Gov. DeSantis recently 'worked very closely' with St. Lucie Sheriff Ken Mascara? Hmmm ...

Sometimes, in their unguarded moments, our political leaders tell us more than they really intend to say.

That may have been the case last week, when Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared on a CNN town hall meeting broadcast from the campus of Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa.

DeSantis spent most of the hourlong program fielding questions from Iowans and moderator Jake Tapper on predictable topics like the economy, foreign policy, immigration, Social Security, Medicaid expansion and energy policy.

Tapper's last question seemed to catch DeSantis a bit off guard, though. The moderator asked DeSantis to name his "favorite Democratic official in Florida."

The governor hemmed and hawed for a couple of moments, saying he didn't want to get himself into trouble by leaving a Democratic ally out of his answer.

Then, after mentioning his appointment of Greg Tony as Broward County sheriff, DeSantis alluded to someone whose name, and abrupt departure from political life, have been a topic of much discussion on the Treasure Coast lately.

"We actually just had a sheriff, who was a Democrat, from St. Lucie County who we worked very closely with," DeSantis said.

Although DeSantis didn't say his name out loud, that could only be one person: Ken Mascara.

Run that by us again, please, Ron

Mascara, a Democrat, caught the community off guard Dec. 1 when he abruptly resigned from the post he held for two decades, citing health reasons.

DeSantis announced Keith Pearson, a lieutenant well down the sheriff's office's organizational flowchart, as Mascara's interim replacement within an hour of Mascara's bombshell.

Less than 72 hours after professing that DeSantis' appointment took him by surprise, Pearson had filed qualifying paperwork to run for the permanent position, which is on next year's ballot.

Pearson is running as a Republican, so the only Democratic sheriff from St. Lucie County DeSantis could have been talking about was Mascara.

DeSantis said he "just had" occasion to work closely with him. But according to the narrative about the sheriff's office transition Pearson's supporters have been pushing, Mascara has been seeking treatment out of state for a serious illness.

So when did this alleged "working together" occur? Messages I left with Mascara, the governor's office and DeSantis campaign headquarters haven't been answered.

How recently were Mascara and DeSantis collaborating?

One of two things is likely to happen if people start asking questions about the town hall meeting remark.

Either DeSantis and his minions will clam up entirely, or else they'll get into Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine and name some time in the past when DeSantis happened to be in our area, maybe following a hurricane or other natural disaster, when the governor could plausibly say he and Mascara were "working together."

Common sense, and a reading of the circumstances when DeSantis made the comment, suggest the governor wasn't talking about a long-ago collaboration. It seems a lot more plausible he was talking about some type of political arrangement with Mascara.

His response to that question didn't draw much attention from the national media. Some Florida journalists highlighted his decision to mention Tony, who was a controversial selection three years ago.

Tony, as a teenager in Philadelphia, had killed a man, then was accused of covering the incident up while he pursued a career in law enforcement, according to various media reports. At one point during that controversy, the governor tried to distance himself from Tony.

“It’s not like he’s my sheriff,” DeSantis told reporters in 2020. “I didn’t even know the guy. It was not like he was a political ally of mine.”

Politics makes strange bedfellows, but really?

Three years later, it would seem DeSantis does consider Tony a political ally, since his name was the first Democrat that sprung to the governor's mind. Mascara, although unnamed, was the second.

At some point during the presidential campaign, one or more of DeSantis' foes may start asking questions about the peculiar nature of Mascara's replacement.

A presidential opponent or surrogate might note some irony in the circumstances under which DeSantis said what he said.

Maybe it'll be Donald Trump, whom DeSantis accused of being unpredictable in his unscripted comments. ("When he gets off the teleprompter, you don't know what he's going to say," DeSantis told the Iowa crowd.)

Maybe it'll be Nikki Haley, whom DeSantis accused of working in league with Democrats. ("She's getting funded by liberal Democrats from California, like the founder of LinkedIn," DeSantis said.)

Coverup could be a career killer

Even if the remark escapes scrutiny on the presidential campaign trail, it's bound to come up, again and again, as Pearson runs against several challengers in the Republican primary for sheriff.

Remember, in Watergate, it wasn't the burglary of the Democratic headquarters that ruined President Richard Nixon's political career. It was the steady drip-drip-drip of scandalous revelations about the coverup that eventually led to his resignation.

As long as Pearson is a candidate for the full-time job, questions are going to be asked about how he gained the advantage of pseudo-incumbency that comes with being interim sheriff.

Unless he and his allies come up with better answers than they've given to date, Pearson's tenure as sheriff may be shorter than Nixon's was as president.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at blake.fontenay@tcpalm.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Did DeSantis let the cat out of the bag regarding Mascara transition?