Ron DeSantis revokes Carlos Beruff's appointment to FWC

A smirk on his face and a hint of bemused annoyance in his voice, Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to a question Thursday about whether he plans to keep Bradenton homebuilder Carlos Beruff on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with a "stay tuned."

"Was that one of Rick's midnight appointments?" DeSantis said in a tone that indicated he is not happy that former Gov. Rick Scott made more than 80 last-minute appointments to various agencies. "Stay tuned. I'll have an announcement on that soon."

DeSantis was speaking from an elevator as he departed an event at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, where he talked up an executive order aimed at addressing environmental issues. As DeSantis works to deliver on his pledge to clean up Florida's polluted waters, environmental advocates are blasting the appointment of Beruff to an environmental agency.

A few hours after the Sarasota event, DeSantis announced that he was rescinding a bunch of Scott’s recent appointments, including the Beruff appointment.

“For all the midnight appointments that require Senate confirmation, I’m going to be pulling them back,” DeSantis said during an event in Stuart Thursday, according to the Miami Herald. “Some of the people in that batch are people that I know and respect and you may see me reappoint them... but we’re going to be pulling them all back.”

Whether Beruff still has a chance of being reappointed by DeSantis to the FWC board is unclear. Beruff ran against DeSantis for a U.S. Senate seat and has drawn ire on a signature issue for DeSantis: The environment.

Beruff has been criticized for development plans that critics viewed as detrimental to the environment, a vote he took as a member of the Southwest Florida Water Management District board that allowed a friend to cut down mangroves, the removal of a pine tree with a bald eagle’s nest on one of his properties, and other actions related to the environment.

For some environmental activists, reappointing Beruff on the FWC board would undercut the image DeSantis is trying to create as a protector of the environment.

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