(light music) - [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

(light music) - [Rob] Coming up next, the state of Florida is failing to protect children in its care from sex trafficking.

Hillsborough County's elected state attorney fights to get his job back.

The latest steps taken by the Governor indicate all signs point to a run for the presidency.

And Conservatives move to push out Sarasota's school superintendent.

These stories coming up next on "Florida This Week".

(theatrical music) Welcome back.

A new investigation by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel into the Florida's Child Welfare System finds the system complicit in underage sex trafficking.

The Sun-Sentinel found that when Florida's Child Welfare System takes in a girl, the odds increase that she will be trafficked for sex.

And that vulnerable girls have been preyed on by traffickers who hang out near state contracted group homes waiting for girls to walk to the corner store.

Joining us now is Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, Brittany Wallman, who along with Spencer Norris and David Fleshler, wrote the series, "Innocence Sold" for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

And Brittany, welcome to the program.

- Thank you for having me on.

- So how did you determine that there might be a problem with the girls in state control being sex trafficked?

- Well, at the outside of this investigation, we had no idea.

We knew that hotels were a problem.

We knew that they looked the other way.

But as we started looking into this, I started hearing this factoid: "Oh, you know, more than half of the girls in foster care have been trafficked."

And it just blew my mind.

And I was so surprised by it, and I thought, people do not know this.

And so we started drilling into that and looking for the research that's been done and the litigation, and really, it's true.

And I think it's one of the most, I mean, we know foster care is not an ideal place for any child, but to learn what's happening to our teenage girls was just appalling.

- You learned that girls who are in group homes sometimes are approached by sex traffickers.

Tell us what happens, and before we do that, how do the girls get in the group homes?

I mean, what's that process?

- Well, that's a good question.

what we learned is that there aren't enough foster homes, in general, and particularly for teenagers.

And so if you're a teenage girl and you end up in Florida foster care, about a third of them are gonna be stuck in a group home, which is sad.

If there were enough foster homes, that wouldn't be the case, but it is, and Florida just accepts it.

And when you're in these group homes, it's just staff.

There's people on shifts.

They come and go.

I mean, there are cases where the staff members themselves are arrested for sexual contact with these teenage girls.

And what happens is they're also in bad neighborhoods a lot of times because it's a privatized system and there's a profit motive.

But, traffickers learn very quickly that here's a home in this neighborhood that is full of loosely supervised, troubled teenage girls who have no, it's not a lockdown.

They can come and go as they please.

And the group home living situation is so poor that a trafficker sort of presents as a boyfriend.

"Oh, well come stay with me and I'll buy you a new cell phone."

And you know, there's an allure and they, you know, that's why these girls go.

They think that they've found someone that loves them, that's gonna treat them well, and it's all just a very nefarious trick.

Next thing they know, the guy says, "Well, you know, I gotta pay some bills.

Could you have sex with so and so.

He's gonna pay a $100."

And that's the whole end game, is they become somebody's property and they're making money for some guy.

That's how it works.

- You reported that once they're gone, no one tries very hard to find them.

And nothing in Florida law requires them to do so.

- That's right.

I mean, if your daughter or mine went missing, I mean, you can imagine how hard you would look for a missing child.

And these teenage girls are children.

But it's just pretty much understood in foster care that, "Oh, they're gonna run away.

It's inevitable.

Most of them come back.

We'll spend an hour making some phone calls here and there, but it's not as if your family member or mine went missing."

And so that's what they do.

They run away repeatedly and while they're out on a runaway status, they're trafficked because they need someplace to stay.

- The state privatized the Child Welfare System a few years ago.

Wasn't this problem, didn't it exist before the state privatized the system?

- Well, I mean, you're very right.

The system's been screwed up forever for as long as I can remember.

And I remember headlines 20 years ago, they were, children were going missing.

They would turn up dead and DCF couldn't account for them.

So, that was why they privatized.

But the result has not been any better.

