The Death of “Barefoot Media.”

Readers have been insulted by the lack of respect for their intelligence regarding Mr. Barefoot’s resignation.

Well, last week was the end of an era. In one more attempted defense of Brian Barefoot’s constitutional ignorance, Ray McNulty found a way to blame Moms for Liberty for the governor doing his constitutional duty. Of course, it was predicated by the release of Russ Lemmon’s publication, Lemmon Lines, where the editor-in-chief has decided that “Kevin McDonald is sure to be the Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidate” he said under his “Ugly Politics Alert.” 

Gov. DeSantis appointed Mr. McDonald on Tuesday, April 2nd. For the record, both of the filed candidates for district 5, David Dyer and Mr. McDonald, stated publicly that they were interviewed via phone calls by the Governor’s education team. Both are long-standing Republicans who are successful businessmen. Mr. McDonald also has the direct education experience of building a successful classical school in the heart of New York City. Mr. Dyer recently stepped down as vice-chairman of The Learning Alliance, an NGO focused on early childhood literacy. It was a thorough vetting process which included local leaders and Mr. Barefoot being involved — he acknowledged to TC Palm receiving a phone call for his opinion on Mr. Dyer.

The assumption made about Moms for Liberty by both writers is nothing more than political trope. Moms for Liberty has not endorsed anyone. “We have not endorsed in any district. The candidate qualifying period hasn’t even ended,” responded Moms for Liberty chairman, Jennifer Pippin, to a request for comment. She added, “After qualification, we usually have a forum, and ask candidates to fill out a questionnaire. We present that information to our membership and they vote.”

The day after the appointment of Mr. McDonald, IRC community editor of the TCPalm, Laurence Reisman, suggested Gov. DeSantis “overruled” the IRC electorate by “dissing Indian River School Board member” with the appointment of Mr. McDonald. Either, Reisman doesn’t know the FL Constitution or he refuses to remind his readers of how it instructs the governor when an elected official vacates their seat by immediate resignation. He also compared Gov. DeSantis’s decision to a communist leader in a centralized state. He even had the webpage title rhetorically ask, “Soviet-style amateur hour in Tallahassee?”

In a crass indictment, community editor, Laurence Reisman accuses Gov. DeSantis of being a Soviet-style dictator for following the FL Constitution.

He closed his editorial with a line of poetry about the Holocaust by a Rev. Niemoller that he read at a World War II exhibit in New Orleans. “When they came for me there was no one left to speak up,” quoted Mr. Reisman. His following catatonic conniption claimed, “The governor has come for us, nixing our votes by essentially removing an elected official from Indian River County.”  

Mr. Lemmon, Mr. McNulty and Mr. Reisman never considered the ramifications of Mr. Barefoot’s decision process as a school board member. Instead, they listened to his excuses and editorially repeated this narrative that somehow Mr. Barefoot and his experienced team didn’t know his district boundaries. Mr. Barefoot had long wanted to retire since buying his new home last December. He and his campaign manager, Jeffrey Andros, were interviewing potential candidates to replace himself on the school board. They found a willing accomplice in a fellow John’s Island friend, Mr. Dyer, who filed February 13th. Mr. Barefoot had already decided he was retiring, explaining to 32963 on February 21st that he didn’t attend a February 12th workshop because he had already made up his mind. In that same article, he endorsed Mr. Dyer to be appointed to the seat he vacated.

When Mr. McDonald entered the race the day Mr. Barefoot resigned, suddenly, the possibility of losing the appointment loomed large. Mr. Barefoot began lobbying the Governor’s office to give his seat back to him, or, appoint Mr. Dyer like he recommended when they did finally call for his view of the candidate. 

At one point during the six-week waiting period for the Governor’s decision, Vero News and TC Palm allowed an unchallenged Mr. Barefoot to bloviate on how he would file a lawsuit to get his school board seat back. On March 1, Mr. McNulty quoted Barefoot saying, “There have been other situations where the Florida Supreme Court ruled that resignations could be rescinded. So there’s a precedent,” adding that Mr. Barefoot said he would do “whatever is necessary” to reclaim his school board membership. With flawed reasoning under the editorial direction of Mr. Reisman, The TC Palm agreed with Mr. Barefoot’s legal theory citing a 1988 attorney general ruling that said, “Prior to the granting of a commission signed by the governor or the effective date of the resignation, the governor ‘may not have cause to refuse a withdrawal of the resignation.’”

In his letter delivered to the school district on February 21st, he stated his resignation was “effective immediately” which Gov. DeSantis acknowledged in an April 2nd letter addressed to the Secretary of State, Cord Byrd. The attorney general’s ruling does not apply. 

Gov. DeSantis also informed that the FL Supreme Court has maintained when a resignation is submitted for immediate effect to the “proper authority,” the governor’s  acceptance is not required to create the vacancy of office. According to the Florida Constitution, as soon as the seat is vacated, it is the responsibility of the governor to fill it.  In his column, Mr. Reisman wrote, “It struck hard Tuesday when I learned Gov. Ron DeSantis decided the person we elected to the Indian River County School Board no longer would sit there.”

The fact remains, nobody was sitting there. Gov. DeSantis did his constitutional duty because Mr. Barefoot vacated the seat. To call the governor a “Soviet-style” centralized dictator is a denial of basic Florida civics and a disservice to the public interest.

Mr. McNulty spelled out the strategy of Mr. Barefoot’s resignation to open the door for an appointment of Mr. Dyer on February 22nd. In his latest column, he again reiterates how, in his view, Mr. Dyer should have been chosen regurgitating the same resume of him from February’s column.  Mr. McNulty also sent Mr. McDonald a set of 7 questions for this article. However, the writer only used one sentence from the answers. Mr. McDonald published the full interview on his campaign website.

In February, at the time Mr. Barefoot began scrambling to be appointed to the seat which he vacated, The Sunshine Journal wrote, “The situation looks and smells like a grand political scheme to get an appointment [of Mr. Dyer] from Gov. DeSantis by circumventing the electoral process. However, with a new candidate’s untimely filing on Wednesday [Feb. 21], the ostensibly political operation to get that appointment could backfire as Gov. DeSantis may conclude that Barefoot’s replacement, David Dyer is cut from the same cloth.”

More than a week before the appointment of Gov. DeSantis was made, Mr. Dyer held his first fundraiser where he endorsed Dr. Peggy Jones being re-elected. Dr. Jones is also on the Gov. DeSantis’s list which is now 13 remaining school board members targeted for replacement. It seemed Mr. Dyer had moved on from getting the appointment. He has since donated a maximum contribution of $1000.00 to her campaign. While in the throws of death, “Barefoot Media” cried, “Ugly politics!” because Gov. DeSantis finally and publicly accepted Mr. Barefoot’s resignation.

For his part, Mr. Barefoot has had a storied personal life in business and community philanthropy. The Sunshine Journal believed he fully intended to resign for the right reason of family concerns, and had established plans to do so. The question remains, that if there was a scheme, then who in the professional political braintrust of Mr. McNulty, and, Mr. Andros the manager of Mr. Dyer’s campaign, put him up to it.