- [Narrator] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

Florida This Week is made possible in part by support from the Tampa Bay Times.

- Coming up next, both the Florida's US senators vote to acquit ex President Trump of the insurrection charges.

The fairness of the vaccine distribution system in Florida comes under fire.

And Tallahassee takes steps to make mail in voting harder.

Our guests are Congresswoman Val Demings of Orlando, Brian Corley, Pasco County's Election Supervisor, Republican April Schiff, and Democratic State Representative Michele Rayner-Goolsby, next on Florida This Week.

(upbeat music) Welcome back, last weekend both of Florida's US senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott voted to acquit former President Trump on the charge of inciting insurrection.

- [Narrator] They were in the minority, but under the Constitution, it takes two thirds of the US Senate to convict.

Rubio said, "he voted against conviction because impeachment exists only to remove someone who's currently in office."

Scott called impeachment a waste of time and tax dollars.

But the Democratic senators and seven republicans disagree.

And this week, Governor DeSantis was under fire for arranging for thousands of the hard to get COVID-19 vaccines to be given at a pop-up site exclusively to people who live in a 34202 and 34211 zip codes in East Manatee and Lakewood Ranch.

It turns out those zip codes have some of the lowest infection rates, and some of the highest incomes in the county.

When some Manatee County Commissioners criticized the governor's decision, he shot back.

- If Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it.

And we're totally happy to do that, so anyone that's saying that let us know if you want us to send it to Sarasota next time or Charlotte or Pasco or wherever, let us know we're happy to do it.

But I think most people if we have an opportunity to bring vaccines and do it efficiently, I think that they're gonna want it.

- [Narrator] We'll have more in a moment.

And this week in South Florida controversial radio host, Rush Limbaugh died at the age of 70, after announcing last year, he had stage four lung cancer.

- In his second impeachment trial that ended last week in the US Senate, Former President Donald Trump was acquitted of inciting a riot at the Capitol on January 6th.

In his first impeachment trial last year, he was also acquitted of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for allegedly pressuring a foreign government to interfere in the election.

Representative Val Demings of Florida was one of the house managers that presented that first case to the US Senate.

She represents the 10th district in Orlando, and she joins us now.

And Congresswoman Demings welcome to Florida This Week.

- It's great to be with you.

- What message does the vote to acquit sent to the country?

- Well, as you well know, I spent 27 years as a law enforcement officer.

And I just think it's so important to say this as well, I could not tell you, the political party of the overwhelming majority of the men and women that I worked with, we had a mission, and it was about working hard to accomplish the mission.

Accountability is at the forefront of that, everybody counts, but everybody is accountable up to and including the President of the United States.

As you mentioned, last year, I served as an impeachment manager, I was honored to do so.

We know how the senate, the end of that trial turned out, but there was no doubt.

We presented a clear and convincing case, where the evidence was overwhelming.

It was the President's own voice, his own phone call that he was impeached for.

We also know that he used the authority of his office to obstruct justice by preventing the majority of people who had direct knowledge about his wrongdoing from even coming before Congress and testifying, usually innocent people don't obstruct witnesses who can help prove their innocence.

We saw the trial this year, it was again about accountability.

And we tried to make it clear last year that if we do not owe this president accountable, he's gonna do it again one year later, we find ourselves in the same position.

I know that some of the senators, and unfortunately the two in Florida have asked us to not believe our lying ears and our lying eyes.

I was in the Capitol on January 6th, I was trapped with about 30 other members of Congress in the House Gallery.

I was there, we've all seen the footage of police officers fighting for their very lives, we know that one lost his life, Officer Brian Sicknick.

We know that about 140 other officers suffered injury, our great bodily harm trying to defend us, our staff, our democracy.

We heard with our own ears, the President and his enablers words that helped to incite the insurrection, to incite the riot, and so it was about accountability.

We know that the majority of members of the Senate voted to hold him accountable, it did not reach the necessary threshold.

But it sends the wrong message, no one is above the law.

And we need people in positions to send that message.

And unfortunately, we did not send that message last week.

- Congresswoman, I'm wondering about the psychological impact on the staff, and on the people that work in the Capitol.

What can you tell me about the effect of them seeing Confederate flags and Nazi flags being marched around the US Capitol?

