DeSantis health lawyer resigned to avoid threatening more TV stations

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ top deputies directed a Florida health department lawyer to threaten Florida television stations with criminal prosecution for running political advertisements that support enshrining abortion rights in the state’s Constitution, according to new court records.

Florida Department of Health general counsel John Wilson said he was given prewritten letters from one of DeSantis’ lawyers on Oct. 3 and told to send them under his own name, he wrote in a sworn affidavit Monday.

Although he had never participated in any discussions about the letters, Wilson sent them anyway, he wrote, setting off a firestorm that led to a federal judge last week ordering the state not to threaten any more TV stations.

Wilson abruptly quit on Oct. 10, writing in his resignation letter that “A man is nothing without his conscience.” The letter, first reported by the Times/Herald, did not explicitly say he was resigning over the controversy.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2024/10/21/desantis-health-lawyer-resigned-avoid-threatening-more-tv-stations/