Friday's letters: DeSantis again overrules voters by firing state attorney

Like dictator, DeSantis overrules voters

Gov. Ron DeSantis has done it again - literally!

DeSantis last year removed Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, a twice-elected Democrat. This year the target is Orlando-area State Attorney Monique Worrell, another Democrat. He has again fired a duly elected prosecutor.

More: DeSantis suspends Central Florida prosecutor, points to her 'political agenda'

Related: Florida Supreme Court throws out lawsuit of ousted state attorney Andrew Warren

For some reason he seems to find Democratic state attorneys so incompetent he must overrule the people who, in both cases, voted for these two in the thousands.

More: How to send a letter to the editor

I guess I’ll say the obvious. This is the way dictators in totalitarian countries operate. Elected officials who believe in democracy let the voters decide which ones to keep in office and which to fire.

Arnie Moskowitz, Sarasota

Return to tropical shirts, sunsets on beach

Do you remember relaxing and having a good time fishing, swimming, boating, playing golf and watching the sunset at the beach with your bare feet in the cool white sand?

Yeah, the time before we hated each other because we have liberal or conservative values. The time we did stuff together and were proud to live together in the great state of Florida.

As I see it, most of us want to get back to that time and maybe do a cookout at Siesta or Lido Key, where we will all meet up wearing colorful T-shirts with logos from our favorite tackle shops and restaurants or loosely fitting Hawaiian shirts with pink flamingos and palm tree decorations.

It is a minority on the far right making all the noise and ruckus, in a highly organized fever, pitching that we all should abide by ultra-conservative and quasi-Christian values – and gaming the system so they permanently retain exclusive control.

It is time to get back to the easygoing Floridian, without the conquest mentality – and to get busy fixing the state so we can get back out fishing, boating, biking, cooking out and having a good time, all of us, together again.

Robert Thompson, Sarasota and Denmark

Jacques column is tabloid fodder

I suppose there is an audience for columnist Ingrid Jacques in the area served by the Herald-Tribune but, really, not all her columns. Every one of her columns is far right, and critical or silent on anything good accomplished by liberal policies.

In her columns, Jacques identifies as a cynical person, as well as one who is insincere, biased and occasionally nasty. And Jacques hit the nasty mark in her Aug. 6 column (“Biden’s recognition of granddaughter is right. How he did it wasn’t”).

The column was fit for a supermarket tabloid, not the Opinion page of the Herald-Tribune!

Jacques attacked President Joe Biden for the way he has handled a family situation regarding the child his son had out of wedlock. What occurred is not a character or moral deficiency in Joe. Hunter Biden is responsible for the situation and Joe, as a father, is trying to cope with the disappointing moral lapse of his son while also being fair and kind to the child, who didn’t ask to be a political pawn.

When a columnist’s column has no newsworthy policy value, it lowers the standards of the Opinion page. Do not become a tabloid.

Sandra J. Gander, Bradenton

No plans, just promises from DeSantis

The Aug. 8 guest column by Gov. Ron DeSantis should have properly been identified as a political advertisement.

Over a dozen times DeSantis wrote the words “I will” or “We will.” There was no content about how he is going to fulfill all his promises.

Elsewhere in the same edition of the paper were articles about the damage DeSantis is doing and has done in Florida. Teachers are leaving their positions, members of the LGBTQIA+ community are living in fear, women are terrified about their reproductive health care, conventions are canceling their plans to spend money in our state and, sadly, the list goes on and on.

The Florida death rate from COVID-19 after vaccinations were widely available was inexcusable.

And how about our property insurance situation in Florida?

DeSantis says he will do for America what he did for Florida. I live in fear of that.

Laurie Lachowitzer, communications chair, Sarasota County Democratic Jewish Caucus, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Elected by voters, fired by governor