As the executive director of the Florida Ethics Institute and former deputy executive director of the Florida Commission on Ethics, I’ve dedicated my life and career to the cause of ethics in government and have been heartened to see that cause championed by the...
Former Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes’ jail mugshot is what government accountability looks like. The 63-year-old Hopes was charged Thursday with three felony crimes – notary fraud, grand theft, and felony use of a public record – following a police...
AP/US News Mike Schneider February 5, 2024 Disney wants to keep confidential any proprietary information or trade secrets that comes out of its state court fight with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees over who controls the governing district at Walt Disney World. The...
The Orlando Sentinel Skyler Swisher February 5, 2024 As Disney tries to rebound from a major legal setback, the entertainment giant is battling Gov. Ron DeSantis and state officials on another front: access to public records. The corporation’s lawyers are demanding...
A top Florida ethics expert is sounding the alarm about an ethics bill passed by the state Senate Thursday that would make it easier for corrupt officials to avoid investigation – and much harder for residents to hold them to account. “This bill would be incredibly...
While Republican power couple Christian and Bridget Ziegler publicly pushed for “family values” and backed an agenda widely viewed as anti-LGBTQ, they were secretly on the “hunt” for threesome lovers and had prior concerns the woman who alleged Christian sexually...
New details have emerged in the now-closed sexual battery investigation of recently ousted Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler that contradict his claim a threesome involving his wife was planned on the day the woman alleged he raped her. Bridget Ziegler, a...
[UPDATE: The Sarasota Police Department issued a press release that confirms this story. Information from the release has been added below] The Sarasota Police Department has closed the rape investigation of Christian Ziegler with no charges filed, but are forwarding...
Veteran Jacksonville Republican politico Robin Lumb has some harsh words for the local Republican Party. “Dark money PACs, which operate with virtually no oversight or accountability, have thoroughly corrupted Republican politics in Duval County,” he said. “If...
Sarasota police are investigating whether Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler unlawfully videotaped the sexual encounter at the heart of a rape allegation against him, a third search warrant affidavit obtained by the Florida Trident reveals. Based on the newly...