Florida Senate declines to confirm Moms for Liberty co-founder to state ethics panel

The Florida Senate declined to confirm Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich’s appointment to the state Commission on Ethics, with Senate President Kathleen Passidomo saying that the procedural move puts Descovich’s confirmation “on hold.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Descovich to the Florida ethics commission last year, a position which requires Senate confirmation.

The Senate allows two years for the confirmation process to be completed. A Republican-controlled Senate committee last month forwarded Descovich’s potential confirmation to the full chamber.

But on Thursday, Descovich was not part of a slate of appointees to the ethics panel. Descovich, a former Brevard County School Board member, became a prominent figure as the conservative group Moms for Liberty has targeted what it characterizes as indoctrination in public schools.

Descovich also is the chair of the political committee Moms for Liberty Florida, according to the state Division of Elections’ website. Senate leaders voiced concerns that Descovich’s political role could pose a conflict with her role on the ethics panel.
“There is a concern that Ms. Descovich’s employment could constitute lobbying the Legislature. That issue requires additional review prior to Senate confirmation,” a spokeswoman for Passidomo told the News Service of Florida in an email Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after the Senate confirmed a swath of appointees that did not include Descovich, Passidomo said Thursday the procedural move would give time for a review of the concerns.

“When we looked at it, we realized it’s a two-year process. The governor can reappoint her. So we didn’t feel pressure to do anything,” Passidomo, R-Naples, said.

The Senate president also said that Descovich's failure to make it onto the appointment-approval list was not related to an ethics complaint against her.

“Some citizen said he was going to file a (ethics) complaint and politicized our process. And that troubles me because that’s not what we do,” Passidomo said. “So, (we) put it on hold, and if the governor reappoints her, then she’ll come back. It will give us an opportunity to go through the whole process.”

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