It just kind of a culture that certain things are accepted within the foster care system, and it's wrong.

Or they're not doing right by these children.

- These kids are pulled out of their family because the family has trouble.

In your reporting, did you find a better outcome if the kids remain with their family or their close relatives as opposed to being put into a group home?

- Well, that is the push now.

And that was why the Feds passed this Family First Prevention Services Act, was the idea and the research was showing that group homes, definitely, the outcome is very poor.

It's a waste of money for the government to even fund that stuff.

But the better idea and what experts are now saying is, provide services in the home, try to keep the child in the home or with a relative or a close friend.

And if there are issues at the home, like a parent is addicted to a substance, treat that.

Because they do find that the best outcomes for these kids are when they're in a family setting.

So there should be more of a push for that in Florida.

I hope that this series will get some attention.

- Well, people can read the series at the Florida Sun-Sentinel website.

There's also a podcast.

And Brittany, thank you so much for doing this.

- Yes, thank you.

Thank you very much for having me.

(serious music) - A federal judge in Tallahassee is now deciding the fate of ousted Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren.

Governor DeSantis removed Warren from office in August for alleged neglect of duty.

The Governor pointed to the fact that Warren had signed letters saying prosecutors are entrusted with immense discretion and that he opposes criminalizing abortion and transgender care.

The same letters were signed by more than 90 other district and state attorneys from across the country.

The Governor alleged that criminals were being let go and crimes were not being prosecuted.

Warren sued in Federal Court to try to get reinstated and the trial was held this week.

And Tampa Bay Times reporter, Lawrence Mower, was in the courtroom.

Lawrence, nice to see you.

Thank you for joining us.

- Thanks for having me, Rob.

- Could you sum up the arguments on both sides, the Warren side and the DeSantis side?

- Yeah, this really comes down to it's a free speech issue.

When Warren signed these letters pledging in effect not to prosecute both abortion crimes and also crimes relating to transgender care, which of course there are no crimes in Florida relating to that.

The question comes up, is this free speech or is it speech from a government official?

Now, that's a big distinction.

Andrew Warren side made the case this week that, "Look, he's a politician.

He's allowed to say these things.

These pledges that he signed did not become office policy.

They had top prosecutors in the office say so that these were not policies that were ever adopted by our office."

But on the other side, DeSantis' people said that, regardless of if he thinks this is not his official speech, the public perception and certainly the Governor's office's perception was that this was an official statement by a state attorney saying flatly he's not gonna prosecute crimes that are on the books.

Now, in their interpretation, the Governor's office, they thought that this was so egregious and so out of bounds against Florida law that it deserved removal.

And so that was really the issue this week.

Is this free speech, protected free speech, or is this actions by a government official?

- I remember at the press conference in August when the Governor removed Warren.

The Governor said that crimes and criminals were not being prosecuted.

And I wondered during the course of the trial, was there any evidence presented that crimes and criminals were not being prosecuted in the 13th District?

- No, not really.

In fact, that was one of the remarkable things.

DeSantis also said that his office had done "a thorough review" of all state attorneys around the state to figure out, hey, are there any kind of prosecutors who aren't pursuing these crimes?

And his public safeties are Larry Keefe who spoke to basically like-minded prosecutors and sheriffs, Republicans across the state.

And they all said that, well, based on Andrew Warren's reputation, he fits that bill.

And they had looked at some of the stuff, yeah, he, Andrew Warren certainly had passed, kind of progressive policies.

And they had a presumption that he would not prosecute certain very low level crimes, misdemeanors, and pretty much exclusively, unless there was some kind of greater concern for the public.

And they said that this was out of line, too.

And basically, they didn't present any evidence though, of the numbers of people who weren't being prosecuted, specific cases that these people are not being prosecuted.

It was really just based on his reputation.

- You also reported this week that a top aid to Warren advised Warren that signing these letters was not a good idea.

- Yeah, that would've been Andrew Warren's chief of staff, Gary Weisman, who was Andrew Warren's most trusted advisor in the office.

