Moms for Liberty executive’s job gets in the way of confirmation to Florida ethics post

Republican leaders in the Florida Senate won’t confirm Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich to serve on the state ethics commission this legislative session, a rare repudiation to Gov. Ron DeSantis that underscores concerns about what the appointment would mean for the state’s oversight of elected officials.

The decision to not consider her confirmation to the Florida Commission on Ethics was made after an unnamed senator raised concerns that Descovich’s employment with the conservative group “could constitute lobbying the Legislature,” Senate spokeswoman Katie Betta said in a statement to the Herald/Times.

“That issue requires additional review prior to Senate confirmation,” Betta said.

Though awaiting confirmation, Descovich already sits on the state ethics board and serves as the executive director of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing advocacy group that has become a powerhouse in Republican politics at the local, state and national level. The group draws its influence from its endorsements of school board candidates and its push for policies that have targeted the teaching of LGBTQ issues, critical race theory and school books that it considers sexually explicit.

Many of the policies backed by the group have been adopted by the Florida Legislature in recent years at the urging of DeSantis.

Betta noted that the Senate process allows two years to complete the confirmation, giving state senators some time to review the matter of Descovich’s employment.

“In the meantime, Ms. Descovich is eligible to be reappointed by the governor, and can continue to serve subject to Senate confirmation next session,” Betta said.

DeSantis’ spokesman Bryan Griffin said the governor will reappoint Descovich “as soon as she is eligible for reappointment if she is not confirmed by the Senate.”

Descovich did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday morning.

The Senate’s decision to punt on Descovich’s confirmation this session comes a week after a Senate panel recommended her confirmation on a party-line vote. At that confirmation hearing, Descovich faced questions from Democrats on how her association with Moms for Liberty and her close ties to DeSantis and politics would impact her ability to remain neutral on state ethics cases.

“I think my role with Moms for Liberty, I look at it as completely separate from the ethics commission,” Descovich told the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee as she was grilled about potential conflicts of interest due to her organization’s involvement in endorsing school board candidates and polarizing education policies in Florida and other parts of the country.

After the confirmation hearing, a Melbourne resident emailed state senators what he called an ethics complaint alleging that Descovich was unqualified for the position because members of the ethics commission are barred from lobbying state and local governments. Neither Descovich and Moms for Liberty are registered lobbyists in Tallahassee, but the resident — Robert Burns, the editor of news site The Space Coast Rocket — argued Descovich and the group have been public about their advocacy in the state.

On Sunday night, Descovich also made an appearance on 60 Minutes. Hours after the interview aired, Tiffany Justice, also a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, complained to Fox News that she was “censored” in an effort to make them look bad.

When asked if Burns’ complaint or the 60 Minutes interview influenced the decision to not consider Descovich’s confirmation this session, Betta said: “To our knowledge, the alleged Ethics Complaint was never properly filed, and President Passidomo is certainly not going to allow politically-motivated attacks to hijack the Senate’s process.”

Senators rarely decline to confirm DeSantis’ nominees.

In 2020, however, they declined to confirm conservative lawyer John MacIver to lead the Division of Administrative Hearings, an obscure but powerful group of judges who decide disputes with state agencies. Former judges said MacIver, who had only been a lawyer for seven years, was unqualified.

“I just didn’t have a level of comfort bringing that confirmation forward,” Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Palm Harbor, said at the time.

DeSantis instead appointed MacIver to lead the Florida Gaming Control Commission. In 2023, DeSantis appointed MacIver to the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach.

Times/Herald Tallassee Bureau reporter Lawrence Mower contributed to this report.