Jeb Bush would have stood in the middle of State Road 84, right in front of Lester’s Diner, helping a motorist get out of her stranded Subaru.
So when a 1,000-year flood left much of Fort Lauderdale underwater on Thursday, where was Ron DeSantis? Up in Akron, of all places, giving another “ain’t-I-great” speech to hundreds of Republicans.
Akron, Ohio.
Then, as the record rains continued, up to two feet or more, shutting schools, closing the airport, saturating homes and yards, and turning Broward Boulevard into another New River, DeSantis was on his way to … Cincinnati.
As people in Broward frantically tried to keep the water out, hundreds more in Ohio waited to hear DeSantis tell them how great everything is down here.
“We’re going on offense in the state of Florida,” DeSantis told the Akron crowd. “I’m going to get out in front of issues. I’m going to be leading on issues. I don’t care what the left says. I don’t care what the media says. We are going to deliver big victories, and I’ll tell ya — when you’re on offense, it’s hard for them to keep up with you, because they don’t know what we’re going to do next.”
Knee-deep water should be a cakewalk for DeSantis.
He has those sharp-looking white rain boots — the ones he wore in Fort Myers after Hurricane Ian decimated parts of southwest Florida last fall. He received very high marks for the state’s fast and coordinated response to that storm, including re-opening the bridge to Sanibel Island so quickly. So DeSantis is the guy you want in your corner in terrible weather.
But when one of Florida’s largest cities was suddenly underwater, he was in Ohio (like the theme song of WKRP in Cincinnati says, " ... take good care of you, I’ve got to go.”)
“The governor has not yet called,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis deadpanned to reporters on Thursday. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m sure he’s very interested in what’s going on here.”
Indeed he was, said Broward Mayor Lamar Fisher. The county mayor said DeSantis called him to offer a full range of state services. The state emergency management chief, Kevin Guthrie, was on the ground Friday, and state agencies provided manpower and equipment to help flood victims.
Even though DeSantis was in Ohio, it was critical that he appear fully engaged in Fort Lauderdale’s troubles. So his office put out his official daily schedule several hours earlier than usual, and it listed his phone calls with Fisher and Broward Commissioner Michael Udine.
Coincidence? I don’t think so.
When you’re governor, you’re governor of everybody, all the time, especially when people are desperate for help.
Yet twice Thursday, in a swipe at the county that twice has resoundingly rejected him at the ballot box, the governor’s office issued statements that said: “Broward County has not requested assistance from the state” — the second time, shortly before 3 p.m., after Fisher said the county had.
The water was receding Friday, and in the days and weeks ahead, many homeowners will need help repairing their waterlogged homes. Wait until they find out that DeSantis has signed a law that makes it much harder to sue a cold-hearted insurance company that refuses to pay claims.
As everyone knows, Broward and this governor have serious ongoing relationship issues.
So DeSantis’ absence from Florida’s second-largest county in a time of crisis immediately led to speculation that his dry-foot-in-Ohio policy was politically motivated.
It sure looked that way, which is why DeSantis should have high-tailed it back to Florida as soon as possible.
In fact, he did just that, by the way, arriving back in Tallahassee at around 10:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Less than an hour later, DeSantis was sitting in his office, surrounded by smiling supporters, where in private he quickly signed the law imposing a six-week abortion ban in Florida.
The governor of Florida can move extremely quickly — when he wants to.
On Friday, as people in Broward were waiting for the tunnel to open and for the power to come back, DeSantis was off to Lynchburg, Virginia, to give another speech.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee.
