Gov. Ron DeSantis accused the Florida House of trying to stop him from getting "any wins" in his latest attack against the rebellious lower chamber.
His comments came at a Naples press conference days after House Speaker Danny Perez, a Republican, blasted the governor for supposedly lying and throwing "temper tantrums." This is only the newest tit-for-tat between the conservative leaders, who've engaged in a vicious, never-before-seen power struggle in DeSantis's final year in office.
"The leadership in the House of Representatives has taken a position that if I'm for something...it's there for you to just oppose us in a knee-jerk fashion," DeSantis said, before adopting a low, mocking voice imitating House Republicans.
"'The governor always gets his way, we don't want to give the governor any wins,'" DeSantis continued. "Stop playing your petty games...stop with this silliness."
This was the governor's ninth press conference in the past few weeks, where he's bashed the lower chamber for its various discrepancies with his own views. This week, it was comparing his budget proposal to grant over $805 million for Everglades restoration, while the House's would allocate just over $400 million.
Last week, he claimed that House members refused to meet with the wives of officers killed or wounded on duty, arguing that the House plans to defund the police. Perez returned fire, ripping the governor for "lying" and working closely with his "favorite Democrat," former lawmaker and current Highway Patrol Director, Dave Kerner.
Perez and DeSantis have had a tense relationship since the new Speaker took office, which ramped up earlier this month after House Republicans voted to override nearly $5 million of DeSantis's budget vetoes from last year.
The House has since pushed back on the governor's priorities—unheard of from the Republican supermajority before this year—including blocking him from filling vacant university presidential spots and investigating his wife's charity over allegedly illegal activity.
