In Facebook post on Sunday, Ertel wrote, “I’m a better man than I was fourteen years ago. Yet over the past week I have been rightfully apologizing for something I did Halloween night, 2005. For those who have not received a personal apology yet — I’m sorry.”
The 49-year-old Republican official added that “something stupid” he did more than a decade ago presented someone from his past with an “opportunity for revenge.”
“While public revenge may be sweet for them, my private redemption, new family, and blessed life have been sweeter,” Ertel wrote. “Regardless of the circumstances which ended my public role, I’m a better private citizen for having served my fellow countrymen, first in the military, then in elected office, and most recently as Secretary of State.”
Ertel had been recently appointed by newly elected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Secretary of State position for his elections expertise. DeSantis quickly replaced Ertel with Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Laurel M. Lee.
“I think he’s done a lot of good work, but at the same time I have got to have an administration that is going to be focused on what matters to Floridians,” DeSantis said after Ertel’s resignation. “I don’t want to get mired into kind of side controversies, and so I felt it was best to just accept the resignation and move on.”
Ertel didn’t expand further on the racist costume he wore, but he did say that “few could have imagined a homeless teenager would achieve any branch of success, much less be asked to lead the Department of State for our nation’s third largest state.”
“In our country, the American Dream is a reality,” Ertel wrote. “I now look forward to my next adventure, and my next opportunity to – once again – overcome the odds.”
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This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2019.