Orange County swimming records, leading times, April 14

• April 14, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Leading times in O.C. swimming and diving marks through April 13. Submit updates to dalbano@scng.com.

BOYS SWIMMING

200-yard medley relay (O.C. record 1:29.97, Santa Margarita 2023) — SM 1:29.97

200 free (O.C. record 1:33.26 Shoults 2016 SM) — Cehelnik (SM) 1:38.65

200 IM (O.C. record 1:45.42 Okubo 2014 Uni) — Verdolaga (SM) 1:48.72

50 free (O.C. record 19.69 Cavic 2002 Tus) — Chang (MV) 20.80r

100 butterfly (O.C. record 47.13 Cavic 2002 Tus) — Verdolaga (SM) 47.75

100 free (O.C. record 43.85 Buyukuncu 1994 Wood) — Cehelnik (SM) 44.68

500 free (O.C. record 4:12.87* Shoults 2016 SM) — Maksymowski (Nor) 4:33.79

200 free relay (O.C. record 1:22.76 SM 2023) — SM 1:22.76

100 back (O.C. record 47.50 Buyukuncu Wood 1994) — Teh (CL) 49.99

100 breast (O.C. record 53.40 Pellini DH 2017 ) — Wu (SM) 55.80

400 free relay (O.C. record 3:01.96 SM 2022) — SM 3:03.23

Diving — Schneider (CVC) 589.70

GIRLS SWIMMING

200 medley relay (O.C. record 1:39.04 SM 2022) — SM 1:47.40

200 free (O.C. record 1:43.01 McLaughlin SM 2015) — A. Kozan (SM) 1:45.82

200 IM (O.C. record 1:53.90** E. Eastin CL 2015) — O’Dell (SM) 1:57.32

50 free (O.C. record 22.53 Engel CL 2013) — Salvino (SM) 22.77r

100 butterfly (O.C. record 51.53 McLaughlin SM 2015) — C. Stinson (SM) 55.36

100 free (O.C. record 48.63 A. Spitz NH 2019) — A. Kozan (SM) 49.47r

500 free (O.C. record 4:37.30 Evans ED 1988) — O’Dell (SM) 4:42.90

200 free relay (O.C. record 1:29.61* SM 2023) — SM 1:29.61

Related Articles

100 back (O.C. record 51.85 Tran Edi 2010) — O’Dell (SM) 53.28

100 breast (O.C. record 59.73 O’Dell SM 2023) — O’Dell (SM) 59.73

400 free relay (O.C. record 3:14.80* SM 2022) — SM 3:16.84

Diving — Roselli (MD) 563.60

Legend: r = relay leadoff, * =  overall national high school record, ** national private high school record

Please send updates to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy on Twitter

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Friday, April 14

• April 14, 2023

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, April 14

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

FRIDAY’S SCORES

BASEBALL

BORAS CLASSIC SOUTH

Cypress 15, San Dimas 3

Villa Park 2, Santiago/Corona 1

​ Orange County Register 

Sacramento tries to turn another ‘temporary’ fee into a permanent one

• April 14, 2023

There’s no such thing as a temporary tax, at least not in California. That’s the only conclusion that can be drawn from Assembly Bill 241, the latest attempt to renew a “temporary” increase in vehicle registration fees.

This temporary tax began its existence about 15 years ago with the passage of Assembly Bill 118, titled the California Alternative and Renewable Fuels, Vehicle Technology, Clean Air and Carbon Reduction Act of 2007. The law raised the “smog abatement fee” from $12 to $20 and directed the money into two new accounts in the state treasury, the “Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund” and the “Air Quality Improvement Fund.”

The tax in AB 118 was set to expire in 2016, but state lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 8 in 2013 and extended the tax increase until 2024. They also quietly removed a provision that imposed some accountability for the spending by requiring the California Energy Commission and the Air Resources Board to “assess alternative fuel use” to see how the program was progressing. No assessment necessary, the Legislature seemed to say, we just want the money.

