Here's the reason a top Florida health department attorney gave for leaving [View all]
TALLAHASSEE — When he abruptly resigned from his post last week, the top attorney for the Florida Department of Health suggested in a resignation letter that he was uncomfortable with decisions taken by the state agency, which days earlier had threatened to prosecute television stations over political advertisements.
“A man is nothing without his conscience,” John Wilson wrote in a resignation letter obtained by the Times/Herald. “It has become clear in recent days that I cannot join you on the road that lies before the agency.”
His resignation came seven days after he sent cease-and-desist letters to Florida television stations that threatened to criminally prosecute them if they did not take down political advertisements in support of Amendment 4, a ballot measure that if approved on Nov. 5 would broaden access to abortion.
The letters are now the subject of a federal lawsuit, in which Wilson is being sued in his personal capacity along with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, the head of the Department of Health. In the lawsuit, Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind Amendment 4, claims the state agency’s threats are a violation of the group’s First Amendment rights to political speech.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2024/10/17/heres-reason-top-florida-health-department-attorney-gave-leaving/
A (former) DeSantis administration official with a conscience? How very unusual.
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