- It had a devastating effect.

At the police department, I served as the Commander of the Critical Incident Stress Management Team, dealing with officers and civilian staff who've gone through traumatic situations.

When you think about congressional staffers, many of them are relatively young, they've never seen anything like that.

This was not the America that they were used to.

You know when you come to the US Capitol, it is one of those places that it's a sacred place, it is the center of our democracy and really, the beacon, I think for other countries around the world.

Our staffers are so honored to be a part of the people's work and upholding our democracy.

But to see the rioters, they're chanting, "Hang Mike Pence," and I have no doubt that had they been able to apprehend the Vice President, they would have done that.

We heard their voices searching for Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, I have no doubt they would have done that.

They desecrated her office and other sacred places within the Capitol, as you said, carrying flags that were basically symbols of division and hate.

It was very traumatic for us staffers.

- Congresswoman, I wish we had more time we've got just about 40 seconds left, but a lot of people are bringing up your name as a possible statewide candidate for office.

Do you look at maybe the US Senate Race next year or the Governor's Race next year, and think about getting in?

- Well, let me say this, I am absolutely honored to serve in the House of Representatives.

But I'm also humbled by the number of people who are having that discussion.

I will just leave you with this.

Florida is the third largest state in the union.

That should mean a lot.

And I'm keeping the doors open, we will see what happens.

- Congresswoman Val Demings, thank you for coming on Florida This Week, I hope you come back.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - A new election bill being proposed in Tallahassee would limit vote by mail applications to one election cycle in Florida and require voters who signed up for mail ballots for instance in 2020 to reapply to get them in 2022.

- I think some people are very nervous about change.

Some people ask why?

And I say why not?

Let's try it, we can always do it different next week or next month or next year.

But why not try this, it may actually invigorate participation, instead of it being so uninvolved.

- This comes after a November election in which Florida stood out for its efficiency.

Brian Corley is a Republican and the Supervisor of Elections in Pasco County.

And he joins us now Brian, welcome back to the program.

- Thanks for having me.

- First of all, Senator Baxley's proposal of to have people sign up every year instead of letting the initial application ride for two years, what do you make of it?

- I'm at a loss for words, sometimes I think there are those in Tallahassee living in an alternate universe.

Why would you take something that's worked very, very well and completely rebooted?

It just makes no sense that, it almost someone's actually said to me, it just looks like it's politics hijacking elections, a much demonstration.

And I can't disagree with that, unfortunately.

- Would there be additional cost to your office if you had to send out these notices every year?

- A tremendous cost, now, Senator Baxley did actually add an amendment to the bill that would allow the request to go through the next general election.

But the problem is, there's a complete reboot.

So anyone, like for example in Pasco, we have 125,000 voters, nearly a third of our entire voter rolls that is scheduled to get request through next November 2022.

They along with every other Floridas with a request, it reboots while it takes effect.

So July 1st, for example, every one of those would have to be notified, and say, you know, do you want to?

And those that re-up, and we hope everyone does, and then some that at least considered, there's administrative costs for us to process it, so it's not very fiscally responsible, and it's not being good stewards of taxpayer money, and it just makes no sense to me.

- Like Friday, the governor announced some additional changes in the election law, he was standing with Blaise Ingoglia another Republican member of the Florida Legislature.

I know it's too early to comment about it, but basically, I think people are wondering, is Florida's election system secure?

Can you say to the public and to your people in Pasco County, that there's very little fraud, there's not people voting illegally, can you say that with confidence?

- I can say with the utmost confidence that there is no evidence of massive or widespread fraud.

But don't take my word for it, take the former Attorney General William Barr, take the former Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, the director of the FBI, Chris Wray, Senator McConnell, and the list goes on.

Any election minister that says there's no fraud is being disingenuous.

There's every election, we do find fraud, but it's always de minimis, and that's the key not as widespread, as we always wanna go after any anyone that shouldn't be voting, quite frankly, our agendas, elections administrators is to have access and and you know, integrity.

So those that should be voting, we want them voting.

and we wanna stamp out any fraud.

But to just say, you know, from pontificate, there's fraud is fraud is not being truthful to you, the viewers, and to the voters.

- If this initial bill were to pass, what impact would it have on turnout, do you think?

