Investigative reporter covering corporate influence in Florida. Publisher of Seeking Rents. Garcia.JasonR@gmail.com.
Orlando
Joined January 2009
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Jason Garcia retweeted
Discussing #SchoolofHope and #Florida's latest corporate charter chain giveaway with @Jason_Garcia and @HaveYouHeardPod
Give it a listen. soundcloud.com/haveyouheardp…
The email trail was unearthed by Seeking Rents through a public records request that we made near the end of this year’s legislative session.
This is about as gross as it gets in Tallahassee.
And it’s even uglier than you may realize.
Many more details at the link below:
That sentence buried deep inside the budget — the line that enabled Florida’s top politicians to pull off a land deal that a longtime conservation leader called “a sham” — came, emails show, from a lobbyist for the developer...
And the state’s GOP-controlled Cabinet quickly signed off on the extravagant purchase price, which, at more than $20 million an acre, is more than 10 times the price the developer and his partners paid for the land less than a decade ago...
Three months later, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis used that little line in the budget to spend $83.3 million in taxpayer money on a tiny spit of vacant land in Destin that records show is majority owned by a prominent real-estate developer and Republican Party donor...
In June, just before Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature finalized the state budget, GOP leaders slipped a sentence into the spending plan authorizing state officials to acquire a piece of property in the Panhandle through a popular land-preservation program.
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Jason Garcia retweeted
NEW: Floridians and politicians were confused and outraged about a deal for the state to pay $83M for 4 acres of land in Destin.
New records show a lobbyist for the landowner wrote the proposal that led to the purchase.
w/ @MaxChesnes, h/t @Jason_Garcia
tampabay.com/news/environmen…
Jason Garcia retweeted
‘You betrayed us’: Manatee County residents beg for repeal of Florida’ planning restriction law floridaphoenix.com/2025/10/2…
Perhaps that's because using government power to help ag companies silence their critics would seem to be completely at odds with a wide swath of the Trump base – including folks in the MAHA movement or people who are passionate about free speech.
Oddly, Wilton Simpson's office doesn't mention this part of his "farm bill" in a lengthy press release they put out this morning...
That's not all.
Simpson's bill would even enable ag companies to sue critics of "any agricultural practices used in the production."
Like, say, the sugar industry's practice of setting pre-harvest fires in their cane fields that produce a toxic soot known as "Black snow"...
Florida's food libel law currently empowers ag companies that produce *perishable* food products (ie: fruits, veggies, meat) to sue industry critics.
Wilton Simpson's plan would expand the law to cover producers of *non-perishable* food products, too..
Florida is one of ~13 states with food libel laws, which make it easier for ag companies to sue people who criticize the safety of their food.
These laws have famously been used by the beef industry to sue Oprah Winfrey & ABC and the egg industry to sue environmental groups...
The idea is buried inside a 60-page "farm bill" just filed in the Florida Legislature that is being spearheaded by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
It would expand what is known as Florida's "food libel," "food disparagement" or "veggie libel" law...
A top Florida politician – a guy who was just endorsed by President Donald Trump – is now pushing a plan to help agriculture companies sue MAHA activists, environmental groups, news organizations, and others who criticize the ag industry...
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Altogether, Seeking Rents now estimates that Florida's governor burned between $35 million and $40 million in taxpayer money on so-called "public service announcements" attacking the two ballot measures each of which were supported by large majorities of Florida voters...
