Florida Enviro Groups Begin Attacking Gov. Ron DeSantis

Florida’s environmental community, largely bankrolled by the left-leaning Everglades Foundation, revealed its true political agenda attacking Gov. Ron DeSantis following his approval of several bills passed by Florida’s Republican Legislature.

The honeymoon between Florida’s first “Green governor” and environmentalists appears to be over.

In better days, members of Florida’s environmental community hailed DeSantis as a modern-day “Teddy Roosevelt.” Now, with his re-election looming in 2022, these same groups have apparently turned on the governor as they get into their Democratic Party posture.

The Sierra Club’s Florida chapter, which has received more than $500,000 from the Everglades Foundation over the last five years, gave Governor DeSantis a “D-” over his stance on climate change issues. Following his signing of the “Right to Farm” bill this past Legislative Session, the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club issued an angry press release, claiming DeSantis showed his “true colors” as if he were one of their own.

The Sierra Club is a member of the Florida Everglades Coalition, led by the Everglades Foundation, which includes the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). CBD is funded in part through money from billionaire George Soros’ Tides Foundation and sued President Donald Trump more than 179 times during the Trump Administration.

Other groups, including the Friends of the Everglades, have attacked DeSantis as well. The Friends of the Everglades is headed by former fake news editors Eve Samples and Gil Smart. In a release opposing the “Right to Farm” bill, the Friends of the Everglades claimed opposing bill is “not a partisan issue.” However, as pointed out by Governor DeSantis upon signing the legislation, the bill received “strong bipartisan support.” Farmers have been a familiar target for the Everglades Foundation and their associated groups. Earlier this year, The Floridian caught these groups pushing fake news attempting to link farmers with manatee deaths across Florida.

Recently, Florida gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Crist, a darling of the environmental community, said DeSantis deserves a “C-“ for his record on climate change. On Crist’s recent entry into the Governor’s race, DeSantis remarked that Crist will be “slithering around for it.” Let the 2022 games begin.