DeSantis seeks airport inquiry
Governor asks special prosecutor to review Sunshine complaint.
Gov. Ron DeSantis asked State Attorney Phil Archer to step in as a special prosecutor to investigate a possible violation of Florida’s open meetings law earlier this year at Orlando International Airport.
A spokesman for Archer, the top state prosecutor in Seminole and Brevard counties, said Archer agreed to look into the matter, which originated from a controversy over lucrative attorney contracts that erupted on the board that controls the state’s busiest airport. The Florida Department of
Law Enforcement is conducting an investigation and will turn over its findings to Archer’s office.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who sit on the airport board, questioned whether “inappropriate” conversations took place about a plan supported by Chairman Domingo Sanchez and DeSantis’ new appointees to the board to hire new co-general counsels.
This marks the second time the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will review the complaint from the First Amendment Foundation related to the Aug. 28 meeting of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
State Attorney Aramis Ayala first received the letter from Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment group, in September.
Ayala forwarded the complaint to FDLE. She said her office had a conflict of interest because one of her top deputies is the daughter of former state Supreme Court Justice James Perry, who was one of the attorneys considered for hire at the airport.
Just three days after FDLE received the letter from Ayala’s office, the agency had already decided against investigating the matter.
“The allegations described in the letter are, at best, circumstantial, ” read a response from FDLE to Ayala’s office. “The allegation relies solely on a newspaper article. At this time no witnesses have come forward to offer any evidence as to a violation of Florida law; nor was any independent evidence presented to corroborate the allegation.”
The agency told her office that the allegations, if substantiated, would at most amount to a second-degree misdemeanor and “do not meet FDLE’s investigative strategy.”
Apparently unsatisfied with that response, Ayala asked that DeSantis appoint a special prosecutor in the matter.
The governor’s office said this week that he issued an executive order in October asking Archer to take over.
FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said Friday that the agency “is currently assisting Mr.
Archer’s office with an investigation related [to] the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.”
Petersen, who wrote the complaint letter, said she did not know the case was reassigned and has not been contacted related to the investigation. The First Amendment group is funded by media organizations, including the Orlando Sentinel.
Her letter noted that the mayors had questioned how the plan for the new attorneys had come together given that it was not on the board’s agenda and no information was provided to board, including how much the new contracts would cost the publicly-funded airport.
The board voted 5-2 to move forward with the proposal with both mayors dissenting.
Longtime airport general counsel Marcos Marchena had been under pressure for months to resign by some board members and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach. He resigned in August before the meeting that prompted the review.
At a later meeting, the plan to hire no-bid co-interim general counsels was scrapped. Instead the board asked candidates to interview for the interim general counsel job. In November, Dan Gerber of Rumberger Kirk & Caldwell, who was not part of the original proposal, was hired for the position that is expected to last up to six months.