Taxpayers had right to see costs of Pitbull video

It must have seemed like a great idea to the big brains at Visit Florida, the state’s tourism promotion office. Pay a popular Miami rapper a million bucks to extol the glories of Florida in his songs, videos, social media and concerts — and sit back while his young fans come flocking into the state.

Gosh, why didn’t Carl Hiaasen think of this, ask the taxpayers to send him a check whenever he begins writing a new best-selling novel that shows off our state’s wacky side?

Or the makers of “Bloodlines,” the hit Netflix series about murder in the Keys: Instead of asking for tax credits to keep filming in Islamorada — which the show has turned into a must-see destination for binge viewers — maybe those guys should have financed their show with checks from the taxpayers via Florida.

But as things have turned out, Visit Florida’s $1 million contract with hip-hop artist Armando Christian Perez, better known as Pitbull, has been a disaster for this pet agency of Gov. Rick Scott.

Conservative lawmakers squirmed at the contents of Pitbull’s song and video, “Sexy Beaches.” They were blocked from seeing details of the 11-page contract because of ludicrous claims of trade secrets, until the state House of Representatives filed a lawsuit that prompted Pitbull to release the contents on Twitter.

The tumult has caused the governor to ask for the resignation of Visit Florida’s president and CEO, Will Seccombe. Two other top positions in the agency, for marketing and finance, are gone. Two other Visit Florida sponsorship deals — with London-based Fulham Football Club ($1.25 million this fiscal year) and Daytona-based IMSA auto racing ($2.9 million) — are now under close scrutiny.

And at another state agency, Space Florida, officials fret that they’ll face inquiries about their own deals, including a $1 million line of credit issued to an unnamed company.

Well, they should be worried. It is ridiculous for expenditures of the public’s money to be hidden from public view.

House Minority Leader Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, had it exactly right in saying that prying the contents loose was a “win” for Floridians, who can now decide if the contract was a good deal for the state. “There is no excuse for a lack of transparency when it comes to how taxpayer dollars are being spent,” she said.

And House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, was right, too, to lament that it took a lawsuit to get the facts: “This was a long, unnecessary journey through claims of trade secrets, threats of prosecution and corporate welfare paid for by taxpayers.”

One good thing came out of this fiasco. It gave Corcoran more ammunition in the war he’s been waging on corporate welfare in the state budget, with sallies against the business-recruiter Enterprise Florida as well as next fiscal year’s $74 million proposed budget for Visit Florida. “This agency didn’t even exist prior to 1996,” he points out, “and guess what, we had tons of tourists.”

Although Visit Florida claims that every $1 in the Pitbull program generated $8.50 in media attention, Corcoran points out: “The reality is that not one single (piece of ) evidence is out there to suggest that there is a correlation between the amount of money we spend on advertising and the amount of tourists.”

So, kudos to the lawmakers who are asking hard questions about the governor’s penchant for spreading tax dollars like pixie dust to promote Florida as the place to take a vacation or move a business. And for insisting those incentives be available for public view.

Frankly, we doubt lawmakers would have cared very much about the $1 million paid to Pitbull if they weren’t offended by the content of Pitbull’s video, which shows young women cavorting in swimsuits to lyrics that present our state as a mecca of casual sex:

“I wanna go somewhere exotic / Let the summer search my body / Meet a sexy stranger in the lobby / And I know what they want / And I know what they need / I just look ’em in the eyes / And they’re leaving with me / We will do all the wrong things / Wrong things you like / Baby, better do it tonight / Let’s ride.”

Your tax dollars at work.