Could Ron DeSantis be better than Andrew Gillum on our water problems? | Gil Smart

Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch ignited a firestorm last week when she dared — dared! — post a link to the Ron DeSantis campaign page on Facebook.

Thurlow-Lippisch is a former Sewall’s Point commissioner and clean-water activist. DeSantis, of course, is the Donald Trump-endorsed GOP candidate for Florida governor. And at first, this pairing might seem incongruous.

But Thurlow-Lippisch is herself a Republican who’s impressed with DeSantis’s focus on our water issues thus far. DeSantis visited Stuart in August and his top environmental priority, according to his website, is to "Restore the Everglades, stop toxic algae discharges and send clean water south."

In posting the link, Thurlow-Lippisch was merely saying it was good to see our issues get so much attention; and maybe DeSantis would do something to help us.

Well.

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The ensuing discussion got nasty, with commenters saying no one in their right mind would dream of voting for DeSantis. He's got a poor environmental voting record and he's aligned with Trump's anti-science agenda.

Several commenters said they “lost respect” for Thurlow-Lippisch for even suggesting voters hear him out.

"Disappointing," she said.

But to me, it illustrates why, for all the sturm and drang, the clean water movement is forever waiting for the cavalry to arrive.

The enviro-activist group Bullsugar has this sign — you might have seen it — that shows voters have a choice: Republican, Democrat or “Water.” In other words, fixing our water must be a nonpartisan issue.

That message isn't getting through.

"To think 'vote blue' is the same as 'vote water' is just naive," said Bullsugar's Chris Maroney.

Both Florida parties, he said, have a "sugar problem": the industry's clout is so immense few politicians can afford to break openly with it.

DeSantis has publicly criticized the industry and was one of three Florida congressmen to vote against reauthorizing sugar industry subsidies earlier this year. (The other two were Treasure Coast Rep. Brian Mast and Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida's 19th district.) All are Republicans. Still, sugar money is finding its way into DeSantis's campaign coffers.

Andrew Gillum, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, has boasted he's taken no sugar money. But Bullsugar itself criticized Gillum last month for "using sugar industry talking points that shift blame for water problems to north of Lake Okeechobee (and) falsely suggesting environmental regulations would hurt jobs in the Glades communities."

"The Democrats may not be as actively bad on some environmental problems," Maroney said. "But on the most important issue in South Florida, the party lines do us no good."

Bullsugar has taken heat for working with Mast, the Palm City Republican who’s running for re-election against Democrat Lauren Baer.

Mast has focused on water issues, proposing — among other things — legislation to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider the impact of the Lake Okeechobee discharges on health and human safety. I’ve spoken with people who have followed this issue for a long time who say Mast is really helping to move the needle.

Yet there's no shortage of those who think Baer would be better on the issue simply because she's a Democrat.

Blame Rick Scott for this, maybe. Florida's governor, now angling to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, was a Republican's Republican, focused on cutting taxes and boosting economic growth, come hell or algae-filled water. He neutered the Department of Environmental Protection, gutted regulations, downsized the South Florida Water Management District and more. These diseased chickens have now come home to roost.

But look what’s happening to Scott now, as protesters confront him at campaign stops. Remember what happened when he came here — he basically had to sneak in and out of Stuart because even in deep red Martin County, Scott is persona non grata.

As we suffer through yet another summer of algae, and as the Gulf Coast reels from red tide, clean water is becoming a voting bloc, a distinct constituency. Being weak on water is becoming a political liability; but the issue also represents a political opportunity for candidates astute enough to seize it.

Yet what pressure is there on the Democrats to do so?

Gillum has not visited our region to see the algae crisis for himself. His running mate, Chris King, has been here and is well-versed in the issue; but if the Gillum campaign website is any indication, our problems rank low on his list of priorities.

On his “environment” page, you have to scroll all the way down to the second-to-last paragraph to even find mention of toxic algae blooms.

With the Gillum-DeSantis race looking like a tossup right now, DeSantis not only needs to win deep-red areas like Martin County and Lee County — on the Gulf Coast — he needs to carry them with huge pluralities.

That won't happen if he’s your stereotypical Republican on water issues.

Thurlow-Lippisch said she's convinced many local Republicans "want our party to change; we have to bring the environment back to our party."

DeSantis may or may not be that guy. But it's worth trying to find out — rather than "knowing," right out of the gate, that Gillum is better on the one issue that matters most.

Gil Smart is a TCPalm columnist and a member of the Editorial Board. His columns reflect his opinion. Readers may reach him at gil.smart@tcpalm.com, by phone at 772-223-4741 or via Twitter at @TCPalmGilSmart.