The last time we checked on freshman legislator Carolina Amesty, there were a lot of questions about $3 million she’d helped steer to a curious project down in South Florida.
The biggest red flag: The funding request she sponsored contained a lie. It claimed the village of Key Biscayne had requested the money for a flooding-prevention project.
Now, it was already odd that a freshman rep from Orlando was championing the needs of a tiny town 240 miles away. But it got even weirder when that town revealed it had never requested the money — that the only supposed justification for the funding, a “letter of support from the village manager of the Village of Key Biscayne,” did not exist.
Orlando Rep. Amesty touts millions in local pork projects – and raises red flags | Commentary
There were many more flags, including that the the project hadn’t been vetted by any independent experts nor deemed necessary by any state department, according to the request. Also that the money wasn’t going to any kind of respected water experts but rather to a small chamber of commerce in South Florida.
The whole thing stunk. But the legislators who approved the funding didn’t seem to care. In fact, House Speaker Paul Renner has steadfastly refused to answer any questions about the taxpayer dollars he voted to give away based on bogus information. And Amesty says questions about inconsistencies in her funding request should be directed to legislators with more seniority.
Apparently in the Florida House of Representatives, the buck stops nowhere.
Well, the politicians up in Tallahassee may not care. But the local ones who were unwittingly dragged into this mess sure do.
Last week, the Key Biscayne city council called a special meeting to set the record straight — and to sever ties with the city lobbyist who’d worked with Amesty on the $3 million request.
Mayor Joe Rasco said the false information used to justify the $3 million project “was a misrepresentation of our view and our interests.”
Council member Allison McCormick said: “This project is clearly not something that aligns with our priorities.”
Former council member Luis de la Cruz called the project “absolutely worthless for us.”
As I watched video of the meeting from afar, I found myself struck by how seriously these local officials took their jobs, their reputations and the taxpayers’ money. They knew something looked rotten. And they felt compelled to speak up and take action.
Compare that to Tallahassee where rotten is apparently just so status quo that nobody considers it a big deal — or fears voter accountability.
If there’s a saving grace, it’s that the senate president’s office confirmed last week that the $3 million check has not yet been cut. So there’s still time to vet this appropriation — the way it should’ve been vetted before lawmakers voted to give the public’s money away.
After all, if legislators had actually looked at the funding request, they would’ve seen the answer to this question: “Has the need for the funds been documented by a study, completed by an independent 3rd party …?” The answer: “No.”
And this one: “Has the appropriate state agency for administering the funding, if the request were appropriated, been contacted?” Again: “No.”
To this day, that agency, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been unable or unwilling to give a single reason why this money should be spent or explain why a little-known chamber of commerce would take the reins on an environmental project instead of state or local environmental agencies.
The funding request said the chamber’s “Institute of Sustainable Water Solutions” would design and develop flood-monitoring techniques. But state records show the Institute didn’t even exist when the money was requested. The chamber formed it later. So this “Institute” isn’t just inexperienced, it was recently nonexistent.
Put it all together, and it looks like this small chamber that endorsed Amesty’s campaign last year and listed $185,000 of total revenues back in 2019 wanted $3 million in state money, didn’t have much documented justification for why it should get it — and ended up bogusly claiming Key Biscayne wanted them to have it.
Also of particular note: The lobbyist for the chamber and the city of Key Biscayne was the same guy, Jonathan Kilman with Converge. That’s who the city severed ties with, responding to a letter where Kilman offered to resign but also said he wanted to stay on. Council members said they wouldn’t assign motives to the error but stressed that it was, in fact, an error that they wanted to disassociate themselves from.
Kilman said in an email Thursday that his firm made an honest mistake. He said erroneous information put on an early draft of the funding request was accidentally left on the final one. But he also said he thought the project would benefit the town. (Remember how village officials described the project: “a misrepresentation of our view and our interests” … “clearly not something that aligns with our priorities” … “absolutely worthless.”)
I can’t say for sure what all the motives were. But we know that $3 million of public money was awarded based, partly, on false information and with very little vetting. That seems like reason enough to put the kibosh on it.
Amesty doesn’t shoulder all the blame. Freshmen back-benchers aren’t usually allowed to raise their hands without permission. And this project isn’t even remotely close to the Orlando Republican’s Disney World district. (Even though Amesty touted the $3 million appropriation for the South Florida chamber in a tweet that said: “CAROLINA AMESTY SECURES MILLIONS FOR OUR COMMUNITY”)
Delivering for Central Florida! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/QQZHU13vKP
— Carolina Amesty (@carolina_amesty) July 8, 2023
It seems like the best thing Renner, Amesty and others could do at this point is say: Look, we made a mistake. We were given false information. Obviously, there’s no way we’re giving away millions of public dollars under that scenario. So we’re holding onto this money.
Then, if the chamber wants to try to get its hands on public money again next session, it can try again — with an accurate funding request. Heck, maybe the state’s environment division could even weigh in on this environmental project.
In other words: The bigwig state officials in Tallahassee could take a page from the lowly council members down in Key Biscayne — and try showing they care about truth, accuracy and the public’s money.
smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com
Rep. Amesty leaves trail of falsehoods, unpaid taxes and bills, records show
