Ziegler investigation hits the school board

Dec 11, 2023

Bridget Ziegler speaks.

Bridget Ziegler speaks at a Moms for Liberty meeting in Philadelphia on July 1, 2023. | Matt Rourke/AP

Good morning and welcome to Monday.

It’s a high-stakes week for one of Florida's leading Republicans power couples.

First up is Gov. Ron DeSantis-endorsed Sarasota School Board member Bridget Ziegler, whose colleagues will decide tomorrow whether to recommend that she resign from her post.

Her position is in question after it was made public that her husband, Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler, has been under investigation for rape since early October. Over the course of the investigation, Bridget Ziegler told police that she, her husband and the woman leveling the sexual assault claims had sex together a year ago.

Bridget Ziegler gained prominence after cofounding the conservative parents group Moms for Liberty, which has objected to LGBTQ+ curriculum in schools. She didn’t respond to questions about whether she planned to attend tomorrow's meeting. Christian Ziegler has said he is innocent and told fellow Republicans he would have “a lot more to say” about the motives of the allegations once the investigation was over. GOP leaders will decide his future on Sunday at an emergency meeting in Orlando, given that he refuses to resign.

Bridget Ziegler isn’t alleged to have done anything illegal but she already faced professional consequences as a result of the investigation. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that she left her post at the Leadership Institute, a training organization for conservatives.

That's just one of her jobs. She still attended a public meeting remotely last week for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the area around Walt Disney World that DeSantis overhauled after the company objected to a law that limited LGBTQ+ curriculum in public schools. Fellow board members didn’t address the controversy, though an audience member called for Bridget Ziegler's resignation during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Tomorrow will be different. School board chairperson Karen Rose announced last week that she would introduce a resolution asking Bridget Ziegler to resign, saying that "her continued presence on the board would cause irreparably harmful distractions to our critical mission."

Another school board member, Democrat Tom Edwards, told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that Bridget Ziegler had become too much of a “distraction.” Florida Democrats and Edwards, who is openly gay, have leveled charges of hypocrisy given that the Zieglers publicly worked to try to purge LGBTQ+ curriculum from Florida public schools.

Few other elected Florida Republicans have pushed for Bridget Ziegler to resign from her school board position or her role on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. DeSantis’ office hasn’t responded to questions about Bridget Ziegler, though he was one of the first to call on Christian Ziegler to resign from the Florida GOP.

Details of the investigation are still emerging. The woman who made the allegations told police she and the Zieglers were set to meet on Oct. 2 but then she canceled when Bridget Ziegler couldn’t make it. She said Christian Ziegler still showed up at her apartment and raped her, and she later told a friend she was intoxicated and couldn’t consent.

But ahead of the weekend, police obtained a cell phone video and surveillance footage that appears to show a consensual encounter, per descriptions provided to the Florida Center for Government Accountability.

At least one local Moms for Liberty chapter, in Pennsylvania, split off over the scandal. After a social media post indicating it was standing by Bridget Ziegler when the story first broke, Moms for Liberty co-founders appeared to distance the organization from her last week, noting that she resigned from her role as co-founder “within a month of our launch in January of 2021, nearly three years ago.” It added that she had remained “an avid warrior for parental rights across the country.”

— WHERE’S RON? Nothing official announced yet for today for Gov. DeSantis. He’ll be doing a CNN town hall with Jake Tapper tomorrow.

Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com

... DATELINE TALLAHASSEE ...

TODAY — Florida House and Senate committee meetings on health care and hurricane resiliency. (Watch here.)

DATE SET — DeSantis has notified the Legislature that he intends to give his State of the State speech on Jan. 9, 2024 — just a few days before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses. "Florida's success is proof positive that when you establish a foundation of governing on conservative principles and protect the freedom of your residents, success will follow,” DeSantis wrote in a letter to legislative leaders. “I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together over the next year.”

A roulette table.

A roulette table. | AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

MORE REVENUE COMING — “As sports betting, craps and roulette commence, Seminole Tribe to begin paying millions to the state,” reports the News Service of Florida and the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Shira Moolten. “The tribe expects to pay the state at least $650 million over the next year as part of their 2021 gaming compact, which gave the tribe a monopoly on sports betting.”

SCHOOLS OVERHAUL — “Florida plans to cut red tape for schools. But will lawmakers add some too?” reports the Tampa Bay Times’ Jeffrey S. Solochek. “Almost 50 House and Senate bills pertaining to education already have been filed for 2024, not including those pertaining to deregulation. Their topics include dual enrollment, career programs, teacher bonuses and age requirements for compulsory education. More education bills are expected.”

SHORTAGE SOLUTION — “DeSantis wants to assign more National Guard members to Florida prisons,” reports Dara Kam of News Service of Florida. The governor “is proposing to assign another 100 guard members to Florida prisons and buy dozens of now-leased trailers to house them and family members. The corrections agency for years has grappled with staffing shortages and high turnover rates, resulting in millions of dollars in overtime pay for workers. The Legislature has authorized hiring and retention bonuses for correctional officers and hiked starting salaries, but staffing issues persist.”