Related Articles

Now Assembly Member Eloise Gomez Reyes has introduced Assembly Bill 241 to extend the tax again, until 2035, and expanding the program so the money can be spent differently. This time the bill is called “Clean Transportation Program – Air Quality Improvement: Funding.”

While that sounds very poll-tested and appealing, the truth is that the bill continues a tax increase and allows the Legislature to hand out the money for “projects” that comply with the program’s vague goal, to “drive new technology investments.”

In the spirit of no accountability, “projects” costing less than $75,000 can be approved without the bother of a noticed public meeting of the commission. The executive director or a designee can simply approve the spending.

This is just a taxpayer funded pot of money for politicians to hand out. It’s likely the cash will go to favored supporters, and probably to fund projects that private investors had already turned down.

Government-funded “innovation” at best is high-tech crony capitalism; at worst it’s a wasteful game that diverts taxpayer dollars from the basic public services that taxpayers count on government to provide.

​ Orange County Register 

Riverside County’s Mike Hestrin and Chad Bianco swing and miss (again) on crime

• April 14, 2023

Republican politicians need to get some new material.

On Wednesday, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin and Sheriff Chad Bianco held a news conference to complain about crime and called on the state to revisit criminal justice reforms so more people can go to prison.

“They don’t care what we think, they care what voters think,” said Sheriff Bianco, according to ABC 7. “Until we can get the voters fed up and the voters start calling them, it is not going to change.”

Bianco should take the lack of voter interest in the tough-on-crime message as a hint that most Californians don’t actually think the sky is falling.

A walk through some history is important.

In 2011, California passed Assembly Bill 109 to send more low-level offenders to the local level to handle.

The following year, Californians approved Proposition 36 to bring reasonable reforms to the “three strikes” system so that no one is sentenced to life imprisonment over a non-serious crime.

In 2014, Californians approved Proposition 47 to reduce a handful of drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors so that our prisons and jails won’t be full of really low-level offenders. Thanks to Prop. 47, half a billion dollars in reduced incarceration costs have been freed up and reinvested in crime prevention and drug treatment.

In 2016, Californians approved Proposition 57 to help incentivize prisoners to participate in rehabilitation programs so they can earn credits for earlier parole consideration. The horror.

Law enforcement groups generally opposed all of the previously mentioned reforms. They have been complaining about increased crime ever since 2011 and warned about a wave of crime specifically caused by criminal justice reforms ever since.

In 2020, they put forward Proposition 20 to reform the criminal justice reforms. If Californians shared the view of Bianco and Hestrin that criminal justice reforms were so bad, you might expect Prop. 20 to have done alright. Instead, it was rejected by nearly 62% of voters.  And, by the way, a majority of Riverside County voters.

How could this be, if crime is so bad?

Well, for one, the crime picture is somewhat muddy.

From 2012 to 2021, violent crimes in Riverside County did go up, from 6,989 to 7,511 in 2019 and then down to 7,201 in 2021. Property crimes fell from 68,176 in 2012 to 57,986 in 2019 and again to 50,113 in 2021.

That’s something; violent crime is bad and any increase of it is bad, but is that enough to draw any sweeping conclusions from?

Related Articles

Over that same time period, the county’s population grew by about a quarter of a million people.

Nor is it clear that justice reforms are the driver of crime increases. It’s not like Riverside County or California are unique in seeing increased violent crime in particular — violent crime has edged up across the country since 2014, according to a December 2022 report from the Congressional Research Service.

Of course, is it possible that some of California’s current criminal justice policies could be tweaked to hold particularly troublesome criminals accountable? Sure.

