Politicians should be held to the same standards as everyone else

Below is an Op-Ed I wrote for the Sun-Sentinel after Lauren Book was arrested for trespassing. Of course, the Sun-Sentinel refuses to publish anything negative about the Book Crime Family. 

Politicians should be held to the same standards as everyone else

Derek Logue, April 5, 2023

In 2015, I engaged in a peaceful protest in Tallahassee against now-Senate Democrat leader Lauren Book. Book tried having me arrested. Then she filed a restraining order against me in an attempt to prevent me in organizing future protests. She even sent pictures of me to local law enforcement and had me arrested on theft charges. 

I was arrested in Ohio and spent six days on the road in an extradition vehicle with no air conditioning. By the time I reached the Broward County Jail, my blood pressure was 200/140 and my feet had swollen 4 times the normal size. I was held an additional time in jail to be forced to register as a “sex offender” before being release.  I spent years defending myself against this barrage of false allegations brought on by Florida State Senator Lauren Book. 

Every single false allegation made against me by Lauren Book was ultimately tossed out of court. See Logue v. Book, 297 So. 3d 605. 

But that was not enough for Lauren Book. In 2021, Book added an addendum to CS/HB 921, a bill addressing cyberstalking, to make public criticism of people like her a felony. In 2022, Book sided with Republicans to pass CS/HB1571, the controversial DeSantis bill that outlawed many types of public protest. Needless to say, Lauren Book is no friend of free speech. 

Fast forward to the night of April 3, 2023, when this same state senator who tried to imprison me for exercising the right to peacefully assemble by the state capitol in 2015 was arrested for engaging in a protest. Sure, Senator Book was detained. Sure, Senator Book was handcuffed (very carefully), Sure, Senator Book was taken to the police station with the other ten arrested protesters. But state law prevents Senator Book’s (and Nikki Fried’s) mugshot from being released, while the faces of the commoners who protested were published. Senator Book was the first to be released. The police assured us that she was treated with the utmost care. Despite the fact that I was innocent and she was arrested in the commission of a crime, we were treated vastly different. 

Florida State Senator Lauren Book should have been treated the same way as any other accused criminal. Keep her in a cell for hours for processing then moved to another cell to await your first appearance up to 72 hours later. Feed her food not fit for human consumption. Strong-arm those handcuffs on her even if she isn’t resisting. Make her sit in a sweltering van for six days. Release that mugshot and make it look hideous for added effect. 

Alternately, perhaps we can treat the common folk who stand accused of offense with the same air of dignity as Senator Book was treated. We have seen in both Tallahassee and in New York City that the criminal justice system works differently for the rich and powerful than it does for the average citizen. That is something that needs to change.