SPEECH LAWS — “Florida lawmaker revives libel bill criticized in GOP presidential debate,” reports the Orlando Sentinel’s Skyler Swisher. “A Panhandle Republican has introduced a scaled-back version of a bill that aims to make it easier for prominent people to sue for libel, a proposal that died earlier this year in the Florida Legislature after receiving bipartisan criticism. State Rep. Alex Andrade’s new proposal seeks to change long-standing legal standards dealing with anonymous sources.”

LAW ENFORCEMENT — “More Florida cities are using citizen boards to investigate police. The state may stop it,” reports David Bauerlein of the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union. “Florida would stop local governments from using citizen review boards to investigate complaints against police in a bill filed by state Rep. Wyman Duggan that would impact about 20 cities that have boards and close the door on others like Jacksonville from creating them to examine alleged misconduct.”

PILOT IDEA — “Bill aims to reduce condo insurance costs by allowing cash-value roof coverage,” reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ron Hurtibise. “Windstorm insurance coverage would become more affordable and more widely available for Florida’s condominium buildings if a pair of bills recently filed with the Florida Legislature become law. The bills would create a pilot program requiring state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to cover roofs of condo buildings at actual cash — also known as depreciated — value rather than at full replacement cost.”

SPEEDING THROUGH — “Bill that would fine Florida drivers for cruising in left lanes advances in House,” by News Service of Florida. It would “apply to drivers on highways with at least two lanes in the same direction and speed limits of 65 mph or higher.”

NEW PROJECTIONS — “Florida's citrus industry begins recovery after Ian, makes progress against greening disease,” by News Service of Florida’s Jim Turner. “The combined projections are nearly 30 percent ahead of last season’s production, which was hammered by Hurricane Ian and a winter freeze. But the overall forecast total for 2023-2024 is just over half the production amount from the 2021-2022 season.”

CAMPAIGN MODE

JUST OUT — “Iowa Poll: Donald Trump holds overwhelming lead; Ron DeSantis edges ahead of Nikki Haley,” reports the Des Moines Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel. “A new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows 51 percent of likely Republican caucusgoers pick Trump as their first choice for president, up from 43 percent in an October Iowa Poll. DeSantis, who was tied with Haley at 16 percent in October, has gained 3 percentage points to pull away from her in second place with 19 percent.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (L) and wife Casey DeSantis greet debate moderators after the fourth Republican presidential primary debate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on December 6, 2023. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

WHOOPSIE — Trump hits Casey DeSantis over call for out-of-state backers to ‘be a part of the caucus’ in Iowa, reports POLITICO’s Olivia Alafriz. The Trump campaign has latched onto an interview with Casey DeSantis on Fox News over the weekend, when she claimed that “you do not have to be a resident of Iowa to be able to participate in the caucus.” She encouraged “moms and grandmoms to come, from wherever it might be — North Carolina, South Carolina — and to descend upon the state of Iowa to be a part of the caucus.”

Those remarks seemingly prompted the Iowa Republican Party to post online that “you must be a legal resident of Iowa and the precinct you live in and bring photo ID with you to participate in the #iacaucus!” In her own social media post later Friday, Casey DeSantis noted the residency requirement for caucus-goers but added that “there is a way for others to participate,” calling on her husband’s supporters to volunteer in Iowa.

SPECIAL ELECTION UPDATE — The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced that Florida HD-35 Democratic candidate Tom Keen as one of its “Spotlight” candidates for the year, meaning his will be a key race to watch to possibly flip the seat. The special election is happening Jan. 16, 2024, for a district that represents parts of Orange and Osceola counties. DLCC interim President Heather Williams called Florida a “hotbed for extremism” and said Keen, a military veteran, would help “shift the balance of power” in the state.

LEANING IN — “DeSantis looks to use fight over transgender rights to boost his campaign in final weeks before Iowa,” reports CNN’s Steve Contorno. “The intense effort to push these issues to the forefront was laid bare minutes into Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate when DeSantis, in response to a question about his slipping poll numbers, accused former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of opposing ... blocking transgender children from certain medical procedures that he likened to mutilation. Haley denied the charge.”

ELECTABILITY ARGUMENT — “As Trump's rivals push to persuade Iowans, DeSantis warns that he would fire up Democrats,” reports ABC News’ Mary Alice Parks. "Democrats know they have a turnout problem with Biden as their nominee because he's not invigorating anybody. He's not inspiring anybody,” DeSantis said. “What they need is, they need that negative partisanship that they can say, 'Trump, Trump, Trump' and get people to come out. That's been their formula.”

CAMPAIGN PLEDGE — “DeSantis won’t push for Puerto Rico statehood,” reports Florida Politics A.G. Gancarski. “DeSantis doesn’t want Puerto Rico to become a state, unless there’s a GOP-dominated state to be entered into the United States at the same time to offset its Democratic lean.”

ODDS, ENDS AND FLORIDA MEN

— “Extremely rare white alligator is born at a Florida reptile park,” per The Associated Press

BIRTHDAY: Leon County Commissioner Nick Maddox

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