But it’s also clear that Californians don’t support mass incarceration, do support greater investments in alternatives to incarceration and don’t buy the idea that sending more people to rot in prisons is the way forward. Hestrin and Bianco might not like that, but it’s the truth.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

Bear who killed jogger gets stay of execution, though she’s a repeat offender

• April 14, 2023

A bear who killed a jogger last week in Italy has been given a stay of execution – even though the animal had previously mauled people.

The 17-year-old bear now will remain alive at least until May 11, after the tribunal in the city of Trento approved an ordinance sought by several wildlife protection agencies.

The animal – officially JJ4, but commonly known as Gaia – fatally mauled 26-year-old Andrea Papi on April 5 in a nature reserve near Caldes, a town in Italy’s mountainous northeast corner. His body was found a day later, after his family reported him missing.

DNA, including some found on a stick with which Papi apparently tried to defend himself, identified the bear as one who had attacked two hikers in the same area in June 2020. After that attack, her death had been ordered, but a court rescinded the order and declared that she should be monitored with a tracking device.

The battery in that device died a few days before the attack on Papi.

On April 12, Trento Governor Maurizio Fugatti signed the order to cull JJ4. Fugatti now has until May 11 to appeal the tribunal’s stay.

A statement on the website of the animal welfare group Anti-Vivisezione said that they petitioned the court to protect JJ4 because the order to cull was “an action that appeared more like a gesture of revenge against the bear than an effective search for everyone’s safety in a peaceful and informed coexistence.”

JJ4 had recently given birth and experts say her aggressive act may have been linked to a perceived threat against her cubs.

But the World Wildlife Fund, which had previously petitioned to keep JJ4 alive, told CNN they agree that the bear should be put down. It said seven people had been attacked by bears in Italy in the past 20 years; Papi was the first to be killed.

JJ4 is one of about 100 bears in the province of Trentino. Twenty years ago, there were three; then the European Union project Life Ursus began to reintroduce brown bears into the region. The original projection was that the bears would spread across the Alps, but most have remained in Trentino.

JJ4 was born in the region to a pair imported from Slovenia around 2000 as part of Life Ursus.

Fugatti’s office said that the project had “become unsustainable.” There are now three other bears with judicial orders to be culled.

In the previous attack attributed to JJ4, Fabio Misseroni, 59, and his son Christian Misseroni, 28, were attacked as they hiked on Mount Peller, 3 miles south of Caldes.

JJ4 is the sister of JJ1, a “problem bear” known as Bruno who attacked farm animals in Bavaria. He was killed in 2006 under a “shoot-to-kill” order from the government.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County track and field leaders going into Saturday’s O.C. Championships

• April 14, 2023

The marks, which are through April 10, are based on information compiled by Don Chadez/Flash Results West and MileSplit.com.

GIRLS LEADERS

(Race distances are in meters)

100 – Brooklyn Davis, Los Alamitos, Sr., 12.13; Avery Groves, Santa Margarita, Sr., 12.14; Justine Wilson, Rosary, Fr., 12.14; Neveah Lane, Marina, Jr., 12.26; Ava Simos, Corona del Mar, Jr., 12.27.

200 – Ava Simos, Corona del Mar, Jr., 24.86; Avery Groves, Santa Margarita, Sr., 24.87; Francesca McGuire, Rosary, Sr., 24.94; Maya Woolborde, JSerra, So., 25.10; Caroline Hawkes, San Clemente, Sr., 25.20.

400 – Maya Woolforde, JSerra, Fr., 56.16; Georgia Jeanneret, JSerra, Jr., 57.94; Annie Ivarsson, Dana Hills, So., 58.12; Annie Elise Packard, JSerra, So., 58.46; Paige Scheer, Dana Hills, Jr., 58.55.

800 –  Keaton Rober, Newport Harbor, So., 2:09.13; Georgia Jeanneret, JSerra, Jr., 2:09.551; Anastasia Snodgrass, JSerra, Sr., 2:11.55; Annie Ivarsson, Dana Hills, So., 2:13.85.; Brooke O’Brien, JSerra, Jr., 2:15.92.

