DeSantis Appoints Tatem to Fill His Own Vacancy

BRADENTON — On Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed someone to fill the Manatee County School Board District 5 seat that incumbent Richard Tatem resigned from to run for the state legislature. The replacement DeSantis chose was none other than Richard Tatem.

Florida has a “resign to run” law that states, “An elected or appointed ‘officer’ may not qualify as a candidate for another state, district, county or municipal public office if the terms or any part of the terms would overlap with each other if the person were to be elected or appointed and did not resign from the office the person presently holds.”

Tatem tendered his resignation on May 31 to run for the House D72 seat. However, he noted an effective date of Nov. 5. Some felt that Tatem's timing was deliberate to allow Gov. DeSantis to appoint a Republican for the remainder of the term rather than allowing voters to choose their representative on the non-partisan board in this year’s election.

Former Manatee County School Board member James Golden filed a lawsuit against Manatee County Supervisor of Elections James Satcher's office over the SOE's decision not to hold an election for the seat. Golden had intended to run for the seat, as did Nancy Sanders, who filed a pro se affidavit in response to Golden's lawsuit, stating that she, too, was denied the opportunity to complete her official qualification for that seat.

In addition to the resign to run law, Article 4 Section 1(f) of the Florida Constitution requires that if there are more than 28 months left in an officeholder’s term an election be held. If there are less than 28 months, the governor appoints a replacement.

In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion stating that the "remainder of the term" should be calculated from the date the resignation is issued, not its effective date. Satcher's office referenced an opinion it sought from Tampa-based law firm GrayRobinson, which argued that a 2021 change to the resign to run law specified that it should be calculated from the effective date, rendering the 2006 opinion moot. The court dismissed Golden’s challenge.

Tatem, a Republican, was endorsed by DeSantis when he ran for the seat after essentially signing a loyalty oath to the governor’s agenda. He lost the D72 Republican primary to Bill Connerly, who won the seat in November.

The process by which the resignation and appointments occurred clearly seem to circumvent the intent of the state’s resign-to-run rule, relying on the governor to ensure that members of his party are not subject to it. It’s worth noting that DeSantis benefited from a law passed by the Republican legislature that specifically allowed him to run for the Republican presidential nomination this term without resigning his seat.

Tatem and recently elected school board members Charlie Kennedy and Heather Felton were sworn in Tuesday.