A Florida bill that would require bloggers who write about the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, to register with the state proved a step too far even for the godfather of far-right Republicanism, the former US House speaker Newt Gingrich.
“The idea that bloggers criticising a politician should register with the government is insane,” Gingrich wrote on Twitter.
“It is an embarrassment that it is a Republican state legislator in Florida who introduced a bill to that effect. He should withdraw it immediately.”
The bill was introduced by Jason Brodeur. It states: “If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register” with the appropriate state office.
The bill defines “elected state officer” as “the governor, the lieutenant governor, a cabinet officer, or any member of the legislature”. As penalty for failure to comply, it posits fines of up to $2,500.
Last week, Brodeur told Florida Politics: “Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk. They both are professional electioneers. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldn’t paid bloggers?”
The prominent first amendment lawyer Ron Kuby – memorably name-checked in the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski, released 25 years ago on Monday – told NBC it was “hard to imagine a proposal that would be more violative” of free speech rights under the US constitution.
“We don’t register journalists,” Kuby said. “People who write cannot be forced to register.”
Nonetheless, DeSantis’s press secretary told NBC the governor would “consider the merits of the bill in final form if and when it passes the legislature”.
The Florida legislature has recently passed a lot that has pleased DeSantis, given it is controlled by a Republican supermajority.
The governor has in turn pursued a hardline agenda based on culture war issues including LGBTQ+ rights and the teaching of history in state schools.
DeSantis is widely expected to announce a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Gingrich, 79, ran for president in 2012. For close to 40 years before that, he made his name as a ruthless partisan warrior in and out of Congress, hounding Bill Clinton through his presidency before quitting as House speaker in 1998 with his behaviour under scrutiny and Republican fortunes in decline.
Widely held responsible for the coarsening of American politics and the deepening of social and geographic divisions which resulted from it, Gingrich has been a stalwart supporter of Donald Trump, the ex-president who dominates polling regarding the 2024 nomination. DeSantis is Trump’s only genuine rival, at least for the moment.
Among political observers, the irony of Gingrich saying Florida Republicans had finally gone too far was of course not lost. The writer and podcaster Molly Jong-Fast simply tweeted: “When you’ve lost Newt Gingrich … ”
Florida Democratic congresswoman Anna Eskamani took the broader view.
She said: “Yes, this bill is truly ridiculous and an attack on first amendment rights but there are a lot of other terrible bills by Florida Republicans to also highlight and we welcome criticism on all of them lol.”