1,600 – Allura Markow, Dana Hills, Sr., 4:42.79; Annie Ivarsson, Dana Hills, So., 4:49.75; Anne Packard, JSerra, So., 4:53.08; Brynn Garcia, JSerra, So., 4:54.69; Mackenzie McRae, Huntington Beach, Jr., 4:57.19.

3,200 – Holly Barker, Laguna Hills, So., 10:25.90; Mackenzie McRae, Huntington Beach, Jr., 10:28.25; Mellise Enyawe, Corona del Mar, Jr., 10:43.45; Sophie Polay, Santa Margarita, So., 10:45.39; Danica Brinkman, Trabuco Hills, Sr., 10:47.66.

100 hurdles – Skyler Serrano, Beckman, So., 14.77; Charis Wondercheck, Pacifica Chrisitan, Sr., 14.86; Jada Faison, Rosary, Fr., 15.32; Sophia Menchine, Edison, Sr., 15.28; Milan Smith, Rosary, Jr.; 15.35.

300 hurdles – Lidia Major, Santa Margarita, Sr., 44.46; ; Lindy Tarvin, Edison, Sr., 45.49; Jada Faison, Rosary, Fr., 44.62; Alene Washington, Los Alamitos, So., 45.46; Natalie McCarty, Newport Harbor, Fr., 45.57.

4×100 relay – Rosary 47.80; Trabuco Hills 48.29; Mission Viejo 49.05; Mater Dei 49.12; Villa Park 49.36.

4×400 relay – JSerra 3:51.57; Mission Viejo 4:01.26; Dana Hills 4:02.61; Woodbridge 4:04.95; Rosary 4:06.85.

High jump – Natalie McCarty, Newport Harbor, Fr., 5-6; Anaya Beard, Valencia, Jr., 5-2; Nora Tesch, Foothill, Fr., 5-2; several tied at 5-0.

Long jump –  Jada Faison, Rosary, Fr., 18-9.75; Skyler Serrano, Beckman, So., 18-7; Madison Forbes, Mater Dei, Jr., 18-3.75; Nicole Chiem, Beckman, Sr., 17-11; Alexis Richmond, Portola, 17-10.5.

Triple jump – Jada Gatlin, Mission Viejo, Sr., 40-8; Madison Forbes, Mater Dei, Jr., 37-10; Roxy Meyer, Jr., 37-8; Karalyn Cheng, Jr., 37-6; Makayla Miroshnichenko, Trabuco Hills, Sr., 36-1.

Pole vault – Jessica Davis, Trabuco Hills, Sr., 12-0; Isabella Abrahams, Fountain Valley, Jr., 12-0; Bridget Bourdon, JSerra, Jr., 11-4; Charley Giacobetti, JSerra, Jr., 11-04; three tied at 10-8.

Shot put – Alexa Sheldon, Edison, Jr., 40-8; Taylor Hofland, Los Alamitos, Sr., 26-11.5; Layla Thornton, Fullerton, Sr., 36-6.5;  Siena Lambert, JSerra, Sr., 36-5.5; Gabriella Lopez, Marina, Sr., 36-1;

Discus – Siena Lambert, JSerra, Sr., 145-4; Alexa Sheldon, Edison, Jr., 132-9; Taylor Hofland, Los Alamitos, Sr., 131-2; Samantha Chang, Mission Viejo, Jr., 130-11; Erin Walters, JSerra, Sr., 129-11.

BOYS LEADERS

(Race distances are in meters)

100 – Devin Bragg, Los Alamitos, Soph., 10.56; Nate Frazier, Mater Dei, Jr., 10.58; Matthew Kaloustian, Orange Lutheran, Sr., 10.70; Alex Skalmowski, Servite, Sr., 10.77; Jackson McCusker, Trabuco Hills, Jr., 10.92.

