Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis loyalist bails on his own nomination hearing

Jeffrey Schweers, Orlando Sentinel on Apr 22, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A former state lawmaker stood next to Gov. Ron DeSantis at his press conference last week, lambasting legislators for attacking the governor, the first lady and the controversial Hope Florida charity and claiming he had dirt on his fellow Republicans.

But a week later, Dr. Joel Rudman had left the country and withdrew his nomination to a college board in Pensacola — an appointment made by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Dr. Rudman was first an aggressive nominee who couldn’t wait to come before the committee, then he decided to decline to come before the committee,” Republican state Sen. Don Gaetz said.

Rudman, a Panhandle physician known as “Dr. Rock” for playing guitar in a bar band, claimed he had information about GOP members — including alleged illicit drug use — who were going after DeSantis and first lady Casey DeSantis.

“Their intentions were very clear from the outset, what you’re looking at this was a planned ambush,” Rudman said in Pensacola last week at a DeSantis press conference held to defend Hope Florida, a state-run alternative to traditional welfare embraced by his wife, Casey.

Hope Florida is embroiled in controversy and under investigation by the House, where Republican lawmakers are demanding answers on how $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement ended up with the Hope Florida Foundation.

DeSantis, standing in front of a podium with a Hope Florida sign, blasted House leaders for attacking the charity. Rudman and several other DeSantis loyalists took the stage to join in that criticism and voice their support for the governor and first lady.

On Tuesday, Gaetz told the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, which he chairs, that Rudman had said he had a list that he was “keeping close to his vest” about GOP legislators criminally violating drug laws.

“Depending on how this committee behaved, he would have to reveal those names. It turns out Dr. Rudman is not the one who has been revealed,” Gaetz said.

Rudman was a no-show, however, and withdrew his nomination to the Pensacola State College Board of Trustees.

Gaetz added that he had planned to give Rudman the opportunity to reveal all of his names and provide the evidence. “We have individuals from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement here to take all the evidence and names, but Dr. Rudman has not favored us with his appearance and resigned from the board. So we have no action.”

Rudman said he was in Barcelona celebrating his wife’s birthday when he typed up his resignation letter Monday night.

“Pensacola State College is too important to me to have it get caught up in all this theatre surrounding the behavior of the Florida House,” Rudman said in a text message to the Sentinel. “It was becoming exceedingly difficult for me to bite my tongue while former House colleagues were taking potshots and lobbing offensive accusations at our Governor.”

Last week, the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee unanimously rejected Rudman’s nomination because of the threats he made on X about naming names, knowing where the bodies are and that all state legislators should be drug-tested.

Republican Sen. Tom Leek of St. Augustine said those comments were meant to intimidate the senators voting on Rudman’s nomination.

Rudman resigned from the Legislature in November, after he was reelected to a second term, to run for a congressional seat vacated by Matt Gaetz when President Donald Trump nominated him to be U.S. Attorney General. Matt Gaetz, who is the son of Don Gaetz and a former state House member, withdrew his nomination after a flurry of allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, both of which he denied.

After Rudman resigned, all the bills he filed for the current legislative session were killed.

He ultimately lost the Republican primary to Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis, who went on to win the congressional seat.

Rudman characterized the investigation into Hope Florida by fellow Republican Rep. Alex Andrade of Pensacola as a politically motivated witch hunt orchestrated by House leadership.

At last week’s press conference, Rudman described an orientation for lawmakers at the state Capitol in November where House leadership “used our time to tell us we’re not going to listen to Ron DeSantis. They literally said we are not going to be Ron DeSantis’ dog, only they didn’t use the word dog, they used a vulgar term instead”

He said he could not go along with that agenda because he was the “second most conservative in the Legislature.”

He also criticized Andrade, whose name elicited boos from the audience, as someone who is “actually taking shots at our governor.” Someone from the audience shouted that Andrade should be recalled.

“When I had a blogger harass me on the campaign trail and get in my wife’s personal space, I sued for a restraining order” Rudman said. Andrade defended the blogger.

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