Dan Gelber Attacks Dean Cannon's Comments on Florida Court

More than two weeks after losing the attorney general race, former Democratic House leader and state Sen. Dan Gelber shows no sign of going away.

On Wednesday morning, Gelber took aim at comments that new Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, made in his speech to open the new House.

A threat to freedom? A threat to our liberties? wrote Gelber.Yesterday Dean Cannon, the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, called the Florida Supreme Court a threat to freedom and to our liberties. He was apparently angry that the court tossed a handful of legislatively crafted constitutional amendments because the amendments were misleading or confusing to voters. I am personally fond of Dean, but believe his comments should not be dismissed as merely a childish tirade, but rather seen as a calculated effort to intimidate a co-equal branch of government.

The truth is the Florida Supreme Court is a centrist if not center-right court, with a majority of its members appointed by Republican governors, continued Gelber. The Legislature crafted a handful of amendments that were poorly written or, in the case of its redistricting amendments, purposefully written to confuse voters. The court did its job. I have sometimes agreed with their outcomes and other times disagreed, but what separates our democracy from lesser forms of government is our respect and fidelity to the rule of law.

Sometimes you dont get your way, closed Gelber. But it is far beyond the bounds of propriety for the speaker of the Florida House to declare the Supreme Court of his state to be a threat to our freedoms or liberty. Speaker Cannon should know better and ought to apologize.

Gelber took 41 percent of the vote earlier in the month -- not enough to keep up with Republican candidate Pam Bondi who won the race with 55 percent.