Horowitz: Drain the swamp? DeSantis suspends 2nd Soros prosecutor, 26th elected official in Florida

Talk about draining the swamp! Name a single Republican president or governor who meaningfully drained the existing swamp of his own political office, much less other governing offices over which he wielded power? As we all know, most of their own political offices are full of Democrat and RINO leftovers, and most of them appoint new versions of the same. Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the other hand, has not only drained the Florida swamp of the governor’s office and departments under him, but he has now suspended an elected local official, making 26 officials suspended.

On Wednesday, DeSantis announced he was using the removal power vested in him by Florida law to fire Orlando-based district attorney Monique Worrell, a radical soft-on-crime activist supported by George Soros. He replaced her with Judge Andrew Bain, who will now serve as DA of the ninth judicial circuit, which includes Orange and Osceola Counties.

In addition to corruption and malfeasance as grounds for suspension, Florida law accords the governor broad authority to remove elected officials he believes are incompetent and neglect their duties. The entire purpose of a DA is to ensure that violent criminals are locked up, but the purpose of Soros prosecutors is to ensure they remain on the streets and law-abiding political opponents take their place. In the case of Worrell, the governor laid out a case that she specifically worked to have violent gun and drug felons avoid mandatory minimums and sentencing enhancements prescribed by Florida law.

Most recent was the case of Daton Viel, who had a long rap sheet for violent crime but was on probation when he was arrested for sexually assaulting a minor. Despite his history, violating probation, and the severity of the charge, Worrell allowed him to walk in June. Think about all of those J6 defenders held for months pretrial despite no prior arrests, military records, and no accusations of violent charges, and you’ll understand the anarcho-tyranny driving the minds of Soros prosecutors. Well, guess what happened with Viel? Last week, he seriously wounded two police officers before being shot dead during a carjacking.

Then there was the case of Jeremiah Cundiff, who was charged with second-degree murder for a gang shooting outside a high school in November. Worrell refused to prosecute him, in line with her views that juveniles should not face justice. In February, there was the case of 19-year-old Keith Melvin Moses, who is accused of murdering a woman and shooting three others, including a local reporter who was covering the story. He had a massive rap sheet but was treated leniently by Worrell’s office, leaving to him remaining on the streets. There are numerous other examples of career violent criminals let off by Worrell who went on to commit worse crimes.

DeSantis outlined in a 40-page report how Worrell had, by far, the highest rate of not filing or dropping charges against violent criminals compared to other circuits. Her circuit was the only one in Florida that had a record of either not filing or dropping charges in more than half of firearms cases. She was so eager to keep criminals out of jail that she used COVID to announce a policy of no cash bail for anyone with a BMI over 30, which of course is a character trait of many large, dangerous criminals.

This is the second time DeSantis has used his authority to remove a Soros prosecutor. Last year, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren of the 13th Judicial Circuit for also being lax on prosecuting violent criminals and for refusing to prosecute those who violate state laws on abortion and castration of minors.

It’s part of a broader unprecedented modus operandi of DeSantis in that he actually achieves what others promise but are too scared to deliver. The biggest demand from Republican voters right now is to “drain the swamp” of government. Most Republican executives not only fail to drain the swamp, but their own political appointees are weak at best. How many red states have health directors who fight the CDC on the COVID shots like Dr. Joseph Ladapo or who fought the College Board’s transgender curriculum like Florida Education Secretary Manny Diaz?

But DeSantis has gone farther than simply appointing the best department heads. In total, he has removed 26 local officials, mainly in blue areas, such as Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher, Broward County Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes (she resigned in the face of the pending suspension), and four members of the county’s school board. Others include corrupt sheriffs, mayors, city councilmen, and county commissioners.

So when DeSantis says he would have fired people like Fauci, it carries more weight than others on the campaign trail. For him, it’s par for the course.

This is also part of a broader objective of the governor, who, unlike other red-state governors who are willing to cede the big and even mid-sized cities to the left, is trying to implement proper governance throughout the state. He leaned into the fight with local cities masking children while other governors let it go on for years in the reddest states. He has supported a group of school board candidates who have also won in traditionally blue parts of the state.

If we are going to create a parallel economy and government to the left, we cannot afford to lose smaller cities like Boise and Oklahoma City alongside Houston and Dallas within red states.

And of course, making red states red begins with one’s own administration. DeSantis had the guts to fire 46 political appointees made at the last minute by his Republican predecessor, Rick Scott. He also yanked the appointment of 169 people whom Scott, again a member of his own party, appointed to various state boards and commissions, such as university boards. So while most Republicans fail to drain the swamp even of Democrats, DeSantis drained the swamp of weak Republican appointments.

There is quite literally no other Republican who has excelled at doing everything we are pining for more than DeSantis. There’s a reason the left calls him a “dictator.” Except what he does is all pursuant to law for the benefit of parents, public safety, and the values we all claim to hold. The question is how many of us actually want to implement our values rather than earn a living off them.