Florida Gov. DeSantis is going to Israel with a large contingent of business leaders. DeSantis' plan to hold a meeting with his elected Cabinet while he's there has raised concerns about whether officials are violating the state's open-meeting laws.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is going to Israel with a large contingent of business leaders — not surprisingly, especially as the GOP woos Jewish voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election. But DeSantis' plan to hold a meeting with his elected Cabinet while he's there has raised concerns about whether officials are violating the state's open-meeting laws.
"I see no reason to hold a Cabinet meeting in Israel," said Barbara Petersen, president of the open-government watchdog group First Amendment Foundation."And we still don't have an agenda, so I don't know what they will be doing at that meeting." Even Cabinet officials said they didn't know what is on the agenda because the meeting is being organized by the governor's office. Fried speculated that it could be largely ceremonial.
Still, Cabinet meetings are supposed to be accessible for all. But unless they want to pay close to $2,000 for a round-trip airline ticket, not many regular Floridians will be able to attend — even if they can figure out when it's going to be held. DeSantis isn't the first Florida governor to embark on a trade mission to Israel. Former Republican Govs. Jeb Bush, Charlie Crist and Rick Scott all did the same. The trip could help Republicans politically in a state that is closely divided in presidential politics and where the large Jewish population could be a deciding factor as President Donald Trump tries to win Florida's 29 electoral college votes.
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