200 – Devin Bragg, Los Alamitos, Soph., 21.57; Cooper DeCillo, Trabuco Hills, Sr., 22.10; Michael Serpa, Trabuco Hills, Sr., 22.13; Nate Frazier, Mater Dei Jr., 22.17; Jackson McCusker, Trabuco Hills, Jr., 22.24.

400 – Ivan Chang, Canyon, Sr., 49.53; Jackson McCusker, Trabuco Hills, Jr., 49.94; Justin Paulson, Northwood, Sr., 50.06; Shane Aucci, JSerra, Sr., 50.19; Kian Alton, JSerra, So.; 50.20.

800 – Shane Auci, JSerra, Sr., 1:54.67; Mateo Allen-Aguirre, Portola, So., 1:54.78; Diego Mejia, Godinez, 1:54,91; Luke Dias, Fountain Valley, 1:55.20; Taj Clark, San Clemente, So., 1:55.89..

1,600 – Evan Noonan, Dana Hills, So., 4:15.69; Garrett Woodruff, Dana Hills, Jr., 4:17.87; Griffin Kushen, Tesoro, So., 4:17.93; Dylan Jubak, Trabuco Hills, So., 4:18.70; Aiden Morales, JSerra, 4:19.25.

3,200 – Kenny Wanlass, Newport Harbor, Sr., 9:01.43; Brett Ephraim, San Clemente, 9:05.99; Evan Noonan, Dana Hills, So., 9:08.26; Casey Goetschel, Tesoro, Sr., 9:09.80; Garrett Woodruff, Dana Hills, Jr.

110 hurdles – Logan Lyght, Mater Dei, Sr., 14.28; Roman Mendoza, Santa Margarita, Sr., 14.37; Dylan Poteat, Villa Park, Sr., 14.58; Isley Gutierrez, Mater Dei, Sr., 14.70; Dario Garrett, Trabuco Hills, Jr., 15.29.

300 hurdles – Roman Mendoza, Santa Margarita, Sr., 37.39;  Kieren Beckman, Huntington Beach, Jr., 39.35; Cameron Burke, Santa Margarita, Sr., 39.71; Logan Lyght, Mater Dei, Sr., 39.79; Dario Garrett, Trabuco Hills, Jr., 40.03.

4×100 relay – Orange Lutheran 41.79; Mater Dei 41.82; Trabuco Hills 42.28; Servite 42.41; Canyon 42.51.

4×400 relay – JSerra 3:21.12; Orange Lutheran 3:21.45; Northwood 3:22.99; Trabuco Hills 3:26.18; Fountain Valley 3:26.45.

High jump – Brandon Gorski, Mater Dei, So., 6-7; Griffin Schwab, San Clemente, Sr., 6-6; Alan Vuong, Cypress, Sr., 6-6; Eli Kaltreider, Edison, Jr., 6-5; Isley Gutierrez, Mater Dei, Sr., 6-4.

Long jump – Josh Jornadel, JSerra, Sr., 23-5.50; Brandon Gorski, Mater Dei, So., 22-10.5; Carter Christie, Villa Park, Jr., 22-2; Blythe Dahl, Villa Park, Jr., 21-10; Michael Danna, El Dorado, So., 21-10.

Triple jump – Jared McDuffie, Mater Dei, Sr., 47-0; Khang Nguyen, Marina, Sr., 46-2; Jonathan Yu, Fountain Valley, Sr., 45-5; Andre Jones, San Clemente, So., 44-5; Andre Jones, San Clemente, So., 44-5.

Related Articles

Pole vault – Leo Davis, Newport Harbor, Sr., 15-4; Brady Furr, Santa Margarita, So., 14-4; Gabriel Gandara, Los Alamitos, Jr., 14-4; Ryan Leuenberger, Capistrano Valley, Jr., 14-3; Kanoa Wesley, Fountain Valley, Sr., 14-0.

