Rudman has been attacking Conservative leaders and alienated himself from genuine Republicans by working with Democrats to attempt to expand in Medicaid to childless adults in Florida. Rudman also tried, unsuccessfully, to promote the incorporation of Navarre, which residents rejected, citing the higher taxes and more government regulation it would have created.
Who shares the word retarded anymore? Who still openly mocks women and Jewish, African-American, and gay communities? The answer: some of Ron DeSantis’ appointments to UWF and PSC.
For generations our community has worked hard to build up Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida. Now Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seems hell-bent on trying to destroy these higher-educational institutions from within by attempting to appoint bigoted and misogynistic nominees to those Boards of Trustees.
Hundreds turned out Tuesday night to oppose DeSantis’ UWF Board of Trustees appointments at the Save UWF rally, which included highly respected guests like Quint Studer, Rick Outzen and Belle Bear, whose family has contributed more than $5 million to UWF.
Former UWF President Dr. Judy Bense spoke at the event, encouraging the crowd to speak out against DeSantis’ nominations, pointing out the Governor terms out in 2026 and warning how his nominees could inflict a lot of damage until then.
UWF is my alma mater and provided a WONDERFUL experience while earning a Computer Science degree there in the 90s, when the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition was just a small room at the back of a hall by the computer lab, where I worked as a debugger. Drs. Anger and Rodriguez took Software Engineering students to Tampa to help GTE ahead of Y2K, giving us real-world experience with coding issues. At that time there were very few females in that program or working at the lab, so it’s saddening to hear stories of how negative comments about women in STEM by Scott Yenor, DeSantis’ pick for the UWF Board, are discouraging local females.
But it’s not just UWF facing disastrous appointments from DeSantis.
Pensacola State College is facing DeSantis’ proposed appointment of failed Congressional candidate Joel Rudman, who lost a January 28 primary for Florida’s 1st Congressional District to Jimmy Patronis, Trump’s pick to replace Matt Gaetz. Results show CD-01 voters rejected Rudman by a nearly 91% margin. He didn’t even win one precinct in his home county of Santa Rosa.
But you know what Rudman did do? He campaigned hard for DeSantis, traveling to Iowa to promote the Governor’s failed Presidential bid against the winner, President Donald J. Trump.
Since losing, Rudman has been on a hate tour as a social media sycophant for DeSantis.
If you look closer at all Rudman’s X and Facebook rants, some of which he deleted (but not before I took screenshots), you’ll see some disturbing posts.
More than once Rudman’s shared or tagged posts using the word “retard.”
Rudman on X shared this photo, which states, “Joe Biden America’s First RETARDED President”
It seems the repeated use of that awful word should be enough to disqualify him from his any Gubernatorial appointment, but there’s a lot more…
Rudman’s taken aim at blacks and gays, too. I have those receipts, plus much more, if anyone would like to see them.
Will definitely be sharing Rudman’s inflammatory posts and videos with the Senate’s Appropriation Committee on Higher Education, which has to approve DeSantis’ nominations. Have already sent some of the photos to Senator Gayle Harrell, chairwoman of that committee. However, her staff told me they haven’t yet received Rudman’s packet from DeSantis’ office.
Makes me wonder if DeSantis is playing dirty, considering he nominated Rudman back in February. Is he intentionally not sending Harrell’s committee the packet in an effort to stall any Senate votes, delaying action until after the 2025 Legislative Session ends on May 2? Is he trying to unilaterally force these nominees onto the Boards?
If so, he shouldn’t be able to do that.
The Board of Trustees for these institutions should be filled with respectful, resourceful community leaders, not vile men who seem to thrive on attention-seeking attacks and disrupting civility.
Please take a few minutes to help stop this:
- Email Harrell via Harrell.Gayle@FLsenate.gov.
- Senator Don Gaetz is chairman of the Ethics and Elections Committee, which is also supposed to vote on DeSantis’ nominations. Recommend contacting Gaetz’s aide Chelsea Boatwright via Boatwright.Chelsea@FLsenate.gov or 850-595-1036.
- I don’t think he cares what we think, but it doesn’t hurt to email GovernorRon.DeSantis@eog.myflorida.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This editorial was written by South Santa Rosa News Owner Romi White. I formerly was a strong supporter of Governor DeSantis, but his appointments are deeply troubling. He’s either out of touch with or indifferent to the wishes of voters in Florida’s 1st Congressional District. Consequently, I’ll be voting for Byron Donalds to replace DeSantis in 2026. He’s a genuine Conservative who could help stop Florida’s Republican infighting and, like Patronis, he’s Trump’s pick for the job! Please check him out: https://byrondonalds.com/
