Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s reelection campaign dismissed criticism this week from former New York City mayor and failed presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, who accused the governor and his party of embracing censorship.
The billionaire former mayor made the accusation in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that was quickly dismissed by DeSantis’s reelection campaign, which criticized Bloomberg for funding liberal causes and Democratic politicians in Florida and elsewhere.
FLORIDA WON’T BE A ‘WOKE DUMPSTER FIRE’: DESANTIS ANNOUNCES TEACHER RECRUITMENT PLAN
“We don’t take governing advice from failed, woke, out-of-state politicians like Mike Bloomberg whose only interest is bankrolling radical leftist causes and candidates in Florida and across the country,” Lindsey Curnutte, a spokeswoman for DeSantis’s campaign, told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
In his op-ed, Bloomberg said Republicans had expressed reasonable concerns about censorship of conservative ideas on college campuses but had chosen to embrace censorship themselves instead of “taking a principled stand for free speech.”
DeSantis especially drew the former New York City mayor’s ire because the Florida governor had signed into law the “Stop WOKE Act,” which limits discussion of critical race theory in numerous settings, including college classrooms.
Critical race theory is an academic theory that posits that U.S. institutions and culture are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities, especially black people.
Bloomberg claimed that, under the law, Florida universities could be legally liable if a professor expressed support for affirmative action policies.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The way to address controversial theories isn’t by banning professors or business leaders from espousing them to students and workers — after all, government censorship of ideas often helps them gain popularity,” Bloomberg wrote. “Instead, it’s to allow citizens to give them a free airing, where they can be openly debated. That’s the American way, and the future of the country rests in no small part on the commitment of higher-education leaders to defending it.”
A spokesperson for Bloomberg did not return a request for comment.
