Charlie Crist Wants Surgeon General Ladapo to Resign Over Mask Flap

ST. PETERSBURG -- Charlie Crist joins the list of Democrats saying Joseph Ladapo should not be Florida's surgeon general.

Crist staged a virtual news conference on Facebook with two doctors Wednesday, with all three questioning Ladapo's credentials for the job.

"Dr. Ladapo has proven himself, time and time again, to be unwilling and truly unfit to hold such a high office at a time when our state needs true, medically sound leadership," Christ said.

Ladapo came under fire almost immediately after taking office, for changing a Department of Health rule on school masks to undercut county school districts that were challenging the ban on classroom mask mandates in court. Democrats' slow burn over the nominee heated up when they heard of an incident in which he allegedly refused to put on a mask when visiting the office of State Senator Tina Polsky. The Democrat says she is immunocompromised as she begins undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Crist was personally upset with Ladapo because his own five-year-old niece, who attends a school in Pinellas County, came down with COVID. Pinellas school board members chose not to defy Governor DeSantis and impose a mask mandate.

Crist is calling on Gov. DeSantis to pull back Ladapo's nomination, but if he doesn't, Crist says Ladapo should step down from his post.

Photo: Getty Images


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