DeSantis views Florida's taxpayers as ATM machines

DeSantis keeps returning to public trough

Florida taxpayers happily fill the state treasury trough with cash to indulge the whims of Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration.

There has been:

• More than $21 million spent defending questionable “anti-woke” and “Don’t Say Gay” laws.

• More than $100 million spent to create the governor’s personal army, the Florida State Guard.

• Millions spent transporting undocumented migrants out of Texas to northern cities.

• Millions spent sending 1,000 Florida law enforcement and military personnel to Texas as a political stunt to supposedly help Texas Gov. Greg Abbott catch people on the Mexican border – and wealthy Texas wasn’t even asked to pay the bill.

DeSantis cleverly changed state law to enable himself to remain governor while campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination. This guaranteed him a fallback job if his campaign failed and provided him with access to Florida's taxpayer money for campaign expenses.

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The cost to Florida's taxpayers is in the millions of dollars, and a full accounting has yet to be made.

We pay private school tuition for wealthy families. We also pay parents for home-schooling and buy their kids surfboards and theme park tickets.

The next time anyone complains about the economy, tell them to put up or shut up: DeSantis has clearly demonstrated that Florida's taxpayers have money to burn.

Virgil Pope, Parrish

Planners right to reject Obsidian tower

Bravo to the Sarasota Planning Board for denying requested adjustments in the proposed 342-foot-tall Obsidian condo.

The members got it right by basing their decision on these facts regarding the proposal:

• The property lines would be mere inches from Bay Plaza on three sides.

• The condo would not comply with the spirit of the 18-story building height restriction.

• The condo's location would reduce retail space on Palm Avenue.

In addition, the Obsidian would set a precedent for other skyscrapers to be built in locations unsuitable to the artistic, historic neighborhoods that make Sarasota resident-friendly.

No, Matt Kihnke, Sarasota does not want to be your Chicago “art.”

Nancy DeForge, Nokomis

Censorship of college sociology insane

Many Sarasota residents are aware of the attacks on our K-12 curriculum, and also on the freedom of students to learn from a variety of materials (including the exclusion of the social and emotional learning curriculum formerly approved by the district).

And they are also aware of efforts to ban numerous books that reference the LGBTQ community.

But did you know these restrictive prohibitions are also in higher education? The Florida Board of Governors just voted to remove Introduction to Sociology as a general education course that university students could elect to take.

They were not required to take this course; it was just one of many that could be chosen to satisfy general education requirements.

So what is so problematic about sociology that it cannot even be a choice?  Sociology introductory courses teach understanding of social interactions; concepts of social organizations, institutions and change; and issues of class, culture, gender, race and religion.

Apparently, the Board of Governors finds these perspectives threatening.

This outrageous ruling has even become news in Europe, as my wife’s shocked professor colleagues there have written to her to see if it is true.

We must challenge this insanity. Censorship must not become the prevailing definition of a Florida education.

Richard Stammer, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Ron DeSantis continues to mooch off Florida's taxpayers