4 on abortion rights.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee ordered DeSantis to drop threats of criminal charges, calling it “unconstitutional coercion” for the state to censor political speech protected by the First Amendment.

“The government cannot silence the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban. It’s a deadly ban that puts women’s lives at risk,” said Lauren Brenzel, director of the Yes on 4 campaign. “This ruling is a powerful reminder that Floridians will not back down in the face of government intimidation.”

No one has to believe political ads or to watch them. But no one has the right to tell TV stations they can’t show them.

Do you want a politician deciding what you can see on TV?

DeSantis has intimidated voters who signed petitions to get Amendment 4 on the ballot, sending state law enforcement agents door-to-door in Fort Myers and elsewhere, an outrageous act of intimidation.

He has weaponized state agencies, which rely on your tax dollars, to oppose the amendment.

He has made sweeping, unsubstantiated accusations of ballot petition fraud by Amendment 4 proponents, which prompted opponents to ask a court to invalidate the referendum results before people vote. The lawsuit was filed in Orange County.

All that came after DeSantis cheated by stacking a state review panel, the Financial Impact Estimating Conference, with his former budget director and, with the aid of a political ally in the Legislature, a Heritage Foundation member who contributed to the Project 2025 manifesto.

A majority on the panel, long respected for a nonpartisan analysis, concocted a politically motivated financial impact statement full of innuendoes and what-ifs, intended to stoke fears over restoring reproductive freedom for Florida women. It’s propaganda, masquerading as unbiased information.

The impact statement, which appears on the ballot, is twice as long as the 75-word question itself. As voters see it for the first time, they are outraged by such an obvious attempt to rig the result.

Even if you oppose Amendment 4 on moral or religious grounds, you could vote for Amendment 4 as a way to register your outrage at DeSantis’ interference in a legitimate, state-certified ballot initiative.

Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a DeSantis appointee, certified that Floridians for Reproductive Freedom had gathered the required 891,523 signatures. But as the ballot question gained political momentum, the state produced an “interim report” alleging widespread petition fraud.

The report was based in part on a review of 41 petition forms in Palm Beach County, out of 77,000 submitted. “They only looked at 41,” said Palm Beach Supervisor of Elections Wendy Link.

Ballot petition fraud, such as forging the signatures of dead people, is a crime, and wrongdoers obviously should be punished. But the state needs to prove it.

This extremely important question, which will affect the women of this state for generations, is for you the voter to decide. It should not be decided by a governor who plays dirty.

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