EDITORIAL: DeSantis can't take his eye off Florida

OUR POSITION: We can finally officially call Gov. Ron DeSantis a candidate for president but what does that mean for us?

The drama — if there ever was any — is over.

Ron DeSantis is running for president of the United States.

We can all let out a sigh of relief and sit back and watch the show. And we promise there will be a show as DeSantis will have to rebuff verbal jabs from former President Donald Trump while dealing with a growing list of Republican challengers like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott (R-SC).

DeSantis has plenty of experience putting on a show of his own though. He carefully crafts every opportunity to announce a new law, take a shot at Democrats or show his anti-WOKE acumen.

The jury (or should we say votes) is out on how strong of a run DeSantis can make and/or if he would be a good president. He has a lot of qualities going for him, but there are chinks in his armor.

A law passed by his Republican friends in the Legislature allows him to hold onto his job as governor while he campaigns for president. Who is watching over Florida taxpayers' money while the governor criss-crosses the nation campaigning? Will all of that travel be paid for with the tens, maybe hundreds, of millions of campaign contributions that are rolling in?

And who is watching the store?

For the next 15 months or so the governor will be in an intense dogfight for the Republican nomination. That requires a lot of travel, a lot of interviews, a lot of fundraising.

There is business in Florida he must not forsake, including:

A replacement for the late Sarasota County Commissioner Nancy Detert.

The mess he has created at New College in Sarasota where his hand-picked president and board of directors were slapped with a censure by the faculty for "disregarding their fiduciary duties."

How about his decision to send almost 1,200 law enforcement officers and lots of expensive equipment to the Texas/Mexico border to keep out illegal migrants? The expected crisis has not overwhelmed Homeland Security as far as we know. Are Florida's taxpayers footing the bill for this?

Speaking of migrants, his new law getting tough on businesses who may hire migrants in the country illegally is going to impact not only the prices we pay — especially for vegetables and fruit — but make it tougher on a lot of businesses that produce our food and those that are repairing our homes after a horrible 2022 hurricane season. We're not in favor of illegal aliens, we're just stating the obvious repercussions.

What about the insurance companies that still are refusing to meet their obligations to help hurricane victims get back into their homes? Very little was done to directly help homeowners during the legislative session and there are too many people with blue tarps still on their roofs or no safe home to live in as insurance companies argue over settlements.

What about the more than 250,000 who were wiped off the Medicaid rolls during the annual evaluation of eligibility? The number was particularly high this year because the survey was paused during the COVID pandemic. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, about 80% of those who lost insurance are eligible but were denied because of red tape and clerical errors.

Can the governor do more for affordable housing? The Legislature drew up a decent law, but it will likely take a couple of years before we see its impact. Meanwhile, we are losing employees, and watching people resort to homelessness.

And, there's more. But we've made our point.

It's great we have a Floridian (actually two) running for president. We just ask that DeSantis does not lose sight of the problems at home while mesmerized by the glow from the White House.