Democratic congressmen in Florida call for investigation into plans for state parks

In a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday, five Democratic Florida congressmen called for a formal investigation into plans to build golf courses, hotels and more at nine state parks, as well as the release of public records documenting the genesis of those plans.

The US representatives addressed the letter to both the governor and the state's inspector general, who is responsible for investigating fraud and other malfeasance in government. The lawmakers called for an independent investigation “to clarify which state procedures were violated and which private parties lobbied for and profited from it.”

Representatives: Kathy Castor of Tampa, Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Orlando, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, Darren Soto of Kissimmee and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Miramar signed the letter.

“Your proposal was quietly pushed into a public hearing process and scheduled for a summer travel season when residents were less likely to visit,” the letter said. “In the face of this destructive, veiled insult, the public is owed peace of mind, honesty and transparency.”

Neither the governor's office nor the Florida Department of Environmental Protection immediately responded to requests for comment. The letter was also sent to the agency's Inspector General, Candie Fuller. She did not respond to a request for comment on whether she would launch an investigation.

The letter adds to growing pressure for more information about the state park plans, which sparked a wave of outrage when they were made public two weeks ago. In response to that fierce opposition from the public and politicians from both parties, DeSantis announced last week that the state would go “back to the drawing board.”

Below: Read the congressional delegation's letter to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Office of the Inspector General.

The proposals for the parks were released by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which DeSantis oversees. The governor also had a meeting in April with the head of a nonprofit veterans organization called Folds of Honor, where the group pitched him the proposed golf course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County. Proceeds from the golf course would have benefited the charity, DeSantis said, and the group had pitched that golf course proposal to other government officials in the past.

Folds of Honor also has ties to famed golfer Jack Nicklaus, who put forward a similar proposal in 2011 but abandoned it after similar public outrage. In a letter Thursday, the congressmen pointed to that earlier attempt to create golf courses in state parks and said it would have been “political malpractice” to ignore the reactions at the time.

“It appears, then, that the success of this plan was based on hiding it from our citizens,” the MPs wrote.

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Two Democratic state representatives, Anna Eskamani of Orlando and Angie Nixon of Jacksonville, have also sent a letter to the Department of Environmental Protection demanding the release of all documents related to the preparation of the plans, including communications between the state and Folds of Honor.

These latest planned developments first came to light in late August, when the Tampa Bay Times, among others, obtained leaked documents about the plans for the state park as well as a memo about how the Florida Department of Environmental Protection intended to to move the plans forward. The agency has since fired an employee, James Gaddis, for releasing that information, which included an outline of how the state planned to schedule nearly simultaneous public meetings on the proposals for an hour on August 27.

Gaddis, who said he spoke out because he was appalled by the potential environmental devastation, told the Tampa Bay Times that DeSantis' deputy chief of staff, Cody Farrill, was instrumental in pushing through those plans on behalf of the governor's office. Farrill has not responded to text messages asking about his role.

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