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Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 10.3.22

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FloridaPolitics.com
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 Good Monday morning.

Last week, we highlighted several reputable organizations that are looking for volunteers and donations to help those affected by Hurricane Ian. Many of those orgs had a statewide focus, but the people of Southwest Florida were hit particularly hard, so we want to make sure our readers know about these worthy causes.

After the storm, the hard work begins — please help.

— The Collier Community Foundation has activated its Collier Comes Together Disaster Relief Fund to help Hurricane Ian victims. Funds raised will be delivered to other Collier-based nonprofits and relief efforts with no administrative cost.

— The Harry Chaplin Food Bank’s Ft. Myers distribution center took a beating during the storm, but the organization is still hard at work delivering food and water to residents of Lee and surrounding counties. In addition to monetary donations, the organization is accepting food drop-offs and volunteers.

Faith Based Events

— Meals of Hope is living up to its name, working alongside World Central Kitchen to distribute hot meals to the people of Collier County.

— The Collaboratory, formerly known as the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, has launched the SWFL Emergency Relief Fund in partnership with United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades counties. All funds raised will be used to support Southwest Florida nonprofits helping Hurricane Ian victims.

— Our furry friends need help, too. The Humane Society Naples has been working around the clock to care for kittens and pups displaced by the storm. In addition to monetary donations, HSN is accepting food donations at its main shelter on Airport-Pulling Road. It also has Chewy and Amazon wish lists.

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As the state continues to evaluate the toll from Hurricane Ian, it’s already become clear the storm inflicted significant loss of life and catastrophic damage, especially in the hardest hit areas of Southwest Florida.

While Gov. Ron DeSantis followed the playbook — he urged individuals to follow guidance from local officials pertaining to storm preparation, safety and, if necessary, evacuations; and he has since the storm passed been a fixture in communities suffering through the devastation — many feel the state was unprepared to protect people in the storm’s path.

Ahead of the storm’s landfall, and as meteorologists insisted the path was still unclear, DeSantis attended a Friday night football game. While the state was not yet sure just how — or where — the storm would impact Florida, it was clear most of the Sunshine State was about to get very dark, wet and windy.

Attending a high school football game may have projected strength for those in attendance, but for most it raised questions, most specifically whether that was the best use of his time as the state prepared for a potentially catastrophic hurricane on a path toward Florida, which was at the time, almost entirely in its crosshairs.

Add to that the delay it took for some Southwest Florida counties to begin issuing evacuation orders, and the Governor is facing a perception issue and further questions about whether officials gave their residents adequate time to safely evacuate from the storm’s path.

Lee County issued its evacuation order for vulnerable communities 13 hours after Pinellas County to the north. By the time some learned of an evacuation order, the weather was already deteriorating. After the storm passed, videos and images began surfacing showing just how much danger people were in — intense storm surge swept away entire structures and flooded streets near the top of palm trees; people in island communities had to be airlifted from their homes; a portion of the bridge to Sanibel Island was washed away.

DeSantis defended the timing of evacuation orders, noting the ever-changing path and the fact that orders were issued once Lee County was back within the cone of Ian’s projected path.

For his part, DeSantis has been calling, as he should, for federal aid to assist in swift recovery efforts. Yet some House Republicans voted against a stopgap measure, which was ultimately approved in both the House and the Senate, to free up $15 million in disaster relief aid. GOP Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz was among those opposing it, and on Sunday, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, also a Republican, said he would vote against a broader Hurricane Ian relief bill if it had too much “pork” spending.

This raises additional questions for DeSantis, including how he feels about members of his own party threatening to vote against aid, and how he rectifies that with his own vote as a member of Congress against relief funding for Hurricane Sandy in 2013.

All of this comes under the microscope as the state, under DeSantis’ leadership, has not spent any of the My Safe Florida Home funding recently set aside by the Florida Legislature to help Floridians harden their homes to protect against hurricane damage. The program has yet to be implemented, according to the My Safe Home website, and instead includes a list of FAQs about the program, including explaining why it hasn’t been launched.

As DeSantis faces re-election next month against former Gov. Charlie Crist, he’ll have to begin answering some of these questions.

“Officials in Florida say shifting forecasts complicated the timing of evacuation orders” via Mitch Smith of The New York Times — Florida officials said uncertainty about Hurricane Ian’s direct path led to last-minute evacuation orders for residents of Fort Myers’ barrier islands. DeSantis emphasized that forecasters initially thought the storm would make landfall in Tampa Bay, but a last-minute shift brought the storm south to Lee and Sarasota counties. Kevin Guthrie, the state’s emergency management director, said that Lee County would have needed 48 hours to successfully evacuate. But two days before landfall, he said, forecasters were not expecting a direct hit there.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet:

—@GiorgiaMeloni: My deepest condolences for the victims of the #hurricaneIan and my warmest support to @GovRonDeSantis and the people of #Florida for the immense work of reconstruction they will face from now on. God bless you

—@AGAshleyMoody: We are not going to look like Chicago or New York where we’re letting people out in 24 hours so they can go back and loot another home. That will not be tolerated here.

—@LtGRussellHorne: Typically post-storm Looting BS If ya don’t get food and water to people they will go survival mode and start looking for it. They must teach every Gov. the looting speech. Will commit troops to security when they should be helping

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet:

—@MDixon55: The last time Florida Democrats had control of the state Senate, Coolio’s (RIP) “Gangsta’s Paradise” topped the charts

— DAYS UNTIL —

Supervisors of Elections vote-by-mail mailing deadline for General Election — 3; 22-23 NHL season begins — 4; deadline to register for General Election — 8; WPEC televised debate in Florida Governor’s race — 9; ‘Before You Vote’ TV debates (Senate) — 15; NBA season tips off — 15; Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ release — 18; Florida Chamber Annual Meeting & Future of Florida Forum — 21; Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Passenger’ releases — 22; Jon Meacham’s ‘And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle’ releases — 22; City & State Florida Digital Summit — 24; Early voting begins for General Election — 26; 2022 General Election — 36; ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ premieres — 39; ‘Captain Marvel 2′ premieres — 39; FITCon 2022 begins — 45; ‘The Flash’ premieres — 45; The World Cup kicks off in Qatar — 49; The U.S. World Cup Soccer Team begins play — 52; Florida TaxWatch’s Annual Meeting begins — 61; ‘Willow’ premieres on Disney+ — 61; McCarthy’s ‘Stella Maris’ releases — 64; ‘Avatar 2’ premieres — 74; final Broadway performance of ‘The Music Man’ with Hugh Jackman — 90; Bruce Springsteen launches his 2023 tour in Tampa — 121; ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ premieres — 137; final performance of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ on Broadway — 138; 2023 Legislative Session convenes — 155; ‘John Wick: Chapter 4′ premieres — 172; American Association of Political Consultants Pollies ’23 conference begins — 197; 2023 Session Sine Die — 214; ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ premieres — 214; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ premieres — 242; Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ premieres — 291; ‘Blade’ reboot premieres — 396; ‘Dune: Part Two’ premieres — 410; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Part 2 premieres — 543; Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games — 662; ‘Thunderbolts’ premieres — 662; ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot premieres — 767; ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ premieres — 945.

Sunburn is authored and assembled by Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Daniel Dean, Renzo Downey, Jacob Ogles, and Drew Wilson.

The post Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 10.3.22 appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..

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