When Rick Nolte is removed, Judd and Haas should tell DeSantis to re-appoint Sarah Fortney to the Polk School Board

The Polk sheriff and State Attorney conferred with DeSantis about removing Hillsborough prosecutor Andrew Warren. They can make amends for their failures by telling him to re-appoint Sarah Fortney.

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I think the day is going to come, sooner rather than later, when newly-“elected” Polk School Board member and self-declared campaign felon Rick “T.I.T.S.” Nolte is going to step down under law enforcement pressure. Or maybe DeSantis will finally remove Nolte himself and finally take a day or two of public heat for endorsing a guy who put very groomy things about “T.I.T.S.” that “needed to be more developed” in writing on social media.

I have no hard evidence this removal/resignation is coming. It’s vibes mostly — and the fact that Nolte is now ringing up $500 per day in fines for not filing the “termination report” for his campaign, according to the Supervisor of Elections web site.

My spidey sense is tingling.

If and when Nolte’s removal happens, I believe Sheriff Grady Judd and State Attorney Brian Haas owe it to justice and the people of Polk County to demand the re-appointment of former School Board Member Sarah Fortney, whom Nolte himself says he cheated, right along with the public.

Judd and Haas are the two biggest reasons Nolte has gotten away with cheating the voting public and openly declaring campaign crimes so far. They should fix their failures.

Precedent: Judd and Haas conferred with DeSantis about removing Hillsborough prosecutor Andrew Warren

This would not be the first time this year that Judd and Haas have talked to the governor about which local elected officials are allowed to serve.

They both conferred with Gov. Ron DeSantis in helping remove Hillsborough prosecutor Andrew Warren, according to court documents filed in Warren’s federal lawsuit seeking his reinstatement.

Judd and Haas are both listed in answers to “interrogatories” as among the individuals who “discussed the Suspension with Defendant Ron DeSantis, in his capacity as Governor of the State of Florida, or with his employees within the Executive Office of the Governor.”

It’s not clear what they said; but here’s Judd showboating and dunking on Warren at the DeSantis press conference removing him. So I doubt Grady counseled caution and restraint.

Remember, Warren’s crime was “not enforcing the law,” mostly in relation to illegal abortions, none of which have been referred to his office for prosecution.

Judd and Haas have known about Nolte’s specific self-declared felony since August — and the wider criminality of the CCDF’s James Dunn-run school board campaigns since June. They’ve done and said nothing to protect the people of Polk County. They’ve protected the perpetrators instead. Under the DeSantis standard for Warren, they should have been removed. Here is detail:

The dope is on the table; and the State Attorney and Sheriff are protecting the CCDF and DeSantis

Bottom line: Nolte claims in official documents that he has literally committed 10 misdemeanors and one felony. That’s before you even get to the really weird and suspicious stuff about buying shirts from Missouri companies that don’t sell shirts, which might well be additional crimes.

Dear Election Police: make Rick Nolte account for $7,567.39 of "shirt," "sign," and "marketing" campaign spending

You will be illegitimate, DeSantis appointee

I do not expect Brian Haas or Grady Judd to advocate for justice and for Sarah Fortney returning to the board. They’ve shown they don’t care about that. I do not expect DeSantis to re-appoint Sarah. He certainly doesn’t care about justice or doing right by kids.

But Sarah Fortney is the ONLY logical and moral choice. She’s experienced, accomplished, and well-respected within the School District.

She was “defeated” only by gross lies and cheating and self-declared criminal acts. She was “defeated” only by the moral laxity of our elected local law enforcement leaders.

All of that was enough for Nolte to nip Sarah Fortney 50.96 to 49.04, a margin of 1,961 votes among more than 100,000 votes cast.

As the results for Lisa Miller and Kay Fields show, if Rick Nolte had not cheated, if he and the CCDF and James Dunn had been held to public account — like Terry Clark and Jill Sessions were — for his gross and self-reported criminal behavior in June, Nolte would have lost handily to Sarah.

So anyone the governor selects to replace Nolte who is not Sarah Fortney is benefitting from open corruption and self-declared crime.

You will be illegitimate.

And I will always refer to you as such, long after Judd, Haas, and DeSantis have washed their hands of this mess of their own making. I care much more about this than any of them do. I promise you.

You would do well to think about that.