- I would imagine would have to have a negative impact.

I mean, studies have shown that vote by mail or absentee voting does increase turnout, 'cause if we really speaks also to some misinformation.

I had voters call me up, and they would say to me, you know, Brian, I don't mind absentee voting, but vote by mail is no good.

And I would remind them that in Florida, they're synonymous, it's been no excuse since 2002.

And they were confusing what they were hearing from other states that were doing mass bailouts to every voter, I personally don't support that.

I think it's a waste of taxpayer money, it's not so much a fraud issue.

But you know, it's just the system we have it works.

- The statewide group of election supervisors in 67 counties, yet they have an organization have they suggested any changes to make Florida's voting process better?

- We have our annual legislative package, but you know, we've issued a statement in response to the governor and Representative Ingoglia, we've worked very close with Representative Ingoglia, I know I have as well, basically that, you know we've not seen the bill yet.

We look forward to seeing it.

We would just ask respectfully that the Secretary state, the governor's office, and the legislature, you know consult us, we are the subject matter experts we're the elected supervisors in each county constitutional officer, we're in the trenches.

So I would hope that we would have some consultation those that actually administer elections.

- Brian Corley, thanks a lot, thanks for coming back.

- Sure, thank you.

(upbeat music) - The distribution of 3000 COVID-19 vaccines in Manatee County is concerned members of the black community that have not received the vaccinations.

State Representative Michele Rayner-Goolsby represents District 70, which includes parts of Manatee, Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Sarasota counties.

And she joins us now.

And Representative, thanks for coming on Florida This Week, good to see you.

- Good to see you, thanks for having me.

- Do the governor got into some hot water because he specify or at least according to the way it was worked out, these two zip codes 34202 and 34211 got the vaccines.

What do you think about that?

Those are some of the wealthiest vaccines, and they have some of the low, I'm sorry, those are some of the wealthiest areas of Manatee County, and they have some of the lowest rates of infection.

- So one of the, you know, I think I made my position really clear that we need to make sure that the vaccine distribution is equitable, and we need to make sure that our underserved communities aren't being able to access the vaccine.

We know that our frontline workers and our essential workers are folks who are more so black and brown people and who live in underserved communities.

And we need to make sure that access is equal, and so one of the things that I did in end of January, we hosted a vaccine drive within Manatee County in a minority area of Manatee county, and we didn't restrict who could come, and we didn't restrict who could register, it was open to the community.

And so my position has remained that the equitable distribution of the vaccines is needed, and it must happen.

- Did you raise the issue with the governor this week?

- I did raise the issue with the governor's office this week.

And they have assured me that they are committed to making sure that the vaccine is distributed equitably.

My office provided them with vaccine sites within the district.

And we are working on securing a pop-up locations within the next two weeks.

- Some people have pointed out, some critics of Governor have pointed out that the places that have already gotten the vaccine, these special additional vaccines are places like Sun City Center in the villages, and these wealthy zip codes in Manatee County, places that tended to vote for Governor DeSantis.

Did he arrange special treatment for these people in these areas?

- Of course, their position is that they did not do that.

And I would like to believe that they did not do that, but in the words of the great James Baldwin, you know I can't hear what he says, because I see what you do.

And so, my hope and my goal is that the Office of the governor would hold fast to their commitment that they made to me in order to make sure that there are vaccines sites within my district, but also within all the underserved districts within the state of Florida.

- Representative, the governor has chosen to honor the late talk show host Rush Limbaugh by putting Florida's flags at half mast, what do you make of that?

- Once again, I can't hear what you say, because I see what you do.

It's unfortunate that the governor decided to do that, because I don't believe that same difference in honor was given to Congressman John Lewis.

And Congressman John Lewis fought for equality for everybody and equity for everybody, whether you agree with him or not, whether you were white or black, Republican or Democrat, Jew or Gentile, and I cannot say the same for Rush Limbaugh.

Rush Limbaugh was incendiary, he was racist, and he was a homophobe.

And so it's disappointing that the governor would see fit to celebrate someone with that lack of integrity and character, but not yet do the same with someone who I believe was a patriot and a great American, such as John Lewis.

- Well, Representative thanks for coming on Florida This Week, I hope you come back.

- Thank you for having me.

