Today we have a quartet of items, including a bizarre legislative race featuring feuding family members, one court ruling that affects the future of gambling in the state and another that could turn Florida’s judicial races into partisan food fights. Plus, I threw in one piece of feel-good news just to preserve everyone’s sanity.
Let’s start with the bizarre legislative race.
As Floridians, we’ve all seen our share of weird campaign stories about odd candidates, ghost candidates, scam candidates and even indicted candidates. But a 2024 race in South Florida — featuring a former legislator from Orlando — is blazing a strange new trail, even by the Sunshine State’s already strange standards.
The story involves Democrat Joe Saunders, who used to represent the UCF area in the Florida House of Representatives. Saunders moved down to South Florida a while back and is now seeking a House seat there, challenging GOP incumbent Fabian Basabe.
But it turns out Joe Saunders is also facing an NPA candidate named “Moe Saunders.”
Joe Saunders vs. Moe Saunders already sounds strange. But it gets even stranger when you learn three more facts shared by the Miami New Times:
1) “Moe Saunders” didn’t even exist as a candidate name until the last minute. The candidate previously went by the name Maureen Sanders Scott — until the day before the candidate qualifying period ended, and she changed it.
2) “Moe Saunders” lives 300 miles away from the district in which she is running.
3) “Moe Saunders” is Joe Saunders’ aunt — and previously asked the Republican Basabe on Twitter if she could do anything to help his campaign against her nephew.
Saunders’ campaign says his aunt is trying to do precisely that — help the Republican by confusing voters.
There’s obviously some family friction going on here. But it’s remarkable how many of Florida’s schemier campaigns seem to be defined simply by the candidates who enter the race rather than the issues upon which they’re allegedly running.
In a state full of sketchy candidate stories, this is one of the sketchier.
"Moe Saunders" files to run against Joe Saunders.
But Moe didn't even exist as a candidate name until last week, says @miaminewtimes
And she lives 300 miles away
And is Joe's aunthttps://t.co/S8T4qnznY0 pic.twitter.com/XMHfF0VWRN— Scott Maxwell (@Scott_Maxwell) June 21, 2024
Good election news
Today’s column has so much electoral ickiness, I felt compelled to insert a bright spot, namely that Orange County is going to have more early-voting sites.
Elections Supervisor Glen Gilzean has prompted a lot of cringey headlines during his brief tenure. But Gilzean announced something this past week that everyone should applaud — more opportunities for voters to cast ballots. The two new sites will be in primarily Black communities, in Eatonville and West Orlando, which Gilzean described as “voting deserts.”
The announcement — which Gilzean made on Juneteenth, a few days after revealing that he wasn’t going to campaign to keep the office to which Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him — seemed widely applauded by most everyone. That’s a rarity in politics. So good for him, and yay for that.
Orange elections chief adds early voting sites in Eatonville, west Orlando
Monopoly money
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the sports-betting monopoly Florida lawmakers granted to the Seminole Tribe and its Hard Rock brand. But the ruling was interesting.
In his order, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the court couldn’t overturn the ruling based on the specific objections filed by the Tribe’s would-be gambling competitors. But he also said he was concerned about the fact that the deal is clearly a monopoly for one company, potentially violating the Constitution’s equal-protection clause. As such, he seemed to leave open the possibility for yet another legal challenge on those grounds.
Kavanaugh is right, echoing a point I’ve been making for three years now. This is clearly a government-granted monopoly, which is never a good deal for consumers. And this one was awarded to an entity that has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign accounts of Florida lawmakers.
So just remember, sports-bettors and free-market supporters: While the politicians were happy to check their alleged “free market” principles at the door as long as the campaign checks cleared, there were at least two people looking out for you. The reliable tag team of American justice: Scott Maxwell and Brett Kavanaugh.
Florida’s sports-betting monopoly for Seminole Tribe is rotten deal | Commentary
Judicial races are gonna get nuts
Lastly, mark this prediction: Judicial races in Florida are about to turn uglier, nastier and a lot more partisan.
Florida law has long held that judges can’t talk about their party registration in nonpartisan judicial races under the philosophy that judges should follow the law, not political ideologies. But, as the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported: “The Florida Supreme Court cleared the way for judicial candidates across the state to openly declare their political ideology — as long as they don’t disclose their party affiliation.”
So you can say you’re a flaming liberal or MAGA devotee as long as you don’t say you’re a Democrat or Republican … which is like telling someone that, while you’re not allowed to say how old you are, you can say that it’s somewhere between 44 and 46.
Admittedly this issue is a little complicated, especially for First Amendment devotees.
On one hand, you don’t want judicial candidates declaring biases just so they can get elected. On the other, I’ve always thought that if a candidate is an extremist or idiot, I’d like to give him or her the ability to let voters know before we cast ballots.
Regardless, if this ruling stands, judicial races — which have long been decorum-filled affairs, if also boring and unenlightening — are about to get a lot more political.
Candidates seeking judicial positions in dark blue counties will stress their liberal credentials while the ones running in red districts will stress their conservative ones — furthering the political divide and probably further eroding confidence in the judiciary.
Florida Supreme Court allows judicial candidates to declare political ideology
