Attorney Thomas Feiter via his Facebook page.
Gov, Ron DeSantis will again suspend Monique Worrell if she wins reelection to the Central Florida state attorney post from which he ousted her in August 2023, according to a lawyer recounting discussions with associates of the governor.
“If Monique wins, I think — well, they told me that the plan is to remove her again, and just put [Andrew] Bain back in,” said Thomas Feiter, who filed a lawsuit this week accusing members of the DeSantis administration of a conspiracy to interfere in the Republican primary race in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit.
Gov. Ron DeSantis fields a questions from reporters during a news conference in Winter Haven on Aug. 28, 2024. (Screenshot via the governor’s X livestream)
Monique Worrell spoke to supporters and reporters outside the Florida Supreme Court on Dec. 6, 2023 (photo credit: Facebook screenshot)
DeSantis appointed Bain to replace Worrell after suspending her for allegedly neglecting her duty to faithfully prosecute crime in her jurisdiction. She has denied that and fought her suspension in court, claiming that DeSantis punished her for pursuing the progressive policies she’d campaigned upon.
Worrell is seeking re-election against Bain, who is running as a nonparty-affiliated candidate in a jurisdiction that generally supports Democratic candidates. (An internal poll released by Worrell’s campaign in July showed her with an 11-point lead over Bain.)
Feiter discussed the episode during an interview with WMNF in Tampa. (This reporter is a cohost of the program on which Feiter appeared.)
Asked on Friday who told him the governor intends to remove Worrell again, Feiter mentioned three people — James Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff, and two attorneys who work in the private sector, Jeff Aaron and Joshua Grosshans. All three are listed as defendants in Feiter’s lawsuit.
Grosshans is married to Jamie Grosshans, a DeSantis appointee to the Florida Supeme Court.
Feiter finished second to Seth Hyman for the Republican primary in the Ninth Circuit (encompassing Orange and Osceola counties) on Aug. 20. But, in a formal complaint filed with the Florida Bar six weeks before the primary, he alleged that Uthmeier and others associated with the Republican Party had pressured him to drop out of the primary race, which he refused to do.
“Several reliable lawyers and sources have told me that the plan for the Republican Party is to give Seth Hyman enough support to defeat me in the primary. At which time, Seth Hyman will drop out of the race, giving the governor what he wants: the field to be clear of any Republican, giving Andrew Bain the best chances of winning – or coming in second,” Feiter alleged in his complaint, filed on July 3.
In fact, on Sept. 4, exactly two weeks after Hyman defeated Feiter in primary, he dropped out of the race.
DeSantis determined
This is not the first time that Feiter has claimed he was told that DeSantis intends to nullify the will of the voters if she is reelected on Nov. 5.
In his complaint filed with the Florida Bar, Feiter wrote that “the governor and these attorneys will try to have Monique Worrell (the Democratic Candidate) legally disqualified, removing her from the ballot. If they succeed, Andrew Bain will remain State Attorney, with no opposition.
Andrew Bain, a state trial judge chosen by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Ninth Circuit prosecutor Monique Worrell, on Aug. 9, 2023. Source: Screenshot/DeSantis Facebook
“If that fails, they need Bain to come in second, so the governor can remove Ms. Worrell again and appoint the runner up. But that would only be possible if Bain comes in second in the general election — something that is far less likely if there is ANY Republican on the ballot.
“Based on all the facts, it appears these attorneys are coordinating in fraudulent activity aimed at manipulating the outcome of the 2024 election for State Attorney. “
The Florida Bar chose not to pursue Feiter’s complaint.
“The matters upon which your allegations are premised involve a civil dispute and present questions of law,” wrote Carlos Leon of the Attorney Consumer Assistance Program at the Florida Bar on July 23. “The Florida Bar is not the correct forum in which to have such legal issues adjudicated and resolution of these issues must be left to the appropriate tribunal.”
Worrell is one of two Democratic state attorneys suspended by DeSantis in Florida who are running to retake their positions in November. The other is Andrew Warren in Hillsborough County.
DeSantis has vowed to do whatever he can to ensure that neither are re-elected, saying in June that would be one of the missions of the Florida Freedom Fund, the political action committee formed by the governor to “promote and support principled conservative causes and candidates in the State of Florida.”
That committee is chaired by James Uthmeier. It has raised more than $3.6 million as of Aug. 30, according to the Florida Division of Elections. That includes a recent $1 million contribution from Pinellas County resident Trish Duggan, referred to in a 2019 story by the Tampa Bay Times as “the world’s top donor to Church of Scientology causes.”