what has happened to america democracy? yeah. it s not a good sign these are people who ar involved in the running of government and elections like, this requires a totall different set of skills to manage, a, an incredibly stressful situation, but also, resolve it like, that s a lot to ask of a clerk. what is the general emotional, like, tenor of people coming here who are really angry? i would assume they re all kin of, like - this office, we haven t gotten much of that. the recount, it was really o full display yeah. they were closed arms, re face, yelling, not listening how responsive has la enforcement been to your concerns about threats that yo may be facing? well, they ve been helpful. i think part of the problem, though, is that they deal with people getting threatened al day long so when they hear, i got a threat on email from a proto email that you can t trace
and it wouldn t be hard to jus point that down here at ou office so have you received death threats? i ve gotten some vague ones what are vague death threats? oh, like, you ve committe sedition, there s a lot of that but they re just vague enoug that, you know, when you tal to the police, it almost feels like a game of clue. they have to have an iron pipe and a billiards room o something. they have to tell you the time you re gonna attack you. that s been a problem fo clerks around the country. but they re just vague enoug that nothing happens with them do you worry about your safety do you worry about the safet of your colleagues it s more like russia roulette because it seems like somethin has to happen that ties to thi place. i remember one time th president tweeted about my office but he didn t say anything negative and it felt like a click in th chamber. like you just missed i have to stop and note tha this is the county clerk s office and you have plexiglass and pan
counsel investigating januar 6th, and donald trump s effort to suppress that election. the subpoena asks for any an all communications with trum and his campaign through inauguration day, 2021 here s what dane county cler scott mcdonell told me about threats to his office. when did you start doin this job ten years ago and, like, what was it like ten years ago, this job? it was great. we had the first same-se marriage license done here, we do marriages out on the fron of the steps, and it was fun but it s become sort of darker version of that now i m worried about my staff i m worried about the staf across the hall, that s th city clerk s office. there isn t adequate security. this building wasn t set up to be secure. it was set up to be open yeah. the staff is glad they coul just walk right in that s kind of a problem they didn t have to go through weapons screening. and that s a good thing, that an open government, but for us you know, you can t just b able to walk in of
been a pretty successful multipronged effort to chang the whole system of educatio in the florida public school system i hate to be a pessimist, but the reality is, we need th voters to get out and vote if we have these people in office, there is really not whole lot we can do. because they put this into law do you hear from teachers who are grappling with the changes that are gonna be in place in the classroom thi fall all the time. people asking for answers to how do we implement these laws or these policies? how is this gonna affect m classroom and my instruction and one of the things that s really frightening about these laws that are passed is that the state passed them with n instruction. what do you think people wh are concerned about th direction that things ar heading in - what should they be focused on in the months and years ahead? i m just scared about the future of public education her in florida and i m scared that ll creat this movement across the nation this i
by now, you ve heard hi name a lot. republican governor of florida and likely 2024 presidential contender, ron desantis. since taking office in 2019, governor desantis has been on crusade against seemingl everything, especially when it comes to public education. if a conversation about student s race or nationalit makes student feel, quote, discomfort, then it can t be taught in the classroom. an inclusive curriculum? nope anything, quote, woke? what if that means nope so desantis signed the sto woke act sexual orientation and gende identity nope desantis signed the so calle don t say gay bill earlier this year, i took trip to florida to hear from students and educators and wha they say on the ground about these new policies and desanti s efforts to reshape public education in florida