It even sought to restrict CL photojournalists who were there that day from participating in the trial as witnesses—all after the office asked a CL photographer to sign an affidavit regarding a photo they took, and CL posted, documenting Tampa Bay’s first weekend of George Floyd protests (via a lawyer, we declined).
But Warren always engaged us even in disagreement, sat down for interviews, and more importantly, served voters who sent him to office twice.That changed in 2022 when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Warren in a showboating presser over his pledge not to prosecute abortion-related crimes after Roe v. Wade was overturned. A judge ultimately ruled that the governor violated the Florida Constitution and Warren’s First Amendment rights—but he still doesn’t have his job back.
The guv’s chosen replacement for Warren, Judge Suzy Lopez, has raised more than $1 million mostly from GOP funders and even took contributions form her own staff (Warren has more than $600,000 and has a policy of not taking money from staffers, according to the Tampa Bay Times).
Lopez also had to back off charges on activists who were protesting the Ron DeSantis-backed “Stop Woke Act.” She has to win the office this time, and the office will always play the role of cop, but Warren deserves another shot.
More importantly, Florida’s wanna-be-authoritarian governor needs to be kept in check and at least be forced into subverting the will of voters yet again.
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This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2024.