DeSantis keeps a safe distance from Broward appointees | Steve Bousquet

You can study your Broward sample ballot all day long and you won’t see the name Ron DeSantis anywhere.

He’s not on the August primary ballot, but he’s in the background. DeSantis altered the course of public education in Broward, and he could again.

Two DeSantis appointees to the Broward School Board will face voters for the first time on Aug. 20. Republicans Torey Alston and Daniel Foganholi were both appointed by DeSantis to represent solidly-Democratic districts (the elections are officially nonpartisan).

Alston replaced one of four board members DeSantis suspended in 2022 following release of a grand jury report that sharply criticized the board’s record on construction and school safety.

Foganholi was appointed in place of a candidate who won his election but whose eligibility was challenged because of a past felony conviction.

Alston and Foganholi have credible, well-financed opponents with deep roots in their districts. Neither Alston nor Foganholi is registered to vote in their districts, which opens both men to criticism that they are not closely connected to the people they want to represent.

A 2023 state law relaxed residency requirements so that school board members don’t have to live in their districts until they take office.

Foganholi represents southeast Broward’s District 1, and records show he lives in Coral Springs. Alston represents southwest Broward’s District 2 and is registered to vote in Fort Lauderdale.

The financial disclosure form Alston was required to file as a candidate lists a house worth $1.4 million, but not its address.

As the son of a former law enforcement officer, Alston can legally shield his home address from public view, even though he’s a public official.

When he filed candidacy papers with the elections office, he legally had his address blacked out. Yet, with no trace of irony, Alston told the editorial board: “I’ve always been very open and candid and transparent. That’s what voters want.”

Simply put, neither candidate can vote for himself because they don’t vote in the districts where they’re running.

Despite not living where he’s running, Alston is confident of victory on Aug. 20, and says a series of high-profile political endorsements will soon send “shock waves” across Broward.

Alston said he owns “multiple properties” in Broward and that he’ll register in District 2 by the election deadline.

“I will vote for myself,” Alston said in an hour-long online Sun Sentinel editorial board interview with his opponent, Rebecca Thompson, 34, of Pembroke Pines.

Thompson is already making Alston’s non-residency an issue.

“They (voters) don’t know where Mr. Alston is,” she said. “He doesn’t respond to their concerns.”

Alston also filed a conflict-of-interest form over the School Board’s belated decision to share $108 million in voter-approved tax money with charter schools, as directed by the state. Alston initiated an April 16 board vote to pay the money, but abstained from that vote in an abundance of caution, he said.

His wife owns Interim Healthcare, a Pompano Beach medical staffing company that does business with charter schools. “Not here, just in general,” Alston told the editorial board.

Thompson said Alston should not have initiated helping the charter schools in the first place if he had a legal conflict.

Foganholi has two opponents, Maura McCarthy Bulman of Hollywood and Chris Canter of Hollywood. As a School Board member, Foganholi has been at times outspoken on fiscal matters, and he tried without success to fire the school district’s top lawyer, Marylin Batista, in April.

Managing the district’s $6 billion budget is demanding work, and Foganholi’s own finances are open to serious question.

He was sued last month in Broward Circuit Court, allegedly for defaulting on a JP Morgan Chase personal credit card. The company wants a judge to force Foganholi to pay the entire past due amount of $6,228.43.

“At some point,” Foganholi said in an emailed statement, “many people experience hardship and mounting debt in the midst of higher education. This is a pending debt consolidation matter being handled by my legal team that should be resolved soon.”

In the 2022 election, while DeSantis was running for a second term, he interjected himself into local school board races across the state and was highly successful, as 24 of 30 DeSantis-backed candidates won their races, a success rate of 80 percent.

That winning streak is in danger in Broward. Let’s see if DeSantis helps his two Broward appointees in the weeks ahead.

Steve Bousquet is Opinion Editor of the Sun Sentinel and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or (850) 567-2240 and follow him on X @stevebousquet.