00:30We are pleased that you were able to join us today for the ceremony where we get to witness the swearing-in of our CFO-elect, Blaze Angolia.
00:41Before we begin, I have some introductions to make. We have some dignitaries in the audience today.
00:48We have with us, serving in the State Senate, is a colleague, Senator Tom Wright.
00:54Another Senate colleague, Senator Jay Collins.
01:01We have some colleagues from the House, Representative Tom Fabrizio.
01:09And Representative John Temple.
01:16We also have with us, FIU President, former Lieutenant Governor, former Speaker Pro Tem, Jeanette Nunez.
01:26And we have Education Commissioner, Stasi Kamutsis.
01:39And Commissioner John Alacko.
01:45To begin today's ceremony, we're going to have the Pledge of Allegiance.
01:49We'll be led in the Pledge by Firefighter Walter Price.
01:53Walter.
01:55I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,
02:12one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
02:18Thank you for being here today. Let's begin with a word of prayer.
02:32Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we are so thankful to be in this place today.
02:36We are thankful for this great nation that you have provided for us in this great state.
02:41Lord, we are reminded that you are still watching when sparrows fall and empires and nations are still in need of your aid.
02:50And Lord, we're thankful today for my friend Blaze and how he's been a champion for citizens of this great state, Lord.
02:57And he has advocated and been a voice for freedom and liberty and responsibility that we not only enjoy, but we embrace.
03:06And Lord, so we pray that you would equip him and empower him for this position, that you would use him.
03:12And Lord, that you would provide through him the ethical kind of leadership that would be of benefit to the citizenry,
03:20so that we would not be stuck in some sort of John Dice, John Dice quagmire.
03:25Lord, we thank you that he's been an example in our community and has been an example to the whole state.
03:31Lord, we thank you for these champions that have led freedom in our state, Lord.
03:35And it reminds us of the great champion of our faith.
03:38Lord, we have access to you through the death and resurrection of your son.
03:42So, Lord, I pray that you would help us to feel the responsibility, the weight of it, as we are willingly servants.
03:48Lord, that we would enjoy the weight of it as we desire to bring glory to your name.
03:54Lord, we thank you that we are still within your sight and we're still within your aid.
03:59In Jesus' name, amen.
04:09And now it is my honor to introduce the governor of the great state of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis.
04:26Well, good morning.
04:27I'm excited to be here.
04:29It's an important day.
04:31I want to congratulate Blaze and his family.
04:33I know he's going to do a good job.
04:35And ultimately, you know, what this is all about is what are you going to do in office to support taxpayers and to support consumers and to stand for what's right?
04:45This isn't about window dressing.
04:47It's about somebody that's going to get in there and lead boldly and unapologetically.
04:52And I know Blaze and Golio will do that.
04:54First of all, we just got enhanced authority in the most recent budget for the DOGE audits of local governments.
05:04But, you know, the CFO has had longstanding authority to audit any entity that receives any state funding, which is pretty much every municipal and county government.
05:14And so you are going to see these audits commence very quickly.
05:20And all I can say is any of the big spenders in these local governments that are not watching tax dollars wisely, you better buckle up because there's a new sheriff in town.
05:29Blaze has also been a leader on advocating for bold property tax relief for Floridians.
05:43We've seen as property values have gone up, assessments go up.
05:47They never assess it down when the market goes down.
05:49It's kind of a one-way ratchet.
05:51And I know that there's going to be a lot that goes into that.
05:53We're working very hard on that in our office.
05:56We're going to be working with members of the legislature, too.
05:59But this is a great opportunity for Floridians to be able to vote themselves.
06:03Really historic property tax relief.
06:05Blaze has been a leader in the Senate and will continue to be a great advocate for property tax relief as CFO.
06:12And then also what he'll do for consumers.
06:15You know, we've worked really hard to rein in some of the abuses in our insurance system that we saw from frivolous lawsuits.
06:22And that's had an effect of really stabilizing rates.
06:26I think in the last 180 days, I think the average proposed increase was like 1.5%.
06:33And that was an important component because that had gotten out of hand.
06:36But, you know, what we also need to be doing is cracking down on insurance company fraud.
06:41And the CFO has great authority to be doing that.
06:44And I know Blaze is going to be watching this like a hawk.
06:48You know, we've got some businesses that do well.
06:50We've got some that don't do as well.
06:52And all I can say is that will be a priority for him.
06:56And I think there's a lot to do in that regard as well.
06:59And I'm confident that he's going to be able to do that and many other good things on behalf of the people of Florida.
07:04Because all I've got to do is look at somebody's record.
07:07And you want to know what they're going to do in office.
07:09You know, you don't spend years in office and be some useless squish.
07:15Then all of a sudden, you know, like eat your spinach and you become Popeye once you get into a new office.
07:20It doesn't work that way.
07:22Like you can look at people's track record and see if you think if you want someone that's going to fight for you,
07:27well, they have to have a record of actually having fought for you, especially when it's difficult.
07:32And I think Blaze's record as both a state rep and a state senator is exactly what the voters that sent us here want out of their Republican elected officials.
07:43This is what everyone campaigns to do.
07:45This is what all our voters say they want.
07:47And yet not everyone can answer the call.
07:50But Blaze has answered the call time and time again.
07:53Look at what Florida has done under my tenure on election integrity.
07:57Yes, I had to do the Palm Beach and Broward.
07:59We had to take care of that when I first came in.
08:07holding, creating election crimes units so that we're prosecuting illegal aliens who vote or people who double vote.
08:13That was all that legislation was Blaze pursuing that in both the House and the Senate.
