Checks and balances? Florida’s Republican lawmakers are DeSantis’ legislative lapdogs | Opinion

No other Republican has cast himself as prominently as the alternative to Donald Trump as Ron DeSantis.

Sure, the Florida governor hasn’t announced he’s running in the 2024 presidential primaries, but stumping in Iowa on Friday, he made the case that his fight against what he calls “woke ideology” has yielded results for Republicans.

“From what we showed in Florida, not only can you have a good agenda and deliver, you can make big inroads with the electorate. And that’s exactly what we did. To go from a 32,000 to 1.5 million [vote] margin, it doesn’t happen by accident,” DeSantis told a crowd, referencing how he increased his margin of victory between the 2018 and 2022 elections.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers back home are busy guaranteeing DeSantis has more talking points if, and when, he enters the race for the White House. They are spending considerable time — on taxpayers’ dime — to help his war on woke. Their intent during the two-month legislative session that started last week appears to be less about the arduous work of lawmaking and more about elevating Florida’s “supreme leader.” It’s no coincidence that, as sources told The Washington Post, DeSantis is planning to announce his presidential bid after session ends in early May.

The Legislature has teed up a bill to end DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — efforts at state colleges and universities, while giving the governor more power over faculty hiring. Lawmakers want to expand a controversial parental-rights law known as “Don’t say gay” and ban abortions at six weeks. At DeSantis’ request, they are close to passing permitless carry, which would allow gun owners to carry a concealed weapon without a license or training.

We’re sure these red-meat issues will make good campaign speeches in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early GOP primary states.

It’s no surprise that lawmakers are in lockstep with the governor. But DeSantis’ stronghold on the Legislature goes beyond ideological alignment.

The legislative branch of our state government now functions as an arm of the executive. That should give chills to any Constitution-toting conservative. Both the U.S. and the Florida constitutions establish three separate but equal branches of government. The point is to create a system of checks and balances and prevent one of them from becoming too powerful. How can Florida live up to that standard when a branch has de facto control over another?

With DeSantis-backed laws constantly challenged in and — in some cases, declared unconstitutional by — the courts, only the judicial branch now stands between Republicans and those whose rights they have curtailed.

Take the case of the Stop WOKE Act. A federal judge last year temporarily blocked part of the law from being enforced in state universities and private businesses. The law restricts how K-12 teachers, professors and diversity trainers can discuss race and gender. From the beginning it was a clear affront to the First Amendment.

Republicans have controlled the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature for decades. But there was once vigorous debate over legislation and, despite the usual backroom dealings, Republicans disagreed with each other and hashed out bills in public. It was often a Republican chairing a powerful legislative committee who stood in the way of bad legislation. In 2016, then-Miami GOP Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla famously killed bills to allow people to openly carry guns and allow concealed guns on state college campuses.

Showdowns between the governor’s office and legislative leaders were common. It was only six years ago — though it feels like ancient history — that then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida House openly feuded over spending on economic and tourism incentive programs. Today, bills are often concocted behind closed doors and presented to legislative members as done deals.

DeSantis has ended dissent. He has strong-armed House and Senate leaders, as he did when he forced them to pass a congressional redistricting map. He also has flexed his muscles through public embarrassment. DeSantis gutted then-Senate President Wilton Simpson’s multimillion-dollar priorities last year, for example, only to have him later stand next to the governor during a bill-signing ceremony.

The symbolism of that moment was clear: There’s no one more powerful than DeSantis in Florida; other Republicans better keep their heads down and noses to the grindstone on his behalf.

When, and if, DeSantis campaigns as an official presidential candidate, he will have a lot to brag about. But there will be a price to our democracy in Florida. Americans beyond our state line should take note.