Today I wanted to catch up on several topics, including Orlando’s flailing efforts to get Major League Baseball and the passing of an Orlando trailblazer.

But first, it’s been almost two weeks since Gov. Ron DeSantis and his surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced their plan to make deadly diseases great again, and the reviews have not been kind.

Rank-and-file Floridians from both parties, especially older Americans who remember the days of iron lungs and widespread illness, aren’t interested in bringing back polio and diphtheria.

And leaders from both parties and almost every respected medical group have panned the idea of dropping vaccine requirements. (Almost. More on that in a moment.)

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott objected, saying there were already plenty of exemptions.  President Donald Trump expressed skepticism, saying he thought the polio vaccine was “amazing.” And one of the most scathing indictments came from DeSantis’ own former surgeon general, Dr. Scott Rivkees, who penned a column entitled: “I ran the Florida Department of Health. Dr. Ladapo is endangering our children.”

Most respected medical groups have echoed those concerns.

Florida’s @SenRickScott objects to the DeSantis admin dropping vaccine mandates:

“Florida already has a good system that allows families to opt out based on religious and personal beliefs, which balances our children’s health and parents’ rights”https://t.co/pM2RDFRi0s

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) September 4, 2025

The American Medical Association said it “strongly opposes Florida’s plan to end all vaccine mandates,” saying the “unprecedented rollback would undermine decades of public health progress and place children and communities at increased risk for diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, and chickenpox resulting in serious illness, disability, and even death.”

And the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ president, Dr. Rana Alissa, said, “Our state’s theme parks, grocery stores, movie theaters, sports arenas, and the waiting rooms in doctor’s offices and hospitals will all become places for contagious disease to spread easily — making every outing or gathering a risk.”

There was, however, one group that was curiously quiet. The Florida Medical Association, the lobbying group for Florida physicians, issued a statement that said it “unequivocally supports the vaccination and immunization of school-aged children” but which totally bypassed the issue of vaccine requirements — which was, of course, the only real issue at play.

The FMA’s statement stood in stark contrast to the forceful statements issued by other medical groups that wanted to make it clear that science and history have proven the benefits of vaccine requirements for kids. Instead, the FMA statement looked as though it was crafted to give DeSantis cover — or at least not antagonize him — so that the FMA, or perhaps their lobbyists, could count on his help when lobbying for other things. The FMA has fought to prevent nurses from expanding their scopes of practice and to shield doctors from liability.

I don’t know for sure. Maybe the physicians who make up the FMA truly are outside the medical mainstream. Maybe they no longer support the vaccination policies that have been in place for generations and helped eradicate deadly and crippling diseases.

Maxwell: Take a look at the diseases Florida wants to bring back

So I asked FMA’s leadership, president Dr. Ashley Norse and president-elect Dr. Alma Littles, if they were willing to say where they and the FMA stood on vaccine mandates. Neither responded. Neither did the staff of this organization that says it strives to “promote the public health.”

It’s hard to know whether this is cowardice, political convenience or whether Florida physicians really are at odds with most doctors and public health experts in America.

But understand this: The physicians who are speaking up are doing so in a united voice. And they’re saying that vaccines are, as Florida’s previous surgeon general said, “one of the most outstanding public health achievements of the past century” and that rolling back vaccine policies is a needlessly dangerous idea.

Moneyball

I’m not big on I told-you-so’s, but, boy, on baseball, I told you so.

This past week, John “For the People” Morgan pulled out of Orlando’s bid to snag Tampa’s baseball team, saying “the fix is in” for Tampa and that Orlando was just being used “as a bargaining chip.”

Now let’s flashback to a column I wrote back in March: “With baseball, Orlando is usually just a pawn to extract subsidies elsewhere.”

The reality is that when pro sports teams pit one community against another, it’s usually for one reason — to extract more money from taxpayers to pay for the stadiums they need.

Maxwell: With baseball, Orlando is usually a pawn to extract subsidies elsewhere | Commentary

The thing I liked most about the Orlando Dreamers was that they claimed they’d pay for everything themselves. Well, guess what? That’s the last thing MLB and billionaire team owners want. They like the system of welfare for the wealthy.

And that reverse-Robinhood system will continue until elected officials everywhere start telling team owners: We’d love to have you. But you need to pay your own darn way, the same way most every other for-profit business does. (And just like the Orlando City Soccer Club did.)

Until then, this ugly game of pitting cities against each other will continue — with taxpayers always being the big losers.

Mable Butler, an icon of Central Florida politics and community activism for decades, has died at age 98. (Sentinel File)

Remembering a pioneer

Our final word goes to a local trailblazer, Mable Butler, who was both the first Black council member in Orlando and the first Black commissioner for Orange County. She passed away last weekend at the age of 98.

Butler, who was on the commission when I started working at the Sentinel as a county beat reporter 27 years ago, was known for speaking her mind, sometimes using salty language, but ending most of her exchanges with “I love you.”

“I can fight and love at the same time,” she once told the Sentinel. We could use more of that.

Butler fought to ensure the racial makeup of the county’s workforce mirrored the population it served. And even after she left office in 1998, she kept working behind the scenes, mentoring others for leadership posts.

While Butler ended most of her exchanges with love, she also had a biting sense of humor, as evidenced by one of her favorite blessings: “May those who love us, love us. And those that don’t love us, may God change their hearts. And if he doesn’t change their hearts, may he sprain their ankle so we will know them by their limp.”

2 WOMEN SHOOK UP OLD ORDER IN POLITICS: Mable Butler

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/09/12/florida-medical-association-dodges-vaccine-mandate/