Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier made headlines yesterday when he publicly called on House Speaker Daniel Perez to strip State Rep. Alex Andrade of his chairmanship of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee.
- The reason? A lawyer at Andrade’s firm, Moore, Hill and Westmoreland, was hired to represent Planned Parenthood in a $354 million lawsuit Uthmeier filed against the organization in Santa Rosa County last November.
Uthmeier framed it as a conflict of interest. Andrade, who sat down with us on (We Don’t) Color On the Dog, called it something else entirely — embarrassing.
“Even the Devil Deserves Legal Representation”
Andrade wasted no time pushing back on the Attorney General’s argument, and he did it by invoking some of the most foundational principles in American jurisprudence.
- “John Adams said that legal representation and right to access to courts are the heart and lungs of Liberty,” Andrade said. He didn’t stop there. “Saint Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers, says that even the devil deserves the benefit of legal representation.”
Civics Lesson: The fact that Planned Parenthood retained another attorney at his firm has no bearing on Andrade’s role in the legislature. The two are not connected. But Uthmeier, Andrade argued, either doesn’t understand that or doesn’t care.
A Pattern of Attacks
This isn’t the first time Uthmeier has come after Andrade. Last year, the AG attempted to have the Pensacola lawmaker censored and removed from his committee chairs when Andrade called Uthmeier for money laundering.
Last November, Uthmeier wrote a letter threatening the Pensacola City Council about a drag show scheduled at the Saenger Theater in Andrade’s home district. That effort backfired spectacularly.
- “The funniest part about the drag show is it was his stupid letter that led to that show being sold out,” Andrade said, laughing. “He’s the number one promoter of Drag Queen Christmas in America. They should be sending him a fruit basket.”
Andrade sees a clear pattern in Uthmeier’s behavior — a willingness to escalate conflict for political gain regardless of the collateral damage.
- “He’s an ends-justify-the-means guy,” Andrade said. “All that means is he’s willing to burn down the whole institution if he thinks somehow that means he’s going to win.”
The $10 Million Elephant in the Room
While Uthmeier has been focused on manufacturing controversies around Andrade, the lawmaker says there’s a far bigger issue the Attorney General should be answering for. Andrade accused Uthmeier of stealing $10 million from the health care when Uthmeier served as Gov. DeSantis’ chief of staff. See Hope Florida Foundation.
“The last time he interacted with the healthcare budget, he stole $10 million,” Andrade said flatly. He repeated the charge for emphasis: “James Uthmeier, you’re a thief. I don’t want to deal with thieves.” When Uthmeier made a public statement that his office would not be engaging with the Health Care Budget Subcommittee this session while Andrade chairs it, the lawmaker’s response was almost gleeful. “Well, great. Please avoid the healthcare budget at all costs.”
Basic Civics. Basic Decency.
At the heart of Andrade’s frustration is what he sees as a fundamental failure by Florida’s top law enforcement officer to understand the very system he swore to protect.
- “He’s got no basic understanding of civics. He’s got no basic understanding of what our whole system of checks and balances is designed to prevent,” Andrade said.
For a sitting Attorney General — someone who claims the title of lawyer and conservative Republican — to attack a colleague simply because another attorney at that colleague’s firm took on a client in an unrelated case strikes Andrade as more than a political misstep. It’s a betrayal of the legal principles that define the profession.
- “Everybody deserves access to courts. That’s a fundamental tenet of our American system,” he said. “For our attorney general to fail basic civics literacy like that is just embarrassing.”
