DeSantis for the win

the information the lockdown fascists have been trying to hide.

“All I had to do was follow the data and just be willing to go forward into the teeth of the narrative and fight the media.

“As people were beating up on me, what I said was I’d rather them beat up on me than have someone lose their job. I’d rather have them beat up on me than have kids locked out of school. I’m totally willing to take whatever heat comes our way because we’re doing the right thing.”

 

For the win. Not as funny as cartoons, but much more effective.

 

"DeSantis for the win" - Governor will not release the Publix vaccine contracts which are public records. Yet another example of hiding information he is required to release by law.

We paid for public records on Publix vaccine deal. Florida still won’t release them
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opi...0210420-tpw6bg33pndnhie37ck7ksocou-story.html

For the past two weeks, Gov. Ron DeSantis has been fuming about “60 Minutes.”

DeSantis claims the CBS news show did a hatchet job on him by insinuating that Florida’s COVID vaccine partnership with Publix — announced just days after the grocery chain gave his campaign $100,000— was a “pay for play” scheme.

DeSantis has been telling any Fox News host who will listen that “60 Minutes” wasn’t interested in telling the full story behind how Publix got the exclusive vaccination deal back in January.

Well, I’ll tell you one news organization that has been trying to get the full story: The Orlando Sentinel.

We’ve been trying for three months now.

We’ve asked for contracts and public records. We even paid to get them after DeSantis staffers demanded a check before handing over the records.

It’s been eight weeks since the state received our check. We still haven’t received the records.

I guess it’s possible DeSantis isn’t intentionally hiding this information. Maybe his staff simply lacks competence. Or just doesn’t care about fulfilling record requests in a timely manner.

Today I’m going to let you know what we’ve done in pursuit of the full story. You can draw your own conclusions.

It started on Jan. 5, back when every corner of the state was desperate for vaccines. DeSantis sent out a press release saying Florida had “partnered with Publix Supermarkets” to provide vaccines in three — and only three — Florida counties.

Any news about vaccines was welcome. But we also had questions: Why only Publix? And why only these three (heavily Republican) counties?

I inquired. DeSantis spokesman Meredith Beatrice responded that Publix was “the first private-sector company to answer the call.” But she didn’t say which other pharmacies were asked. And no one responded to my question about why those three counties were selected.

So I wanted to see the records for myself. I wanted to know how Publix got this exclusive deal and what level of service the chain was expected to provide Floridians. Other Sentinel journalists had questions as well. We were getting hundreds of questions from readers who didn’t understand why some Floridians were getting vaccine access and others weren’t. Also about why Publix — which couldn’t handle all the demand — was the only retailer on the front lines back then.

So on Feb. 1, we asked for copies of any contracts the state had with Publix.

A week went by. We got nothing.

On Feb. 9, I emailed Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz, asking why the state hadn’t fulfilled this basic request. His communications director responded: “The state does not have a contract with Publix.”

Now, that response didn’t make much sense. DeSantis had repeatedly touted this “partnership” he had secured with Publix. Yet there was nothing in writing? No metrics of accountability? No performance guarantees?

I asked how that was possible. That’s when the story started changing. Publix said its vaccine agreement was with the feds— not with the governor who’d previously announced a “partnership” with the state.

This when journalists often say:Enough. We don’t want changing stories. We just want the facts — the public documents that spell things out in black and white.

So on Feb. 12 the Sentinel’s attorney, Giselle Girones, filed a formal request for all contracts, memorandums of understanding and emails “between the state of Florida and/or any of its agencies and Publix related to COVID-19 vaccines.”

More than two months have passed. We still don’t have them.

Back in February, the state told us it would take a staffer three hours to get our records and that we need to pay $122.22 for their time before they would fulfill our request.

We made that payment on Feb. 26.

Then … nothing. So Girones started asking where our records were.

On March 9, a state lawyer said: “Your request is in the queue for processing.”

On March 25, a staffer said he hoped “to have it ready for you next week.”

On April 5, the state said producing the records is “taking a bit longer than anticipated.”

Finally, last week, Girones wrote to say: “The continued delay is unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that the invoice was for 3 hours of legal review. Please produce the records as requested and paid for immediately.”

Well, we still don’t have these records … more than seven weeks after we were told it would take three hours to produce them.

You tell me if you believe this governor has made a good faith effort to produce this information — these documents that might tell a story he keeps claiming media won’t share.

Maybe we’ll have to sue him again. We already did so before, forcing the state to cough up COVID data and then pay our legal costs.

It seems simpler to just follow the state’s open-records laws.

Honestly, I think the “60 Minutes” story was a bit sloppy and showy.

There are many reasons to be suspicious of Florida’s vaccination roll out — including the wealthy communities that got special access; a yacht club down in the Keys and a Manatee County community with a VIP vaccination list that included DeSantis supporters.

Vaccination politics in Florida: VIP lists? Donor favors? Time to investigate | Commentary »

But the Sentinel hasn’t lodged any “pay for play” accusations regarding Publix because we don’t have the evidence. Heck, for all I know, DeSantis was trying to claim credit for a retail deal the feds set up.

But here’s the thing: We shouldn’t have to guess and float theories. Not about public records and public resources during a public health crisis.

We just want the facts — which is what we’ve been seeking now for months.

DeSantis has threatened to sue “60 Minutes.” I doubt he will.

Why? Because, if he does, the legal proceedings would open his administration up to the discovery process where the state would have to provide every email, text message and document about how the state decided to set up vaccine sites and access.

That’s some of the very information we’ve been seeking for weeks — and which the DeSantis administration seems awfully uninterested in providing.

 

Yeah, you can tell that's a "news article" and not a blog post by someone who has an agenda.

 

Are you doubting the newspapers efforts and timelines to get the public information which DeSantis and Florida is required under law to provide?