Every year around this time, Florida newspapers observe Sunshine week, a tribute to Florida\u2019s open govenrment laws. Sadly, we are finding less to celebrate , and more to worry about, every year.<\/p>\n
Throughout history, government officials have had one trait in common with housecats: When they do something stinky, instinct leads them to cover it up.<\/p>\n
They seem to think that if they keep these smelly secrets buried long enough, nobody will care \u2014- even in cases where it\u2019s obvious something has gone rotten.<\/p>\n
Maxwell: Overtime and underperforming, Florida Legislature lets record-hiding continue<\/a><\/p>\n Unfortunately, it\u2019s not hard to find examples \u2014 including scandals that have festered unresolved for years, even though they revolve around public money being spent by public officials on matters of great public importance.<\/p>\n How did it get this bad? Florida has \u2014 well, had \u2014 one of the nation\u2019s most comprehensive open-records laws in the nation, including protection in the state constitution. But public officials, particularly Gov. Ron DeSantis and his highest ranking staff, are treating the law as if it were an irrelevant inconvenience. The state agencies he oversees have taken to simply ignoring records requests if they don\u2019t feel like filling them. Even records that seem relatively mundane.<\/p>\n Hiding scandal<\/p>\n But some of the violations are anything but mundane, hiding records that might shed light on some of DeSantis\u2019 most bizarre and offensive stunts. It took months, for example, to unearth records proving that James Uthmeier, the governor\u2019s former chief of staff, was neck-deep in the cruel scheme that lured immigrants from Texas to Martha\u2019s Vineyard and abandoned them there. He\u2019s also defied a judge\u2019s order to produce records of calls made from his personal cellphone in an apparent attempt to hide who he was speaking with on state business.<\/p>\n Uthmeier was also heavily involved in the Hope Florida scandal, where money that belonged to the state\u2019s Medicaid program was instead funneled to a nonprofit associated with first lady Casey DeSantis \u2014 and then to political action committees created to oppose a ballot question on recreational marijuana. A House committee attempted to investigate the incident, which Rep. Alex Andrade believes might fall under criminal statutes including money laundering. But they had to shut down \u2014 because they couldn\u2019t get the records they needed to find out what was really going on.<\/p>\n Did DeSantis call Uthmeier on the carpet and sternly instruct him to follow the law? No, of course not. Instead, he put Uthmeier in position as Florida\u2019s acting attorney general. As columnist Scott Maxwell pointed out in January, this is the office that has primary responsibility for investigating complaints about violations of Florida\u2019s open-government law.<\/p>\n Some people may find this ironic. We think \u201csabotage\u201d is a better word.<\/p>\n The Sentinel has also been stymied in multiple quests for public information. As the COVID epidemic played out, the DeSantis administration became more and more secretive with information that defined how fast the virus was spreading and what populations were affected. The Sentinel joined two lawsuits and filed a third to get that critical health information.<\/p>\n And right now, we\u2019re in court demanding records that would shed light on the decision by the Florida Department of Transportation to sneak into downtown Orlando in the middle of the night and blast away the rainbow-hued crosswalk adjacent to the Pulse memorial site \u2014 a crosswalk installed by the FDOT just months earlier.<\/p>\n Time to act But we will urge readers to keep one thing in mind: When Florida officials flat-out refuse to do their jobs and fulfill their constitutional duties, there is a remedy \u2014 and it\u2019s obtainable through the ballot box. This year, more than ever, Floridians are being stripped of critical liberties and denied their birthright of open government. They can punish this arrogant defiance by choosing candidates with a record of defending transparency, and an avowed dedication to protect open-government laws.<\/p>\n This is particularly critical when it comes to choosing statewide leaders, including a new governor and attorney general. It\u2019s time to find people who believe in accountability, transparency and government in the Florida sunshine.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Use insight@orlandosentinel.com to contact us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year around this time, Florida newspapers observe Sunshine week, a tribute to Florida\u2019s open govenrment laws. 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\nWe\u2019re not going to delve too deeply into the other major threat to open government in Florida \u2014 the eternal willingness by the state Legislature to carve new holes into the public-records and open-meetings laws. Veteran journalist Martin Dyckman, a member of the South Florida Sun Sentinel\u2019s editorial board, will cover many of those in a column that\u2019s set for Monday\u2019s print edition and originally appeared on the Florida Trident.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n