Shot put – Brendon See, JSerra, Sr., 61-11.75; Andrew King, Trabuco Hills, Sr., 52-1; Mathew Mena, Fountain Valley, Sr., 50-0; Chase Horton, Corona del Mar, Sr., 49-0; Andrew King, Trabuco Hills, Sr., 52-1; Brady Norton, Mission Viejo, Sr., 48-8.

Discus – Brendon See, JSerra, Sr., 192-5; Aydin Breland, Mater Dei, Jr., 180-3;  Jake Stafford, JSerra, Sr., 175-2; Cameron Bragg, Yorba Linda, Sr., 157-10; Chase Horton, Corona del Mar, Sr., 154-5.

​ Orange County Register 

Man gets 25 years to life for kidnapping and raping 11-year-old girl in Santa Ana

• April 14, 2023

More than two decades after an 11-year-old girl was kidnapped off a Santa Ana street and repeatedly raped, the first of two men to face trial for the violent sexual assaults received a sentence of 25 years to life on Friday.

Jose Andres Plascencia, now 42, wept in a Santa Ana courtroom as he heard his sentence for what Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg described as an “unimaginable” and “unthinkable” assault of a young teen on Feb. 3, 1999.

An Orange County Superior Court jury in early February deliberated for less than a day before finding Plascencia guilty of kidnapping to commit a sex crime and five counts of rape. His co-defendant — 43-year-old Ismael Salgado — is being tried separately.

The 11-year-old girl was walking down Monta Vista Avenue with a 13-year-old friend when a Honda Civic pulled up next to them. The driver — later identified by authorities as Salgado and passenger — identified as Plascencia — convinced the two girls to get into the vehicle, according to testimony.

The girls quickly decided they wanted to get out of the car. The 13-year-old was able to escape the vehicle, while the 11-year-old was pulled by her hair and kept in the car as the driver pulled away.

Deputy District Attorney Kristin Bracic told jurors that Salgado first drove to a nearby gas station, where Plascencia kept his hand over the girl’s mouth as Salgado went inside to pay.

The men then drove the girl to empty parking lots at Carr Intermediate School and Valley High School, the prosecutor alleged, where they took turns raping her while the other held her down.

The girl was eventually dropped off near a relative’s home. She was able to pick the driver out of surveillance footage from the gas station, but police at the time were unable to identify either man.

In 2011, a DNA sample from Salgado was submitted to a law enforcement database after he pleaded guilty in an unrelated grand theft case. That DNA sample was eventually tied by investigators to the DNA collected in a sexual assault kit following the 1999 rape of the 11-year-old girl.

Investigators tracked Salgado down in Chicago, and began looking into people he was friends with in 1999, which prosecutors said led them to Plascencia. Investigators surreptitiously collected a DNA sample from a water bottle Plascencia left in a gym in Arizona, a sample the prosecutor said they also tied to the 1999 sexual assault.

During the recent trial, Plascencia’s attorney, Sharon Marshall, told jurors that Plascencia was too inebriated the day of the sexual assault to recall what happened. The defense attorney said that at that time of his life Plascencia frequently drank and did drugs, adding that he blacked out that night. She also questioned whether the girl willingly had sex, though given their respective ages she could not have legally consented.

Judge Bromberg said he did not believe that Plascencia is “the same troubled youth” he was in 1999, and now has his own family, many of whom were present for Friday’s sentencing. But the judge added that Plascencia is still “most assuredly responsible for his conduct” in 1999, and noted that the girl was particularly vulnerable.

“This kid was 11 years old and trusted the defendant and his friend when they offered her a ride,” Bromberg said.

Salgado is tentatively scheduled to face jury trial later this month, but Bromberg acknowledged it will likely be delayed due to an unrelated ongoing murder trial currently underway in the same courtroom.

Related Articles

​ Orange County Register 

DeSantis signs Florida’s 6-week abortion ban. Could that hurt his presidential chances?

