Plane facts: Scott stranded DeSantis on air travel

TALLAHASSEE — It sounds like something out of a Carl Hiaasen novel: The governor of Florida travels around the state on official business in a plane seized in a drug raid.

You got it: A drug dealer’s ill-gotten gains would allow Gov. Ron DeSantis to attend a drugprevention conference in Palm Beach County. Seriously? It would be hilariously funny, except that it’s true. And it’s another example of the misguided legacy of former Gov. Rick Scott, who decided to scrap two state aircraft because he was so rich he had his own. But in so doing, Scott left other state officials — and his successor — to fend for themselves in reaching their 21 million constituents.

Scott was insistent: A state-owned aircraft was “irresponsible and not a core function for government to meet the state’s critical needs,” he said a few weeks after taking office in 2011. Two planes were soon gone, at an estimated savings of $2.4 million a year.

But what looked like shrewd politics eight years ago now looks incredibly short-sighted, and it’s going to cost taxpayers millions of dollars to buy or lease a plane and hire enough pilots and mechanics to keep it in the air.

In his first month in office, DeSantis has kept up a torrid pace of public events all over the state, from Fort Lauderdale to Panama City and seemingly everywhere in between.

It would have been impossible without a Beechcraft King Air seized by state law enforcement agents in a drug raid.

The plane was briefly grounded in Clearwater on Jan. 11 after a mechanical malfunction that has still not been publicly explained. The equipment failure raised real questions about the safety of the governor and those traveling with him.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which owns and operates the King Air, is waiting for relevant records, an agency spokesman said.

“It is ridiculous,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told his colleagues this week, “if we’re the third-largest state in the union, that the governor is having to travel around in the manner that he’s having to travel around right now.”

As a wealthy, self-funded, first-time candidate for governor eight years ago, Scott ran as an outsider. The man he had to beat in a Republican primary was Bill McCollum, then the attorney general, who frequently used the state plane on official business and sometimes arranged for drop-offs near his home in suburban Orlando.

Scott ran a memorable (and damaging) TV ad calling McCollum a “frequent flier.” The spot closed with the sound of a captain on the intercom, telling passengers: “You are now free to get rid of career politicians.”

Scott probably saved Florida taxpayers millions of dollars during his eight years in office by flying in his own plane, like the CEO of a private company. But that led to more problems: It was at the expense of the public transparency that Floridians deserve and that previous governors provided without complaint.

Not Scott. He blocked his official travel from appearing on aircraft tracking sites. His office never responded to public records requests for the costs of operating and maintaining his jet.

Former Governors Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush routinely disclosed the names of their flying passengers, and DeSantis should do the same. If the governor is cruising over Orlando with a prominent lobbyist, key lawmaker or state university president, people have a right to know that.

DeSantis’ $91.3 billion budget proposal made no mention of an airplane. But his allies in the Legislature likely will take care of it on their own.

“I think it’s completely appropriate for him to have a secure means for him to move around the state,” Bradley said. “He has to move in very short periods of time when events happen, and he needs to have transportation that’s appropriate — whether he asks for it or not.”

It’s another example of the misguided legacy of former Gov. Rick Scott, who decided to scrap two state aircraft because he was so rich he had his own. But in so doing, Scott left other state officials — and his successor — to fend for themselves in reaching their 21 million constituents.