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   From: bksherman@komo.com   
      
   Officials in Brevard County, Fla., passed a resolution last week   
   offering sarcastic praise for a former Florida Today columnist   
   who recently got a new job at the Miami Herald.   
      
   The five Brevard County commissioners approved the resolution   
   that they said was “honoring” Isadora Rangel during a Feb. 9   
   meeting after she departed her role as engagement editor and   
   opinion writer for Florida Today’s editorial board.   
      
   Commissioner John Tobia read the resolution aloud, starting by   
   listing her qualifications before it turned more critical,   
   according to a video reported by Florida Today.   
      
   “Whereas because of her eloquent prose the circulation of   
   Florida Today dropped only 16 percent during her tenure,” Tobia   
   said.   
      
   “Whereas her dedication to Brevard is exemplified by her   
   accepting a position with the Miami Herald a mere three years   
   after coming here,” he added. “And whereas her liberal views   
   will be sorely missed by the Brevard Democrats alike…”   
      
   Following the resolution’s initial approval, Commissioner Bryan   
   Lober requested two amendments be added, which both addressed   
   Rangel’s Brazilian citizenship.   
      
   “Whereas throughout her employment with Florida Today, Ms.   
   Rangel never once let the fact that she’s forbidden from voting   
   in this county deter her from commenting on our politics and   
   criticizing numerous elected officials,” Lober said in an   
   approved amendment.   
      
   “Whereas … Ms. Rangel deserves recognition for selflessly   
   remaining in this country, not withstanding our nearly tenfold   
   higher per capita GDP and approximately one-sixth the murder   
   rate of the country from which she hails,” he proposed in an   
   amendment that commissioner laughed at but dismissed.   
      
   In her previous position, Rangel had frequently disapproved of   
   the commission and its members in her pieces, as columnists are   
   supposed to give opinions about the news, unlike other reporters.   
      
   Florida Today executive editor Mara Bellaby issued a response to   
   the resolution in an editorial, in which she called the   
   commissioners’ move “petty and mean-spirited.”   
      
   “Clearly Tobia and Lober and the other commissioners saw Rangel   
   as a thorn in their side and seemingly feel relief that she was   
   so successful here as to earn an opinion writer’s job in a   
   bigger market,” Bellaby wrote. “I feel nothing but pride in   
   Rangel’s work for Florida Today, and I have seen the impact her   
   journalism and engagement efforts had on our county.”   
      
   The newspaper’s executive editor also countered that it grew its   
   digital subscriptions by 33 percent last year and noted   
   commissioners prioritized the resolution over actions regarding   
   COVID-19, calling it “embarrassing.”   
      
   Rangel also reacted to the resolution in a tweet, saying “When   
   the Brevard County Commission passes a resolution ‘honoring’   
   you, taking up the public's times and a commissioner makes a   
   bunch of xenophobic comments because you got under their skin.”   
      
   When the Brevard County Commission passes a resolution   
   "honoring" you, taking up the public's times and a commissioner   
   makes a bunch of xenophobic comments because you got under their   
   skin. #winning #BeijinhoNoOmbro pic.twitter.com/4HUv4tSXE0   
      
   — Isadora Rangel (@IsadoraRangel2) February 11, 2021   
      
   Lober stood by the resolution in a statement to The Hill saying,   
   “If she can dish it, she should be able to take it” and that her   
   “job should have been to report the news, not to contort it to   
   fit a recurring, prejudiced agenda.”   
      
   "My wife and I are both the products of lawful immigration;   
   neither of us would exist but for immigrants. To suggest that I   
   have anything against legal immigration is simply untrue," he   
   added.   
      
   Tobia told The Washington Post that the resolution “pretty much   
   speaks for itself,” adding, “We wish her well, but we certainly   
   took a couple of jabs, as she often did in the newspaper.”   
      
   https://thehill.com/homenews/media/538845-florida-county-   
   officials-pass-resolution-mocking-columnist   
            
      
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