• April 14, 2023

By Steve Contorno | CNN

Floridians woke up Friday morning to discover Gov. Ron DeSantis had signed into law a six-week abortion ban overnight, meeting behind closed doors with a select group of invited guests to give final approval to a bill that had just passed the state legislature earlier in the day.

In backing a six-week ban, DeSantis fulfilled a campaign pledge to block abortion after the detection of a heartbeat — just before he is expected to launch his 2024 presidential bid. But as he inches toward a national campaign, DeSantis, who rarely sidesteps cultural clashes, has also become oddly muted on abortion since the fall of Roe v. Wade and has avoided laying out a federal platform before jumping into the race.

Speaking Friday morning to an overwhelmingly pro-life audience at Liberty University, a deeply conservative Baptist college in Virginia, DeSantis didn’t mention the bill he had signed the night before.

The late-night private signing also stood in stark contrast to the celebratory event exactly a year prior, when DeSantis, surrounded by women and children and in front of hundreds of onlookers, enacted a 15-week abortion ban at a Orlando-area megachurch as news cameras captured the scene.

The six-week ban “is going to cause a lot of problems for him,” said Amy Tarkanian, the former chairwoman of the Republican Party in Nevada, where voters have cemented abortion protections in the state constitution. “And I’m pro-life, but I can see the writing on the wall.”

The US Supreme Court decision last June that ended a federal right to abortion access has throttled the national political landscape, energizing Democrats and leaving Republicans grasping for a message that can blunt the fallout. The latest harbinger of trouble for the GOP came last week from Wisconsin, a presidential swing state where liberals took control of the state Supreme Court in an election fought over the future of abortion access.

But with DeSantis on the verge of entering the GOP presidential primary — for which abortion is often a litmus test for candidates — Republican state lawmakers delivered their leader a political victory, flexing their super majorities in both Florida chambers to swiftly push through the new restrictions. The law will take effect if the state Supreme Court overturns its past precedent protecting abortion access, which is widely expected. When that happens, Florida, once a sanctuary for Southern women whose states had made it difficult to legally end a pregnancy, will become one of the hardest states in the country to obtain an abortion.

In an early sign of how Democrats intend to paint DeSantis, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement called Florida’s bill “extreme and dangerous” and said it “is out of step with the views of the vast majority of the people of Florida and of all the United States.”

A Republican fundraiser close to the governor’s political operation told CNN that the six-week ban would play “great in primary,” where DeSantis would face former President Donald Trump, who appointed three of the justices that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, but acknowledged it was “not good in general” election.

“But you got to get to the general,” the adviser added.

In the year following the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Democrats have rattled off a series of victories built in part on voters mobilized by abortion. In solidly red Kansas, voters last year blocked a referendum that would have amended the state constitution to make abortion illegal. In key states like Pennsylvania and Nevada, Democrats pummeled Republican Senate candidate over their views on abortion — with great success, as the party held the US Senate. In battlegrounds like Arizona and Michigan, Democratic gubernatorial candidates won by vowing to lift longstanding state abortion bans that predated the Roe decision.

Whether the issue continues to animate general voters remains to be seen, but opinions on the Dobbs decision do not appear to have shifted. A Marquette Law School poll last month found two-thirds of voters opposed the ruling, nearly identical to the results in its survey following the November midterms.

‘A man of action’

Amid the national outcry to the SCOTUS decision, the typically outspoken DeSantis has remained uncharacteristically reserved on the topic. Unlike other issues, like eliminating college diversity programs and curbing legal protections for the media, he has elevated with staged news conferences and frequent messaging on conservative media, DeSantis has offered vague commitments to protect life but repeatedly declined to say where Florida should draw the line on abortion access.

In his lone debate last year against Democratic gubernatorial opponent Charlie Crist, DeSantis wouldn’t say what abortion restrictions he would pursue if reelected for a second term. Asked at a March news conference if he supported exceptions for victims rape and incest, DeSantis called it “sensible” and said he would “welcome pro-life legislation,” then quickly pivoted to another topic.

