by Caroline Klancke | Feb 12, 2024
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...
by Florida Trident staff | Feb 9, 2024
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...
by Bob Norman | Feb 2, 2024
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...
by Michael Barfield | Feb 1, 2024
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...
by Michael Barfield | Jan 24, 2024
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...
by Michael Barfield | Jan 19, 2024
[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...