DeSantis conceals his travel records from public scrutiny

TALLAHASSEE — With a stroke of a pen, Gov. Ron DeSantis concealed his travel records – past, present and future – from public scrutiny at the same time he’s made frequent trips outside the state as a prelude to a possible presidential campaign kick-off.

It was difficult to trace the governor’s travel before he signed the bill into law Thursday night, which went into effect immediately. Hundreds of requests for the records going back more than a year are still in the pipeline.

Now it will be even harder, First Amendment advocates said.

“The retroactivity makes it such that we’re not going to get anything related to his travel,” said Michael Barfield, director of public access for the Florida Center for Government Accountability.

The bill, approved along party lines in both chambers, exempts travel records maintained by law enforcement agencies for the governor, his immediate family, the lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, legislative leaders and other dignitaries.

It also shields the names of guests to the governor’s mansion on non-government business.

While the bill applies to pending requests, a spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which maintains those records, said they will not be expunged.

“We’re still going to process requests like we always have,”  Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said, denying that any pending requests are going to automatically be denied.  “If there’s an exemption, we’ll apply it.”

When a record comes up, the FDLE’s public records officers pull it and review it to see if anything needs redaction. Each report is reviewed in the order received, Plessinger said.

“Once a request is received it can take a few months to review because of the volume of requests,” she said.

FDLE has over 700 requests on the backlog, some asking for investigations, member emails, as well as travel records, she said.

Reporters and the public will still be able to get the cost of security and travel, but not details such as which hotels they stay in because they frequently return to the same hotels, she said.

The annual reports summarizing the cost of travel and security for the governor, his family and other state officials and dignitaries will continue to be published, she said.

Republicans, who hold a supermajority in both chambers, said the law was needed to ensure the safety and security of the governor and other officials, as well as the officers who protect them when they travel. The exemption would prevent people from mapping out their future movements as well.

During an appearance last week in Titusville, DeSantis said the proposal was not his idea.

“With the security situation, how you do patterns of movements, if you’re somebody that is targeted, which unfortunately I am, and I get a lot of threats, that could be something that could be helpful for people that may not want to do good things,” DeSantis said.

Democrats and First Amendment advocates have objected that the exemption would go beyond travel itineraries and also prevent the release of information about where the governor went and who attended meetings and events.

Even when he is traveling on campaign business, the FDLE must still provide security at taxpayer expense. Use of the state jet is allowed as long as his campaign reimburses the state.

Records show he is a frequent flyer, logging in 139 days of flying time in a recent 12-month span. Several times a week, DeSantis travels around the state signing bills at campaign-style events and frequently travels out of state for book signings and political events in other states.

Friday, for example, DeSantis flew to Fort Myers to sign two bills before traveling to Peoria, Ill., to attend a Lincoln Day dinner sponsored by state Republicans.

An Orlando Sentinel examination of state records last year showed that DeSantis recruited a group of wealthy hoteliers, developers, restaurateurs, investment brokers, trucking magnates, health executives, gas station and convenience store owners, and oil distributors to foot his travel bill. Some of them benefited from appointments to state boards and laws enacted by DeSantis.

Not only did wealthy people donate tens of millions of dollars in cash to the governor, they made more than $500,000 worth of in-kind contributions to cover his transportation costs, the investigation found.

Going forward will be even tougher to tell if DeSantis is using the state plane for government business or if those trips overlap with campaign events, Barfield said. “People won’t bother to file because the governor has stopped these requests just by the inordinate delays.”

It was already difficult to get records when they were not exempt. The Florida Center for Government Accountability successfully sued DeSantis’ office to produce records related to the controversial relocation of 48 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last fall.

The state paid at least $1.5 million to defend itself, records show, which is the same amount Panhandle contractor Vertol Systems was paid to arrange and conduct the flights.

Seven months after a Florida judge against the governor’s office, they still haven’t provided all the records requested, Barfield said. “That’s what you have to do to get records in this state.”

News Service of Florida contributed to this report.