First Wives fear presidential ambition drove DeSantis to sign thrice vetoed alimony law

When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an overhaul to the state’s alimony law June 30, Angla Maria Weinmuller emailed the governor from across the country in Vancouver, Wash., to tell him he lost her vote in the state’s March Republican presidential primary.

Weinmuller raised five children in a 26-year marriage and then two years ago her husband left the family and moved to Melbourne.

“I knew I was in trouble the second I saw on the news he had signed it,” said Weinmuller.

SB 1416, a dissolution of marriage measure, ended permanent alimony payments and enables a spouse to use child custody rights as a tool to lower alimony payments.

Opponents say the measure will lure what they call "deadbeat" husbands and dads to Florida as a haven for lower alimony payments, and a place where child custody rights can be leveraged into ever lower payments.

“I told him (DeSantis) I'm 64 years old. What am I supposed to do? Get a $15 minimum wage job? I take care of my 94-year-old mother. If you cannot be trusted with taking care of the vulnerable and those that need you then then you cannot be trusted with the presidency,” said Weinmuller, a registered Republican and a member of the Catholic Church, like DeSantis.

Provisions in the bill had been debated and the subject of emotional protests at the Florida Capitol for 10 years. The measure was vetoed three times, twice by former Gov. Rick Scott – because of its impact on children of divorce – and once by DeSantis.

Q&A: DeSantis signed a bill to eliminate permanent alimony in Florida. What you need to know

Before the third veto: Divisive alimony bill on 3rd trip to Florida governor’s desk; critics point to cash pipeline

The fourth time may have been the charm for the alimony bill, but how will it impact DeSantis’ presidential fortunes?

It’s unclear.

What a difference a year can make

Since 2013, The First Wives Advocacy Group has led the opposition to the measure and now its members and allies in Florida, Washington, Texas, and Nevada said they will pivot to spread the word DeSantis sacrificed seniors and children in a bid to be president.

Men pay alimony in 90% of the cases, and there has been a push in recent years to change how it is awarded and its duration by legislatures in Alabama, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey and elsewhere.

DeSantis vetoed the previous marriage dissolution bill, SB 1796, in May of 2022.

“This year’s bill is the same as last year’s. The only difference is that DeSantis is running for president," said Blake Taylor.

Taylor is a former Floridian who moved to Texas after her husband filed for divorce.

She has 21,000 followers on Twitter, where she documents her legal battles with her ex-husband, and is organizing a First Wives Advocacy Group Texas chapter.

A retired court reporter who provided services to family law attorneys, mostly in the Midwest, Taylor intends to explain the impact of custody rights provisions in SB 1416 while DeSantis campaigns for president.

It provides for equal custody rights as a starting point and then enables a spouse to give up that 50 – 50% entitlement of time with a child in exchange for lower alimony payments.

“It makes him the champion of deadbeat dads,” said Taylor, of cases where one’s financial interests outweigh one’s emotional investment in parenting. “Mr. DeSantis has literally made children bargaining chips for alimony payments,” said Taylor.

A presidential campaign and a decade-long fight

Jan Killilea founded the First Wives Advocacy Group.

She said the group was in contact with the governor's office while DeSantis weighed the bill's fate and expected it to be vetoed for a fourth time.

Staff assured Killilea DeSantis had received the information the group had sent.

The governor's office did not respond to a request for a comment for this story or allegations from First Wives' members.

“But with his campaign for president, there’s a lot of things, a lot of factors that go into that, including fundraising and lobbying,” said Killea. “I understand he’s doing really well with fundraising.”

The DeSantis presidential campaign has raised $20 million in six weeks of existence, while the super PAC backing him has $130 million in its account.

The latest effort to pass SB 1416 began four years ago with more than $46,000 raised through contributions by the Florida Family Fairness Political Committee, organized by divorce attorney Marc Johnson.

FFFC then contributed to at least six different political action committees. 

Those committees funneled campaign contributions to at least 18 lawmakers, including Speaker Paul Renner and DeSantis, and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to committees for the Florida House and Senate Republican campaigns.

Whether such transactions translate into a story the First Wives will use to try to derail DeSantis’ presidential bid remains to be seen.

DeSantis trails former President Donald J. Trump by an average of 32 points in nationwide polls, according to RealClear Politics. 

Targeting the base

The alimony bill would seem to have long-term financial consequences for a key component of the GOP base – white Protestant women.

White Protestant women, as a group, divorce at a higher rate than others, according to Divorce.com, a leader in providing on-line divorce services.

Protestant women divorce at a rate of 4% more than people in general, and 2% more than Democrats do.

While Florida has a divorce rate of 13%, sixth highest in the nation, White Protestants post a divorce rate of 19% and at the polls, overwhelmingly favor the GOP, by a wide margin.

Whether the numbers add up to trouble for DeSantis and Florida Republicans in hotly contested elections depend on a host of factors, said consultants and academics.

They ask, are Republican women aware of what the 2023 Legislature did?

Although the bill has a long history – the subject of debates and emotional protests – including storming then Gov. Rick Scott’s office – since 2013, few people are aware of it.

However, the opposition appears to remain organized, and as groups like Moms Against Drunk Driving, and more recently, Moms for Liberty, have shown, when mobilized adult women can organize successful grassroots campaigns.

Last week, Casey DeSantis made her first solo campaign trip to Iowa to launch their own group, "Mamas for DeSantis," a grassroots effort to rally support for his presidential campaign.

DeSantis floods the zone

Alimony reform as an issue has been lost in the fog of news created by controversies DeSantis has provoked, such as a fight with The Walt Disney Co., his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and his endorsement of a six-week abortion ban and policies that resulted in the removal of books from school library shelves.

“Alimony has not gotten much publicity as a lot of these other wedge issues," said Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida, about the challenge facing the First Wives' plan.

"It might if a competitor decided that DeSantis was vulnerable and attacked him as part of an overall war against women kind of theme. Trump would be kind of interesting – given his history. Nikki Haley might possibly make use of it,” said Jewett.

Evan Power, the Vice Chair of the Republican Party of Florida, does not think the new law will impact either DeSantis’ presidential ambitions or GOP candidates in the 2024 election.

He said the measure was debated at length and vetted by 10 years of debate.

“Like all legislation some people are extremely opinionated about it. But this bill seems to be a good compromise that has come from years of improvement and work,” said Power.

During the 4^th of July holiday, Judy Epstein, a retired nurse, was talking to a Las Vegas neighbor and the conversation turned to DeSantis.

Epstein is among a group of women who follows DeSantis. She supports his policies, such as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which triggered the Disney dispute.

When asked whether she intends to vote again for DeSantis, she talked about how he had changed alimony for women in their 60s and older.

“It’s a very precarious thing. It just seems like (divorced women) have been thrown out the door.  Because the amount of money may not be sufficient to cover people's bills and the ability to survive,” said Epstein.

Epstein was married for 13 years, divorced in Florida, and now faces a five-year limit on alimony payments.

James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Will Florida alimony overhaul impact DeSantis' presidential prospects?