Fond memories of a favorite governor | Letters to the editor

Readers fondly recall the life of Gov. Bob Graham and react to the Sun Sentinel's coverage of his death.

“Integrity, honesty, decency, compassion” were the Sun Sentinel’s front-page words honoring Bob Graham, Florida’s former governor and senator. I doubt that those words will ever be associated with Gov. Ron DeSantis, especially after he signed House Bill 433 and Senate Bill 1264.

Perhaps DeSantis should follow Graham’s practice of “workdays” and see what it’s like to work outdoors in the Florida sun. Spending a day on road construction or harvesting vegetables might make him and our legislators think twice about denying those workers protection from Florida’s brutal heat and humidity, as the newly signed HB 433 does.

How many legislators could balance a family budget while earning even the most generous “living wage” proposals? I can feel shudders from Tallahassee if they were to even contemplate the idea. (Whatever happened to “home rule”?)

SB 1264 mandates K-12 instruction about the evils of communism. But shouldn’t it also include lessons about the evils of dictators who rule, or wish to rule, under the veneer of democracy, and discussion of how to protect our country from them?

It’s more overreach by a Department of Education that seems bent on right-wing indoctrination and destruction of public education and academic freedom.

James Dunne, Coconut Creek

Devoted to Florida

Bob Graham was a colleague, friend and devoted Floridian whose nearly 50 years of service to his beloved home state and to our country have made America a safer and stronger nation.

He chose a life of service, working his way up from state legislator to governor, U.S. senator and presidential candidate. He and Joe Biden served together in the Senate as respective chairs of the Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees in the wake of 9/11, working to heal a shattered nation and to protect America in a changing world.

He stood on principle against the war in Iraq. He co-sponsored Biden’s landmark Violence Against Women Act, transforming the way our nation responds to domestic abuse and sexual assault. He was committed to education and to the environment, continuing work that he’d begun as governor to support public schools and universities, and to protect water supplies, wetlands and wildlife of Florida’s iconic Everglades. He was full of humor and humanity.

Our hearts are with Bob’s wife of 65 years, Adele; with their four daughters, Gwen, Cissy, Suzanne and Kendall; with their grandchildren and friends; and with the people of Florida, whom Bob served so well in so many ways for so long.

Paul Bacon, Hallandale Beach

He won’t be duplicated

We’ll never have another Bob Graham in the U.S.

No politician in office or who hopes to get into office has one-tenth of Bob’s characteristics.

Would Graham have signed a law banning protection from extreme heat for outdoor workers?

We all know Bob is in his resting place where all good people go. May his soul and all the souls of the faithfully departed rest in Peace. Amen.

Ann Cimmino, Delray Beach

Genuine concern for his state

As an older Floridian who has lived in our state since 1983, I warmly remember former governors Bob Graham, Lawton Chiles and Charlie Crist.

My memories of Jeb Bush are not as positive based on his using public money for students to use to pay for private school tuition, the fruits of which are harming our public school system today.

I will remember our current governor, Ron DeSantis, for his so-called “Don’t say gay” law, revising our historical teaching of slavery with his attacks on CRT, his book banning (now backfiring against him), his refusal to protect the health of outdoor workers under the Florida sun, his attacks on the “woke” philosophy of social justice and his abysmal showing in his run for the White House.

I pray that when he leaves office, Floridians will elect another governor the likes of Graham, Chiles and Crist, each of whom cared more about Floridians than about themselves and who don’t preach a false gospel of “freedom” that really means freedom to believe as he/she believes.

Rest in peace, Governor Graham.

Ray Belongie, Sunrise