And the state presented him as a witness, which it was not great testimony for Andrew Warren.

Gary Weisman said that, "I told him not to sign these things.

I didn't think it was a good policy for either Andrew Warren or the office."

And Gary Weisman thought that this abortion memo was the office policy.

That's what he testified to, which was definitely not in Andrew Warren's favor 'cause Andrew Warren was saying, "No, this is not, this was never policy."

And he had a couple other top prosecutors in the office also say it was not official policy.

- The letters that Warren signs said prosecutors have great discretion.

Was that issue decided or was it brought up?

Do prosecutors have discretion?

- Prosecutors do have discretion, and that wasn't really in dispute.

They have pretty wide discretion, you know.

They're supposed to be reviewing cases on a case by case basis, weighing the evidence, weighing the public harm.

You know, there's all kinds of factors the prosecutors, basically forever, have used.

And the Governor's team didn't dispute that, but they did say that state attorneys don't have a "blanket policy".

They can't adopt a blanket policy that we're just not going to prosecute these crimes.

And, you know, were there other ways for the Governor's office to resolve this?

Yes.

I mean, they never asked State Attorney Andrew Warren, "Hey, what do you really mean by these statements?

Is this really office policy?"

They never did that.

They thought about it and decided not to 'cause they didn't wanna tip him off.

And that was a big source of contention this week.

- How soon are we likely to hear from the judge who's making the decision in this case?

The federal judge in Tallahassee?

- Yeah, this would be Judge Robert Hinkle.

He's a judge who was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

And he said it's gonna be at least two weeks.

His schedule is busy, so we're not gonna find out anything for at least two weeks here.

- All right, Lawrence Mower.

Thanks a lot for coming on the program.

- Thanks for having me.

(serious music) - Joining us now on our panel this week: Emily Mahoney is the political editor for The Tampa Bay Times and Trimmel Gomes is a journalist and the president of Gomes Media Strategies.

Nice to see both of you.

Well, more signs that Governor Ron DeSantis, who won re-election last month, is planning a run for president in 2024.

The Miami Herald reports Governor DeSantis is writing an autobiography that will be published in February.

It's a move made by many other presidential contenders in the past.

And Rolling Stone reported that while some Republicans are criticizing Donald Trump's dinner with the white supremacist last week, DeSantis' lieutenants have told his allies not to attack Trump over the incident.

One GOP donor telling the magazine, the DeSantis team does not see an upside to starting a fight with Trump this early.

And the Tampa Bay Times reports that the state legislature is moving toward clearing up any uncertainty over the state's Resign-To-Run law.

That law says, "Any officer who qualifies for federal public office must resign from the office he or she presently holds if the terms, or any part thereof, run concurrently with each other."

Some have interpreted the law saying that DeSantis must resign from the governorship before he can officially run for president.

House Speaker Paul Renner tells The Times he thinks DeSantis may be able to run now without resigning under current law, but he said the legislature should correct any ambiguity.

Renner added, in this case, it's an honor for someone from Florida to even consider running for president.

So Emily, is there any doubt that DeSantis is now on a move to run for president?

- Well, it's sort of the company line that we've heard is that he's still making up his mind.

But I will say that, you know, if he was looking for any signs on election night, he certainly got a big thumbs up from voters in 19 point victory, whereas other Republicans throughout the rest of the country really struggled.

And he has been sure to highlight that fact and that contrast many times lately.

And so I think that if, you know, all the signs are really pointing in that direction.

- There was that chant on election night in the crowd that said, "Two more years.

Two more years," right?

(both laugh) - I'm not sure I caught that one, but that's really interesting.

- Trimmel, how about you?

You're there in Tallahassee.

What are the signs up there?

- Well, what we're seeing in everything that he has done, Governor DeSantis has been on the national stage.

From his efforts in the cultural war issues, everything that he brings up, his attack on President Joe Biden.

He normally reaches up.