(upbeat music) - Florida's Agriculture Commissioner and Democrat Nikki Fried released a video this week, slamming Governor Ron DeSantis for his COVID-19 pandemic response.

- This has been so much harder than it had to be and we know why, blind allegiance to an insurrectionist.

So let me say this to all Floridians, your loved, we feel your hurt, Florida can and will do better.

As a Biden administration put science first, and we turn the corner on this pandemic.

I promise, I will continue to fight for you and hold the governor accountable.

- That video is received mixed reactions across Florida April Schiff is the Hillsborough, Republican State Committee Woman and President and Co-Founder of Strategic Solutions of Florida.

She's also a longtime panelist here on Florida This Week.

April, nice to see you.

- Good to see you, thank you for having me today, Rob.

- So why did Nikki Fried released that video, do you think?

- I think Nikki's running for governor, so it's her first salvo, and we'll see how that carries out for her.

- Talk about what her chances are, the Republican Governors Association issued a press release this week.

Saying that video shows that she's desperate to be coordinated as the Democratic candidate for governor.

- Well, she's in a good spot to do that, she's probably trying to make sure she pushes out any primary competition, which would give her a little more strength going into a general election.

So that would be her goal, I should think.

- Is the governor vulnerable for the way he's handled the COVID-19 vaccine distribution?

- Absolutely not, Florida has has done better than virtually any other state in the country as far as distribution.

We've vaccinated more seniors, first responders than anybody else has.

And he's on the way to continuing that across the state, and eventually, I hear not many too district in future, we will have another age tier coming in, so they'll start vaccinating more people in a lower age bracket as well.

- One of the things that Nikki Fried said in that video is that the governor showed blind allegiance to an insurrectionist, she's talking about former President Trump, what kind of role do you think the Trump impeachment trial is gonna play next year in statewide races across Florida, when we see people running for US Senate, see people running for governor?

- I think the impeachment trial is gonna hurt the democrats because it was a failure.

There was no successes there, and I think it hurt the country as well, it continued to divide the country after a very divisive election.

And so I don't think that's a very big selling point in elections trying to get people elected from the Democratic Party.

- You don't think that there's a sizable number of people that are concerned that this group almost took over the US Capitol and almost hung Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi?

- I think that, of course, it's a concern, and it should never have happened, it was a bad thing to have happened.

But I also think that there's been an extremely exaggerated amount of focus on it.

It's been somewhat of a witch hunt, going through social media and photographs and hunting down people who were there and prosecuting them as if they can.

So I think that that as well is going to get old pretty quickly, but that should never have happened.

That was a bad thing, and hopefully, we'll never see that happen again.

- Can the democrats win a statewide election in an off year like next year?

There's not gonna be a presidential race on the ballot, and they had a tough time in 2020.

They lost the statewide when it came to the Trump-Biden race.

Is Florida now a red state do you think?

- I think it is, and I think they're gonna have extreme difficulty in statewide races.

I mean, they also lost ground in the statehouse in the state legislature, and in some congressional districts, they thought they would pick up and they didn't.

So I don't see that that's gonna change going forward, the republicans are gaining ground across the board, and as Florida continues with voter registration drives through the next couple years, I don't think you're gonna see any big democratic victories in the state of Florida.

- Because Republicans are doing better when it comes to registration drives than are the Democrats.

- And that's a goal, and that's something that they're executing very strongly.

They know they have to work hard to try and, you know, diminish the gap between the registration.

But we've consistently voted Republican in the state for quite some time now on a statewide basis.

So I don't see it changing next year.

- Well, April Schiff, great to see you and soon, we hope you'll be back on the set.

Thanks for coming on the program.

- Thank you very much, Rob.

(upbeat music) - Thanks for watching Florida This Week, your comments are always welcome, please write us at FTW@wedu.org, and continue the conversation on Facebook.

You can watch this and past shows online at wedu.org.

You can also listen to the program Mondays at 11 am on WMNF at 88.5 FM.

Be sure to download the PBS app, so you can watch this and your other favorite PBS programs on your cell phone.

And please join us again next Friday night at 8:30 and Sunday afternoon at 12:30.

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

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Florida This Week is a production of WEDU who is solely responsible for its content.

(upbeat music)