DeSantis seems to have dropped off the national radar screen since his humiliating performance in the Republican presidential primary. But at least in Orange County, Florida, DeSantis looks busy setting up what could well be a rigged election.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell did a deep dive into the dark facts behind the appointment of Glen Gilzean as Orange County elections supervisor. For starters, Maxwell reports that Gilzean brazenly flouted ethics rules when he failed to resign as chair of the state’s ethics commission when he got his $400,000-a-year gig running DeSantis’ anti-Disney government district.
Then this:
After Gilzean took over the laughably named Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (the only “tourism” this district controls is Disney), the district started handing out no-bid contracts to politically connected cronies.
Forget looking for the best price or most qualified contractors. Under Gilzean, a politically connected law firm scored a no-bid $495-an-hour contract. Another no-bid deal went to a company owned by — wait for it — another gubernatorial appointee to the state’s ethics commission.
[...] District employees also resigned en masse, calling the new leadership “unqualified and incompetent.”
You may recall that DeSantis set up the anti-Disney district after the company opposed his “Don’t say gay” law. That same law was the genesis of Florida's book-banning crusade. In other words, it was all under the guise of morality. Yet, Bridget Ziegler, probably Florida’s most famous bisexual and “don’t say gay” activist, still serves on both the Disney district and the Sarasota County school board.
I recommend you read Maxwell’s column for a full sense of just how ethically compromised Gilzean is. It says just as much about DeSantis’ so-called ethics, too.
