Sometimes it seems like Florida is just trying to become a laughingstock.
In the latest example, Florida’s attorney general has decided to wage war against the NFL.
Forget all the fraud and crime taking place in Florida. This state’s top prosecutor is mad that the National Football League — whose coaching ranks have historically been overwhelmingly white — might be letting too many non-whites in.
Yes, the supposedly injured class here is white NFL coaches, who make $10-$20 million a year.
Uthmeier took to Twitter last week “demanding” the NFL stop making efforts to ensure coaches of color get job interviews.
This came on the heels of a similar legal tantrum Florida’s unelected attorney general and his predecessor general threw against Starbucks for also trying to have a diverse workforce.
Welcome to the weird world inside James’ brain — where white people are constantly being denied jobs as baristas and pro football coaches. And where they apparently need the strong arm of government to air and fight their grievances.
Don’t forget that Uthmeier’s first act in office — after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed his political pal to the post — was to go after Target for being too LGBTQ-friendly.
In the “Free State of Florida,” dissenting viewpoints will not be tolerated. Especially if those viewpoints support historically marginalized populations.
While Uthmeier is going after retailers for being too inclusive, other state’s attorneys general are going after corporations for more traditional reasons — like trying to hose consumers.
That is, in fact, what Florida’s attorney general is supposed to do as well. Literally, the very first job duty listed on Uthmeier’s own website says: “The Attorney General is responsible for protecting Florida consumers from various types of fraud and enforcing the state’s antitrust laws.”
Heaven knows this state is ripe with targets. Two years ago, insurance companies in Florida made headlines for denying more homeowner claims than any other state in America.
But while other attorneys general do battle with insurers, pharmaceutical companies or gambling platforms, Uthmeier is more focused on culture wars, particularly when he needs to distract from his latest legal loss or scandal.
Remember: This is a guy who was held in contempt of court for violating a judicial order on immigration, who was ordered by another federal judge to stop hiding public records and who is smack dab in the center of the Hope Florida scandal.
Come to think of it, misdirected Medicaid money might be another thing a legitimate prosecutor might try to probe — if he wasn’t involved, anyway.
But sure, let’s talk some more about how white coaches aren’t getting a fair shake in the NFL.
The main NFL policy that has Uthmeier so upset is one where the league requires teams to interview people of color for head-coaching positions. It doesn’t mandate quotas, only a commitment to making sure franchises open their doors to the kind of people the league has historically shut out.
Another part of the policy does say teams should have either one woman or minority coach as part of their large, overall staff and that the league should “strengthen the pipeline of diverse candidates across all levels of the league.”
Uthmeier called all that “discrimination.”
If it is, it’s incredibly ineffective. As the Sentinel’s editorial board noted, the NFL has no more Black head coaches than when it launched its diversity initiative more than two decades ago. Only three. The vast majority of coaches are still white men, showing that Uthmeier’s supposed victim class simply doesn’t exist.
Starbucks made a similar argument when rebutting the state’s claim that it was short-changing aspiring white coffee-makers, noting the state hadn’t been able to “identify any person in Florida” harmed by the coffee chain’s inclusion initiatives.
The bottom line: Privately funded companies have the right to want to employ a diverse workforce, whether it’s because they believe it’s good for business or simply the right thing to do. Government isn’t allowed to tell private individuals or companies what values they can hold.
True conservatives — those who actually believe in small government, free markets and free speech — would have nothing to do with the war that Uthmeier and DeSantis have tried to wage on private corporations.
It started with the so-called “Stop Woke” law, where DeSantis tried to tell companies they can’t espouse ideas the governor disliked inside their own offices.
DeSantis didn’t want white people — particularly white people with strong opinions and fragile sensibilities — to have to hear lessons about historic racism or systemic oppression that might hurt their feelings. So he tried to make it illegal for companies to even talk about such things, which was, of course, blatantly unconstitutional and struck down in court.
Genuine conservative icons like Ronald Reagan and William F. Buckley would scoff at the idea of government trying to control speech within the walls of private enterprise. That’s not conservatism. It’s authoritarianism.
Uthmeier made his position on civil rights cringe-inducingly clear earlier this year when he announced he’d no longer enforce more than 80 Florida statutes meant to combat discrimination. One simply required the state CFO to collect data, to see if minority contractors were getting unfairly shut out.
These were the laws of the land, enshrined by lawmakers from both parties. But Uthmeier — a guy who threatened to remove other prosecutors from office if they refused to enforce laws they didn’t like — didn’t like those laws any more than he likes the NFL’s inclusion goals. So he decided to ignore them.
Frankly, I’m not worried about the ability of deep-pocketed entities like Starbucks, Target and the NFL to defend themselves. But you should pay close attention when the state is using its power and your tax dollars to try to silence speech and ideas within the walls of private industry, while glossing over the consumer issues that might actually benefit residents of this state.
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