Boy Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS lacks self-respect and respect for others. This joyless juvenile was rejected by voters in every single Iowa County in 2024 Republican Presidential primaries. DeSANTIS was our Congressman from St. Johns County 2013-2018, prevailing with 38.8% of the vote in a closed Republican Primary over five other Republicans, including former Ormond Beach Mayor and State Representative Dr. Fred Costello, D.D.S., a former Air Force Captain, whom DeSANTIS oddly accused of being a "tax and spend liberal," and over St. Johns County School Board Chair Beverly Slough. From Tampa Bay Times:
House speaker calls DeSantis’ hand-shake snub ‘petulant’
During his final State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis gave an early sign of how the last legislative session under his tenure will go: He snubbed the speaker.
When DeSantis got up on the House rostrum to address the Legislature, he shook the hand of the Senate president. He did not look at or shake the hand of House Speaker Daniel Perez, standing next to him. The three men are the top Florida Republicans aside from the president.
“I did notice that, obviously,” Perez, a Miami Republican, told reporters after the address. “I’m always willing to shake the governor’s hand.”
He said a longtime member of the chamber told him it was a historic insult. “They had never seen that, and it was a sad day for the state,” Perez said.
Perez added: “Whether the governor wants to be petulant and not shake the hand of a partner, that’s on him.”
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After years of DeSantis having his way with the Republican-controlled Legislature, House lawmakers flipped on the governor last year, investigating the administration’s spending and his priority Hope Florida program for the first time.
The relationship between the governor and speaker quickly turned toxic. Perez told the Times/Herald last week that DeSantis hasn’t returned his calls since the combative session ended after two extensions in June.
The fight also cost Perez’s relationship with the Senate president, Ben Albritton.
Perez acknowledged he and the Senate president have had a difficult time working together.
“Politically, we’ve had our differences,” Perez said. “I’ve had my frustrations.”
Perez said he needed some kind of action from Albritton that would rebuild trust between them after their budget negotiations broke down last year. At the time, Perez thought they had a deal on a $5 billion sales tax cut in the House’s proposed budget. But later, Albritton said he couldn’t sell it to his colleagues in the Senate amid state economists predicting budget shortfalls in the future, and the governor’s public rejection of it.
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