TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A legally contested meeting of Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet in Jerusalem became a tech glitch-filled affair Wednesday for those back at the state Capitol, more than 6,000 miles away.
Inside the Cabinet meeting room in Tallahassee, the video went dark a few times, and the audio feed was often out of sync with the video.
The opening prayer, performed in Tallahassee by Ben Cohen, was cut short when the phone connection between the Capitol and U.S. Embassy went down.
“Bestow upon them the spirit of cooperation, the strength of their convictions and the wisdom to do what is right in your holy name, for the betterment of our two nations," said Cohen. "As Jews and other people of faith… (staffer interrupts) “We’ve lost the conference line so we are going to reconnect.” (Cohen) “Oh, we’ve lost it? Okay.”
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis completed the invocation in Jerusalem. During the actual meeting, Governor Ron DeSantis read a previously signed resolution extolling the bond between Florida and Israel.
“Israel stands as a very tiny, but very important, outpost of freedom who shares the values we hold so dear in the state of Florida," said DeSantis.
The ceremonial session also included a discussion of Israel’s water-quality and emergency-management efforts. Attempts to halt the meeting were quashed when a judge dismissed a last-minute lawsuit brought by the First Amendment Foundation and four major news organizations that accused the governor and Cabinet members of “willfully violating the law” for trying to hold a Cabinet meeting so far from the state Capitol.
DeSantis called the lawsuit "frivolous," and accused the plaintiffs of trying to cause a ruckus.