DeSantis signed the bill at 10:45 p.m. EDT Thursday in a closed-door ceremony after returning from a political event in Ohio, a rare-late night action by a governor who often times his actions to maximize exposure.

“I can’t speculate on his mental processes and what he decides to speak on,” said John Stemberger, president of Florida Family Policy Council, a conservative Christian organization that supported the bill. “I’m concerned not with words but with action, and he is a man of action.”

Some Republican operatives believe DeSantis is better positioned than others to stave off primary attacks from the right without alienating swing voters. In a series of posts on Twitter, Jon Schweppe, director of policy and government affairs at the conservative American Principles Project, suggested that by supporting some exceptions for rape and incest, DeSantis would neutralize a key Democratic talking point.

“What moves voters the most? What did Democrats spend $500M talking about in the 2022 midterms? EXCEPTIONS,” Schweppe said. “Voters want exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. That’s the most important issue. Outside those exceptions, voters are fairly pro-life.”

Schweppe had previously raised the alarm that “Republicans need to figure out the abortion issue ASAP” after last week’s defeat of a conservative judge in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

A group of abortion-rights activists protest outside the Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, on Thursday. Earlier that day, the Florida Legislature approved a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a proposal supported by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for an expected presidential run.

The exceptions offered by Florida’s proposed six-week ban, though, are limited to 15 weeks after conception and require victims of rape and incest to show a police report or other evidence of their assault to obtain an abortion. Similarly, two doctors would have to sign off that a mother’s health is at serious risk or a fetal abnormality is fatal before a woman can end a pregnancy after 15 weeks.

Bill McCoshen, a veteran GOP consultant in Wisconsin, acknowledged that Democrats have campaigned effectively on abortion there in recent races. But he said it will be harder to attack DeSantis on abortion in his state, where the current law, passed in 1849 and reinstated after the fall of Roe, bars abortion without exceptions.

“To voters here, the perception of his answer will be that it’s better than the 1849 law,” McCoshen said. “If he signs that law, that will be an improvement of the law that’s here. It may not be as middle of the road as some states, but it’s better than what we currently have in many people’s minds.”

Expectations from GOP voters

Still unclear, though, is how DeSantis will navigate new pressures from conservative voters, many of whom will expect their next nominee to use the powers of the presidency to end abortion nationwide. DeSantis, who has not yet declared but is laying the groundwork for a campaign, has so far not faced any questions about what abortion restrictions he would pursue if elected to the White House.

It’s a question that has already tripped up one potential rival for the nomination. A day after sidestepping a question earlier this week, Republican Sen. Tim Scott said on Thursday that it should be up to states to “solve that problem on their own” — but also said he would sign a federal 20-week ban if it reached his desk.

Nor has DeSantis weighed in on the ongoing legal saga surrounding mifepristone, one of the drugs that has been used safely for more than 20 years to provide abortions via medication.

“Right now, DeSantis represents his state and he has to be the voice of his state, but this is a tightrope he has to walk if he’s serious about running for president,” Tarkanian, the Nevada Republican said. “A lot of people don’t even realize they’re pregnant at seven weeks and if you’re pro-choice that’s a scary thought.”

Katie Daniel, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said Republican candidates risk looking inauthentic if they try to obfuscate their position on abortion. She pointed to Pennsylvania Senate candidate and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, who during the GOP primary called abortion “murder” at any stage but in the general election said he supported exceptions for rape, incest or if the mother’s life is at risk. Later, in a debate, Oz said, “I want women, doctors, local political leaders” to decide the issue at the state level.

“Our message to candidates is define yourself or other candidates will define it for you and you’re not going to like their version of you,” Daniel said. “The ostrich strategy of burying your head in the sand is not going to work.”

​ Orange County Register