He doesn't really play, even when he was running for re-election.

He overlooked his candidate and focused his attention in Washington.

So these are all the signs that he has his eye sets on a bigger stage and he has the support as we're seeing from donors who are wanting to see him get there.

- I wonder what Florida voters are saying about a governor that they just re-elected by big margins now pivoting and looking at a run for president.

Do they say, "Wait a minute, you're our guy.

You gotta stay here and run the state for four years."

What do you hear?

- Yeah.

I only have anecdotal evidence on this point, but I try to always talk to voters and DeSantis supporters when I am covering various campaign events.

Some people have told me that they really would like him to stay governor of Florida.

These are big DeSantis supporters who say, when I ask them Trump or DeSantis 2024, they say, "Well, actually maybe Trump because we really would be hard-pressed to lose our favorite governor."

But some other people would love to see him ascend.

So I think that's something that his supporters will probably be grappling with amongst themselves.

- Trimmel, the title of the governor's book that comes out in February is "The Courage To Be Free".

And clearly, the book is gonna be about masks.

It's gonna be about his response to COVID and kind of the social issues that go along with that.

Everything he's done about teaching history in schools and parents' rights and all that.

So if the Governor's campaign is based on this book, if it's based on social issues, some people call them culture war issues, how do you think that's gonna play?

He's really, well, tell me what you think.

- Well, what we're seeing it's playing well for him so far.

He's using what works and he has been laying this groundwork.

He's basically gonna repeat what he says at press conferences, the things he espouse and yells and shouts down.

And particularly like, making sure things are free.

He's gonna use all of that and put it in his book, and it'll be his playbook (chuckles) for others to follow.

So it's just gonna like regurgitate what we've been seeing and this buildup to where he is now to that has really gotten him on this national stage.

- Emily, what was the intent of the Resign-To-Run law the state passed a few years ago.

And now that we're seeing both the House Speaker and the Senate President saying that they wanna modify the Resign-To-Run law, what does that indicate to you?

- Yeah, well the Resign-To-Run law is a funny thing because the legislature has sort of tweaked with it whenever the moment required them to.

They've changed things back and forth so many times that if you track the history of the bill it gets quite confusing and you have to try to remember who was running at what time and why the law is being changed.

And so I think that the fact that they are openly and very confidently saying that this is something they have no problem doing is definitely another point in the column of DeSantis is really seriously evaluating a run.

And they, as the Speaker Renner said, that they are in full support of that and they want the law to not even be a question.

- And Trimmel, some people say that the law doesn't have to be changed.

The Governor does have the right if he chooses to run for president without changing the law.

He doesn't have to resign from office.

- They would prefer no roadblocks in the way.

They would like to have a clear path, and why not?

They have the power in the legislature to make these changes, so they are going through and putting forth that change to clarify things.

To make sure there's nothing in question.

So this is the biggest sign, or one of the many signs that we're seeing that they're laying the groundwork for an easy path for DeSantis to run for president.

- Let's look at another big issue.

In Sarasota, at a pack meeting held this week, dozens of members of the public voice their support for embattled school superintendent Brennan Asplen.

But it was not enough to stop a majority of school board members from voting to begin the process of removing Asplen from his job.

Many have questioned if the move to terminate him is politically motivated since the addition of two new school board members shifts the board's balance of power from a three to two liberal majority to a four to one conservative majority.

One critic said the superintendent had brought wokeism into the classroom.

Another critic said Asplen had bowed down to LGBT groups.

But most in the audience supported Asplen.

- [Speaker] Firing the superintendent halfway through the school year is not what is best for the county.

- [Rob] Asplen describes himself as a conservative Republican and pointed to the district's strong academic rating as a reason he should not be forced out.

- With all the things that are going on outside, all the noise and everything, you know why we're an A still?

We're an A still because our school district, our school personnel, our principals, our APs, our teachers, everybody working with the students, they are the ones that kept the noise out of their mind.

