DeSantis names Moms for Liberty co-founder to Florida ethics panel

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday appointed Tina Descovich, a co-founder of the conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty, to the Florida Commission on Ethics.

The move gives the Republican governor a staunch GOP ally on the panel responsible for weighing complaints against public officials in the state, which recently saw one remember resign after a conflict-of-interest violation. Aside from organizing the growing — and maligned — parental advocacy group, Descovich is a former school board member and runs a Florida political committee that helped some conservatives win local education elections in 2022.

Descovich’s appointment underscores how Moms for Liberty has risen to prominence in Florida under the DeSantis administration, which has emphasized rooting out any perception of liberal “indoctrination” in the state’s public schools through legislation and the Department of Education. Last year, DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, appointed Esther Byrd, a Moms for Liberty member in Duval County and the wife of Republican Secretary of State Cord Byrd, to the state Board of Education. The governor also appointed another Moms for Liberty co-founder, Sarasota County school board member Bridget Ziegler, to the board overseeing Walt Disney Co.’s special district in central Florida.

"I am honored to be appointed by Governor DeSantis to this important statewide commission,” Descovich said in a statement. “The Florida Ethics Commission is charged with serving as the guardian of the standards of conduct for public officers and employees as well as safeguarding public trust. It will be a privilege to serve the state I love as a member of this commission. "

Moms for Liberty is a controversial organization to Democrats and groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, which labeled it as “extremists” for its opposition to student mask mandates during the pandemic and to certain lessons about race and sexual orientation in schools.

One Democrat, Jennifer Jenkins, who defeated Descovich in a 2020 Brevard County school board race, said the decision by DeSantis to install a Moms for Liberty member on the ethics panel was “disheartening yet predictable.”

Jenkins raised fears of possible political retaliation as she awaits closure in an ethics dispute with local state Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay), who allegedly threatened to veto funding to the city of West Melbourne and the Special Olympics because Jenkins was invited to a fundraiser as the two clashed over student mask mandates. Descovich was also part of a meeting earlier this year where the DeSantis administration and other top Florida Republicans unveiled an election “target list” for than a dozen “woke” local school board candidates, something Jenkins questioned as she was appointed to the ethics committee.

“The very little faith I had in the validity of that process is clearly diminished by the move,” Jenkins said in an interview.

Some conservatives in Florida and beyond, though, have embraced Moms for Liberty as education culture war fights continue beyond the pandemic. The organization claims to have some 120,000 members in 285 chapters throughout 44 states, and has hosted to national conferences that, in part, aim to bring new candidates to local school boards. A Moms for Liberty event in Philadelphia this summer drew appearances from heavyweight presidential candidates, including DeSantis and former president Donald Trump.

Descovich is set to be part of a seven-member ethics commission that includes five appointments by the governor, including at least two that, by law, must be from a different political party. Two ethics commission members are appointed by the Senate president and two more by the House speaker.

A previous DeSantis appointee to the ethics board, Glen Gilzean, resigned last month following a legal opinion that determined he was violating state law by holding a separate position as the administrator overseeing Disney World’s district in central Florida. Gilzean’s departure was a bitter goodbye as he criticized the panel’s attorney on the way out.

DeSantis on Wednesday also appointed Luis Fuste, an attorney in south Florida, to the ethics commission.