Florida state parks whistleblower personnel files released by DeSantis admin

Days after a state employee was fired for disclosing information about plans by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to build golf courses, hotels and more on state parks, the administration released portions of the employee’s personnel file that detailed issues from a previous state job.

The documents were provided to a Gainesville TV news station, WCJB, which reported that they came from the DeSantis administration — specifically an unnamed source inside the Agency for Health Care Administration.

That agency provided those records without being asked, an unusual step for an administration that typically takes months, even years, to provide public records when journalists request them, if the state turns them over at all. For instance, the Tampa Bay Times requested an unrelated personnel file from the Agency for Health Care Administration in May 2023. The agency has not yet produced it. The Times asked for a copy of any public records request made by WCJB that prompted the release of these documents, and an Agency for Health Care Administration spokesperson, who did not provide their name, said in an email that no such record exists.

Jeremy Redfern, a DeSantis spokesperson, texted a Tampa Bay Times reporter a link to the WCJB story about an hour after it was published Wednesday night.

The personnel documents detail how a woman submitted human resources complaints and filed a police report about James Gaddis when they both worked at the Agency for Health Care Administration, after their romantic relationship ended. The woman reported that Gaddis would not stop trying to contact her, making her “scared every day when I go to work,” according to a police report. He was not criminally charged in the case. Gaddis resigned instead of being fired in early 2022.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2024/09/06/florida-state-parks-whistleblower-fired-desantis/

Petty personal payback from the DeSantis administration; it's another fine example of Republican abuse of government authority, and may well lead to a lawsuit.

I wonder how diligent the DeSantis administration will be in hunting down the source of the leak...