TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A former employee who leaked details about plans by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to construct golf programs and accommodations in Florida state parks has filed a whistleblower lawsuit.
James Gaddis alleges that the Florida Division of Environmental Safety retaliated towards him for sharing particulars of the proposals, which brought on bipartisan outrage and sparked protests. Finally the plans had been scuttled.
A spokesperson for the division declined to remark, saying the company doesn’t achieve this with pending litigation.
Gaddis, who was a guide in DEP’s Workplace of Park Planning, says he was directed to attract up “secret maps” to construct golf programs, accommodations and pickleball courts in 9 parks. Park staffers had been ordered to not discuss to any colleagues in regards to the proposals, which in Gaddis’ view amounted to destroying “globally vital” environments.
The expertise felt like “mapping out a future crime scene,” based on the lawsuit, which was filed in Leon County.
Gaddis copied paperwork onto a flash drive and shared it with an unnamed middleman, the lawsuit says, and the following day the Tampa Bay Occasions wrote in regards to the plans.
Gaddis says he was known as into a gathering by a supervisor and requested if he shared the paperwork, which he admitted to. He was placed on administrative go away and later fired, and the go well with says that amounted to disparate therapy and retaliation.
The criticism seeks damages of no less than $100,000.
The Republican-dominated state Legislature has since handed a invoice banning improvement in state parks, and DeSantis signed it into regulation.
Gaddis began an internet fundraiser to assist cowl bills, with an preliminary aim of $10,000. As of June 11, it had introduced in additional than $258,000.
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