'Weird and Desperate': Pizzo Slams State's Anti-Abortion Website, Hunt for Fraudulent Petitions

MIAMI LAKES, FL—Florida's incoming Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo excoriated both Republicans searching for fraudulent abortion petitions and the state health care agency's anti-abortion website as "weird" and "desperate" Monday—mere minutes after Gov. Ron DeSantis assured Floridians that "everything is above board."

On an afternoon Senate Democrats press call discussing recreational marijuana, just minutes after Gov. DeSantis' Miami Lakes press conference, Sen. Pizzo was asked for his response to DeSantis' comparison of the state Agency for Health Care Administration's (AHCA) anti-Amendment 4 website to public service announcements on safe driving.

His answer?

"State agencies are supposed to be completely agnostic and neutral...I think it's inconsistent and I think it's really untoward," he said, before turning to the other abortion-related headline of the week: police are visiting Floridians' homes as the DeSantis administration reviews abortion amendment petitions for potential fraud. "Things are getting kind of desperate you could say on the other side...it's getting very weird."

Gov. DeSantis, for his part, explained that the state government has always posted public service announcements to "provide people with accurate information", and says that what AHCA is doing is nothing out of the ordinary. "Everything that's put out is factual, it's not electioneering," he said. "It's not weighing in on any particular measure, whether you should vote for or against something—that's obviously being done in other avenues—but not with those agencies."

The Republican Party has come out in full force against Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion access until fetal viability in the state's constitution. They warn of vague language in terms of "healthcare provider" instead of "doctor" and worry it will lead to "late-term abortions."

These concerns were posted to AHCA's new website late last week, causing Democrats to worry that this violates a Florida statute prohibiting state employees from participating in political campaigns while on duty, and bans them from using their "official authority" to influence "another person's vote or affecting the result" of an election. The website includes language like: "Don't let the fearmongers lie to you," and "Amendment 4 threatens women's safety" amid its seven sections juxtaposing the amendment's "facts" versus its "myths."

The website—which is now accompanied by a series of ads—was posted a few days after the DeSantis Administration began its hunt for fraudulent signatures on the petition that guaranteed Amendment 4 a spot on the November ballot. They're arguing that the petition's sponsor, Floridians Protecting Freedom, submitted some fake signatures which helped it gain more than enough support for it to go to voters.

"This group did submit on behalf of dead people...and there are documented examples that FDLE is looking at where the petition and the name do not match the signature that's on file. So the question is, is that a valid signature or not?" DeSantis said. "I do think that they've identified examples that are not valid. Anyone who is trying to commit fraud in this process absolutely should be held accountable."

"If you're submitting signatures that are not matching the voter file, that's cause for concern," he added.

Pizzo called the abortion signature hunt "doxxing", as he worried about state administrators locating who the "proponents or funders are" of Amendment 4.

If Amendment 4 reaches 60 percent of voter approval on Nov. 5, it will become the newest addition to the state's constitution.