08:19Illegal immigration.
08:21No legislator has done more to fight illegal immigration than Blaze and Golia.
08:26All the great legislation we did through the years, but then also we had a big fight at the beginning of this year
08:34when you had the Speaker of the House join with some folks in the other chamber to try to jam a bill down the throats of Floridians
08:42that would have made Florida a sanctuary state.
08:44Now, I vetoed that.
08:46We had some folks stand up when it wasn't easy.
08:48Blaze was one of the guys that was standing.
08:50He stood on the side of the voters that elected us rather than cave to some of the political leadership.
08:56Same thing with Second Amendment rights.
08:59Everyone campaigns, especially in these primaries, about how they're so strong on Second Amendment rights.
09:04Sometimes it can get a little hot in the kitchen and people fold.
09:07Blaze has never folded.
09:09He's got a 100% record on protecting the Second Amendment.
09:13Law and order.
09:15100% record on standing with law enforcement and holding criminals accountable and supporting our firefighters.
09:23And as the state fire marshal, he'll have oversight over our state firefighters.
09:29But we also know that we have so many great firefighters at the municipal and county level.
09:34And Blaze will be a champion for them, no doubt.
09:37He's one of, if not the strongest fiscal conservative in the legislature.
09:42And this started with him getting active in politics.
09:45He was a business guy and he saw out of control spending at the local level.
09:50And he saw government running wild and wanted to do something about it.
09:53Well, he has lived up to that as a legislator in terms of embracing really significant tax cuts, embracing spending restraint,
10:03and making sure that Florida has accelerated the repayment of its state debt such that by the end of this fiscal year,
10:10if you look at all the debt Florida's had over our 180 years, we'll have retired almost 50% of it just since I've been governor
10:17and Blaze was with us every step of the way.
10:19He also stood, and it's easier to say some of this stuff now, but if you go back three, four, five years ago,
10:26it was a little bit different environment.
10:28But he was really a leader on defending parents' rights and combating things like gender ideology being injected into our education system.
10:37Again, now it's kind of turned the corner.
10:39But Florida at the time, we were leading against madness when it was very popular in the media,
10:44very popular in certain quarters, and Blaze was always standing for what's right.
10:48And, you know, last week we just had a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court upholding the state's congressional map that we did in 22 for redistricting.
10:57You remember, there was a fight over that map.
10:59You had Republican leaders wanting to jam through a map that provided basically unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
11:07I said I'm going to veto it.
11:09Don't send it to me.
11:10But they persisted.
11:11Blaze was one of the handful of members of the legislature who stood with us.
11:16We obviously vetoed the map, had to do a better map that's been upheld in federal court and now at the Florida Supreme Court.
11:23So Blaze was right on that back then.
11:26And, again, that was resisting pressure from leaders of his own party to be able to do it.
11:31So I'm confident he's going to be a bold CFO because he has been bold and has delivered meaningful results to people when he's been in office in the House and in the Senate.
11:42And that's the best indicator of whether somebody's going to fight for you as whether they have fought for you in the past.
11:48He's been a fighter.
11:49Every time there's been a fight, he's run towards the fire and he's done what he told the voters he would do.
11:55So I'm excited that he's going to be able to hit the ground running starting today.
12:00I've already told him there's a lot that we need to do.
12:02And so I think you're going to see him take some really significant action very, very quickly.
12:07So Godspeed, best of luck for our new CFO, Blaze Angolia.
12:23Thank you, Governor.
12:24And thank you, First Lady Casey DeSantis for being here today as well.
12:28At this point, we're going to ask Supreme Court Justice John Correale to come forward as well as CFO-elect Blaze Angolia
12:36and his family.
12:37They're going to do the swearing in.
12:42And Blaze's wife, Julie, will be holding the Bible.
12:45Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.
13:04I, Blaze Angolia, do solemnly swear
13:10that I will support, protect, and defend
13:14the Constitution and Government of the United States
13:19and of the State of Florida
13:23that I am duly qualified to hold office
13:26under the Constitution of the State
13:31and that I will well and faithfully perform
13:36the duties of Chief Financial Officer
13:42on which I am now about to enter.
13:45So help me, God.
13:46So help me, God.
13:47Congratulations.
13:51Thank you, Lord.
14:22Of course, Javante would have to shout out.
14:29Governor and First Lady, thank you.
14:35It has been an honor of my lifetime to work alongside you and to fight alongside of you.
14:44To my wife, my father, my family, thank you all for coming here.
14:49You know, being a legislator is a tough thing to do.
14:53We spend a lot of time away from home, and there has to be a reason why you do that.
15:01My why is everyone listening to my voice right now.
15:06My why is the taxpayers.
15:07My why is the people at home expecting elected officials to actually do what they say they are going to do when they campaign.
15:19It is an honor that this has been bestowed upon me, but I will not take this for granted.
15:31You are not going to see anyone fight harder for the taxpayer, for the consumer, than I will.
15:42And I'm planning on hitting the ground running.
15:45I'm going to wake up every day with one goal in mind, to make sure that we continue on this path that Governor DeSantis has laid us upon
15:58and make sure this state continues to be the greatest state of the union and the greatest state we have ever seen.
16:08D.C. is going in a complete opposite direction of what Florida is.
16:14We have become the shining light for every other state out there.
16:21When Florida does something, other states listen.
16:25They try to copy and emulate.
16:27Florida is leading.
16:29And I look forward to continue to lead, to keep my campaign promises, to work hard for the people of the state of Florida,
16:38and make this place the best state to live, work, and play.
