Florida’s top two elected executive officials have been nowhere in evidence in the state, what with Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigning for president in California and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez promoting the Florida aviation industry at the Paris Air Show.
On Monday, DeSantis traveled to Sacramento, according to KGO News in San Francisco; that’s the city where he recently had three dozen asylum seekers flown from Texas under his migrant-airlift program. California Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested Florida’s governor may have committed kidnapping. DeSantis also was due in the San Francisco suburb of Woodside for a fundraiser. President Joe Biden was in the area on Monday, as well.
DeSantis was still attending fundraisers in California on Tuesday, according to DeSantis Watch, which is critical of the governor.
Nuñez, meanwhile, attended the air show’s opening ceremony plus meetings with representatives of aerospace companies Embrauer, Lockheed Martin, and ST Engineering, according to her official schedule.
DeSantis’ official schedule reflected only an 11:30 a.m. call with chief of staff James Uthmeier on Monday. Tuesday’s schedule for him isn’t out yet.
Press Secretary Bryan Griffin hasn’t responded to an email asking who was keeping an eye on things in Florida’s state capital. Enterprise Florida, which organized the Paris trip, hasn’t responded to an email asking about details of Nuñez’ itinerary, including her whereabouts Tuesday.
Of course, neither has been completely out of touch with Tallahassee, as the governor’s call with Uthmeier demonstrates.
The official line of succession, established in the Florida Constitution and state law, provides for the lieutenant governor to assume control if something happens to a governor. If the lieutenant governor cannot do that, next in line is the state attorney general (Ashley Moody), chief financial officer (Jimmy Patronis), and agriculture commissioner (Wilton Simpson).
The Legislature this year passed, and DeSantis signed, legislation revoking his obligation to resign to run for president or vice president.