- [Rob] This was just the latest example of how the culture wars are playing out across the state at local school board meetings.

And Emily, they are not just conservative activists, they're not just trying to remove the school board, the school superintendent in Sarasota, but they're also doing it in Broward and Brevard Counties.

Conservative activists are on a roll.

They're having some success.

- Absolutely, and I think this really, what this really shows is that elections have consequences.

And we saw DeSantis early on get involved in school board elections, making endorsements, giving a thousand dollars to some of these more conservative candidates, and this is sort of the result of them taking a lot more seats in the state of Florida.

And it's just really interesting, especially in Sarasota because I think a lot of this is also a reaction to some of the school districts that imposed mask requirements during the pandemic.

And what's interesting in Sarasota is that the board, the school board had actually voted at the time in favor of those mask requirements.

So it's just there's a lot going on with school boards right now and I think it really does show sort of the politics of the moment.

- And the Governor had a good track record.

A lot of the candidates he endorsed for school board won across the state.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

Trimmel, I wanna ask you about this term wokeism because that came up at the hearing in Sarasota this week on Tuesday.

The people are pushing back against wokeism.

They don't want wokeism in their school.

That's also a phrase that the Governor uses.

Is there a clear definition of what wokeism is?

- There is a textbook definition that has come out, but anything that really deals with fairness, equality, and cultural.

Like getting rid of racial discrimination and putting forth diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings.

Those are things that we're seeing folks like the Governor and these conservative groups are bucking against.

They don't want to be told that they have to be sensitive to other feelings and cultures within the workplace.

So they are going forward with banning.

Like, when you're seeing Disney World and they're embracing bills that deals with being sensitive to LGBTQ rights and the Governor having a big reaction to that.

It's a pushback against these efforts.

- Well, before we go, what other news stories should we be paying attention to?

And Emily, let's start with you.

Your other big story of the week.

- Sure.

So just at the end of this week, there was big news regarding the Tampa Police Department.

So a video from a body camera emerged of Tampa Police Chief Mary O'Connor being pulled over while she was in a golf cart with her husband that did not have a license plate.

And during the stop, she hands her badge to the deputy who had pulled her over and says, "I'm the Tampa Police Chief.

It would be great if you could let us go."

And when he agrees, she also hands him her business card and says, "Thank you so much.

Please call me anytime."

And so this body camera footage has come out.

We just got word that Mayor Jane Castor has placed the Chief on administrative leave while there is an investigation into the stop.

- Very big deal.

All right, and Trimmel, your other big story.

- It's interesting on the school board issue, I wanted to say that it's probably best to maybe clear out the adults and let the kids in the school districts go into those boardrooms and lead the efforts because they seem to be most levelheaded.

But another story that's percolating here in Tallahassee is there's an effort to restrict protests at the Capitol.

The claim is to be protective of children who visit the Capitol.

It's a chilling effect for those who are interested in like, voicing their displeasure with government.

So we're monitoring that.

Those who are interested, I think there's a public comment period through December 8th with the Department of Management Services, I believe.

- And they want protestors to limit the images that they present at the protests.

It could affect - Yes, yes.

- left-wing demonstrators and right-wing demonstrators.

- Yes, both.

It will affect both, and that's what we're seeing here.

Like if you are upset with something and you wanna make your voice heard, you wanna come to the Capitol, which we often see here for those who are at the Capitol.

It will restrict the image or basically give the state police, the Capitol police, the ability to make their own judgment as to what they feel is harmful as opposed to having a clear cut.

It's very murky and groups are fighting against it right now.

- All right.

Well thank you both for a great program, and thank you for joining us.

Send us your comments at FTW@wedu.org.

You can view this and pass shows online at wedu.org or on the PBS app.

And "Florida This Week" is now available as a podcast.

And from all of us here at WEDU, have a great weekend.

(theatrical music) (theatrical music continues) - [Announcer] "Florida This Week" is a production of WEDU, who is solely responsible for its content.

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