A whistleblower who worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been fired after he leaked information about plans to build hotels in nine state parks, according to a new report from the Tampa Bay Times. News of the secret plan first became public on August 20 when the Tampa Bay Times published details thanks to information provided by the whistleblower.
The whistleblower, James Gaddis, worked as a cartographer for the state of Florida for two years and says he was asked on July 29 to start work on proposals to destroy state parks and develop them for other uses. As the Tampa Bay Times reports, Gaddis found two elements of the plan the most disturbing: a golf course for Jonathan Dickinson State Park and a 350-room hotel for Anastasia State Park. The parks are beloved by locals and tourists for their natural beauty.
Gaddis said that kind of development could only be accomplished by bulldozing a lot of critical habitat, which he called “totally confusing and very frustrating.” The secrecy around the entire project was also odd, leading Gaddis to go to the media without official permission from the state.
“It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks,” Gaddis told the Tampa Bay Times in an interview. Gaddis didn’t immediately respond to questions emailed Tuesday morning about his firing.
Gaddis made about $49,300 per year as a state employee, according to the Tampa Bay Times, and would like to hire a lawyer to fight his termination. But obviously, lawyers cost money, and Gaddis has started a GoFundMe campaign in an effort to get some financial assistance. The GoFundMe has raised over $57,000 at the time of this writing.
“As a state employee and single dad working a weekend side job, I knew that sounding the alarm was a risky move. However, I saw myself as a public servant first and felt that it was the only ethical thing to do,” Gaddis wrote on his GoFundMe page.
Gaddis shared his dismissal letter with the Tampa Bay Times, which reads: “Recently the Department became aware that you intentionally released unauthorized and inaccurate information to the public. At least one document was created, authored, and disseminated by you without direction or permission.”
Importantly, Gaddis says the development plan for the parks and his firing were coming directly from the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a failed Republican presidential candidate and ally of Donald Trump. DeSantis is one of the most notorious governors in the state’s history, constantly whining about “wokeism” and anything that doesn’t conform to his far-right worldview.
Florida state legislator Rep. Anna V. Eskamani published an open letter on Tuesday morning demanding answers from Gov. DeSantis about what happened. Eskamani called the plan a, “reckless proposal drawn up entirely in secret—with the apparent involvement of a mysterious organization with no track record but a team of politically plugged-in lobbyists.”
Eskamani acknowledged that DeSantis had pulled back the plan, but alleged that there was something extremely suspicious about the way that public hearings for the development had all been planned to take place at the same time. Those hearings have now been canceled.
“The people of Florida deserve a detailed explanation of what exactly happened here – and how such a dangerous and destructive proposal came so close to fruition in the first place,” Eskamani wrote in a letter shared on X. “To that end, we call on the Governor’s Office and the Department of Environmental Protection to publicly release all communications with any of the people or organizations involved with this state park plan.”
Eskamani noted that any internal documents released should include, “any communications with Folds of Honor, the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation, the lobbyists who represent them,” as well as people like far-right podcaster Dan Bongino and golfers like Jack and Gary Nicklaus.
“Florida’s state parks are the envy of the nation, beloved by the millions of Floridians who call our state home and by millions more tourists who travel to our state to experience them,” Eskamani wrote. “The governor and his administration owe them all a full accounting of this narrowly averted disaster—so that we can be sure it will never happen again.”
Gaddis may be out of work, which can be a stressful experience, but his GoFundMe sounds optimistic about the future.
“After the best two years of my professional career, where I built great relationships with Florida Park Service staff all over the state and enjoyed mapping out a significant swath of our amazing park system, I was directed to create nine maps depicting shocking and destructive infrastructure proposals, while keeping quiet as they were pushed through an accelerated and under-the-radar public engagement process,” Gaddis wrote.
“My decision to make my maps public, along with the accompanying proposal summaries, ended my career with the Florida Park Service. Whether I start my own business or join a more conservation-minded organization, I’m ready to get back to work as a professional cartographer!”
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