Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 4.4.22

By Peter Schorsch    

Good Monday morning.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@MULawPoll: Since July 2021, (Joe) Biden job approval among whites has gone from 50% to 40%. Among Blacks, it has gone from 88% to 56%. Among Hispanics, it’s gone from 56% to 51%. @pollsandvotes points to the decline among Blacks as particularly striking.

—@JBouie: I have been thinking about this as well. The mouse is powerful enough that if it wants regime change in Florida, it could probably get it.

—@EsotericCD: There seems to be this fascinating belief among Twitter progressives that all Disney has to do is snap its fingers, and somehow Ron DeSantis will lose re-election. I cannot emphasize how out-of-touch these people are on the cultural valence of the fights he (intelligently) picks.

—@ChrisLatvala: I don’t remember any of my Elementary School Teachers talking about their marriage or love life. They taught us math, how to read, write, etc.

—@AJWTheology: One of the things that has struck me in my last two U.S. visits has been how very painful the culture wars have become for many, many people. Online, you see combatants appearing to enjoy the fight (or even monetize it). But on the ground, you see the hurt, confusion and fatigue.

Tweet, tweet:

—@DanRather: A game for the ages. You couldn’t write a more gripping script. A coaching legend in his final act. A storied rivalry has another improbable chapter. Congratulations to both teams. UNC continues its improbable run. But Duke should feel great pride. They did Coach K proud.

Tweet, tweet:

— DAYS UNTIL —

John Dingfelder to be replaced on Tampa City Council 一 3; MLB Opening Day — 4; ‘Better Call Saul’ final season begins — 15; Magic Johnson’s Apple TV+ docuseries ‘They Call Me Magic’ begins — 19; 2022 Florida Chamber Transportation, Growth & Infrastructure Solution Summit — 25; ‘The Godfather’ T.V. series ‘The Offer’ premieres — 26; 2nd half of ‘Ozark’ final season begins — 26; federal student loan payments will resume — 28; ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ premieres — 33; Florida TaxWatch’s Spring Meeting — 38; ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ starts on Disney+ — 53; ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ premieres — 54; ‘Platinum Jubilee’ for Queen Elizabeth II — 60; California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota hold midterm Primaries — 65; ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ premieres — 97; San Diego Comic-Con 2022 — 109; Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner novel ‘Heat 2’ publishes — 128; ‘House of the Dragon’ premieres on HBO — 139; ‘The Lord of the Rings’ premieres on Amazon Prime — 152; ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ sequel premieres — 186; Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Passenger’ releases — 204; Jon Meacham’s ‘And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle’ releases — 204; ‘Black Panther 2’ premieres — 223; ‘The Flash’ premieres — 226; The World Cup kicks off in Qatar — 231; McCarthy’s ‘Stella Maris’ releases — 233; ‘Avatar 2′ premieres — 258; ‘Captain Marvel 2′ premieres — 322; 2023 Legislative Session convenes — 338; ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ premieres — 355; 2023 Session Sine Die — 398; ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ premieres — 481; ‘Dune: Part Two’ premieres — 565; Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games — 845.

— TOP STORY —

“Florida lawmakers raid $100M from affordable housing for program that doesn’t exist” via Jeffrey Schweers of the Orlando Sentinel — Affordable housing advocates say the Legislature broke a promise made only a year ago that it would never again raid the Sadowski Affordable Housing Act fund, created in 1992 as a dedicated source of revenue to finance affordable housing programs.

Language was slipped into the back of the budget bill during the last week of the Session, transferring $100 million from Sadowski into the Hometown Hero Housing Program for down payment assistance and closing costs, to be established and run by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. The bill creating the program was sponsored by Sen. Ed Hooper, who also co-chaired the Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development appropriations conference committee that made the change.

The budget doesn’t provide any guidance on setting up the program, criteria for who can qualify for assistance, or even how much money each individual or family can receive. That’s because the bill (SB 788) that would have created the program died in committee. Where the Senate came up with $100 million is a mystery because the original bill had no funding at all, basically leaving it up to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation to figure out where the funds would come from.

— STATEWIDE —

“A judge calls out racial discrimination in Florida” via Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post — DeSantis proclaimed himself unfazed by a federal judge’s opinion declaring provisions of the state’s new voting law unconstitutional and racially discriminatory. As a matter of raw judicial vote-counting, DeSantis is probably right. “It’s just a matter of how quickly it’s going to get reversed,” DeSantis said of the ruling Thursday by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, an Obama appointee. The numbers back up DeSantis’ bluster. Seven of the 11 active judges on the 11th Circuit, where Walker’s decision will be appealed, are Republican nominees, including a solid phalanx of six Donald Trump appointees. The Supreme Court, if the dispute gets that far, isn’t apt to be any more attentive to voting rights claims.