DeSantis Abandons Florida's Most Vulnerable Kids While Posing As Protector

Underpaid Abuse Investigators Quitting in Droves While He Pays Millions to Rich GOP Lawyers to Defend Woke Wars

Gov. Ron DeSantis has a weird obsession with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Instead of addressing Florida’s multitude of serious problems, Little Dic Ron [Short for Little Dictator] spends a disproportionate amount of his time harassing and scapegoating LGBTQ youth and drag queens.

DeSantis piously frames his anti-LGBTQ attacks as efforts to protect Florida’s children. However, the governor’s record tells a different story. The Department of Children and Families, which was created to help youth that have suffered abuse, abandonment, or neglect, reports “unacceptably high vacancy rates” and surging numbers of investigators leaving the job.

Between June 2019 and June 2022, the vacancy rate for child protective investigators (CPIs) jumped from 6.6% to 21%. During the same time-period, the turnover rate for CPIs swelled to a whopping 71% from 45%. And at the end of the 2022 fiscal year, more than half of CPI workers had less than two years of experience. The Sun-Sentinel reports:

“The high vacancy rate has a negative impact on staff morale and overall well-being due to increased overtime and excessive work hours,” read a section of the budget recommendation. “This can be seen in exit survey results where the top reasons for dissatisfaction among these critical classes are work/life balance, volume of work, scheduling, and salary.” As of July, the base pay for investigators was $39,600.

DeSantis seems to have unlimited state funds to fight vanity culture war lawsuits, but habitually shortchanges the investigators charged with helping youth in crisis. The mind-blowing hypocrisy of DeSantis’ “protect the children” racket was laid bare by a Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald review of state financial transactions:

As Gov. Ron DeSantis has waged an aggressive war on what he considers “woke” culture, his ideas have come under fierce legal fire, with more than 15 lawsuits challenging his policies.

Four private law firms — each with deep connections to Republican Party politics — have been hired to defend the state, and the cost to Florida taxpayers is at least $16.7 million.

Instead of saving children’s lives, Little Dic Ron is funneling taxpayer’s money to rich lawyers to boost his standing with social conservatives. His selfish desire to become president has taken precedence over keeping Florida’s mistreated youth safe and secure. That’s all one needs to know about the broken moral compass of an ethically challenged governor who has cynically elevated his career over Florida’s children.