In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
Dear Governor DeSantis and Assistant Attorneys General Pat Gleason and Nicholas Weilhammer, Clerk Patty, et al:
Would you please be so kind as to send me PDFs of the documents on investigations, citizen complaints, referrals, policy analysis and planning for planned or potential Florida DOGE, Florida Attorney General, Florida Inspector General, St. Johns County Inspector General, St. Johns County Clerk of Courts or St. Johns County Sheriff investigations our mismanaged Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County (AMCD), AMCD's controversial $4.5 million Mosquito Museum' and its 41% cost overruns, and AMCD Board members' illegal pay raises in violation of the state law $4800 annual pay cap, F.S. 388.141?
Lived here for more than 26 years. Proud to have been a part of dozens of public interest victories here in St. Augustine, where the late David Brian Walace and I moved on November 5, 1999. Here's our heroic reform Mayor of St. Augustine, Nancy E. Shaver, elected in 2014.
Check out the November 19, 2006 St. Augustine Record editorial, "Always Important to Stick to Your Guns," defending me against angry attack by then-Mayor of City of St. Augustine, stating inter alia:
Editorial: Always important to stick to your guns
St. Augustine Record Editorial: Always important to stick to your guns From Staff Publication Date: 11/19/06
Soon-to-be-former-Mayor George Gardner let one rip at the St. Augustine City Commission meeting last week when he went after city gadfly Ed Slavin.
For those of you who don¹t know, Slavin is a regular at City Commission meetings. He is quick to point out what he thinks is wrong with city government, which is plenty.
Slavin is not subtle. If he thinks you¹re a crook, he¹ll tell you to your face.
And, yes, Hizzoner is correct that Slavin can be abrasive, although he¹s always polite when he calls us, even if he is questioning our competency, which means he¹s not always alone in his views.
Hizzoner pointed out that Slavin has asked the City Commission about 200 questions, which the mayor thinks is an abuse of the public comment section of its meetings.
And he went after Slavin, pointing out that he was disbarred in Tennessee in part because of his harassment and intimidation of officers of the court. Slavin questioned judges¹ competency in court and hurled insults at other lawyers.
Well, that¹s true.
It¹s also true that without Slavin the citizens of St Augustine would not have known the city was illegally dumping waste material in a borrow pit off Homes Boulevard.
After the mayor spoke, he got a standing ovation from almost everyone in the room. Only our reporter and Slavin remained seated.
We¹re here to tell you this. Ed Slavin is brilliant. Not just bright, brilliant. The Supreme Court of Tennessee, in finding fault with him, acknowledged his ³intellect and legal skills.
Here¹s some stuff you may not know about Slavin. As the editor of the Appalachian Observer in 1982, he filed a request to get some federal documents declassified. Because of his persistence, he found out and shared with the world that the Department of Energy Oak Ridge (Tenn.) Operations had ³lost¹¹ 2.4 million pounds of mercury in Oak Ridge. Later it turned out they had actually lost 4.2 million pounds of mercury.
His work discovered widespread DOE and contractor misconduct. That became a national story.
He went on to become a public interest attorney, armed with his view of never giving up because individuals can change history.
Yes, Slavin is persistent. Yes, he overplays his hand a lot. Yes, he can be obnoxious. And, yes, we would not want to be on the receiving end of Slavin¹s barbs any more than we already are.
But we¹re happy that there are gadflies like Slavin in our world. They add texture to our public forums and, as in the case of the illegal dumping, get it right sometimes.
So, to our public officials, we suggest you get thicker skins.
To those of you who stood up to applaud the mayor after he lambasted Slavin, shame on you for trying to stifle free speech. All of us should defend people¹s right to express their views, even when they are unpopular.
And to Slavin, you may want to soften your delivery, but don¹t be hushed. Remember that it¹s not important to be popular; it is important to stick to your guns.
Click here to return to story: http://staugustine.com/stories/111906/opinions_if83a3k.shtml
To St. Johns County voters: On November 3, 2026, may I please have the honor of your votes for Commissioner of the Anastasia Mosquito District of St. Johns County?
Endorsed by both Historic City News and St. Johns County Democratic Party in 2024.
Here's my 2024 Q&A with the League of Women Voters:
What motivated you to run for office?
It's our money. I've been a watchdog on mosquito control since 2006. Mosquitoes could bring us the next global pandemic. We will be prepared with data, research, education, and environmentally-friendly, non-toxic natural pesticides. My dad was an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper, infected with malaria in Sicily. Dad recovered in Army hospitals, but we saw dad suffer lifetime effects. LWV's Ms. Robin Nadeau asked me to help her investigate Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County, buying a $1.8 million no-bid, luxury Bell Jet Long Ranger helicopter incapable of killing a single skeeter, not unlike buying a Porsche to propel a snowplow. We persuaded AMCD to cancel illegal, no-bid helicopter contract, saving $1.8 million in 2007.
What do you see as the most pressing issues for this office and how do you propose to address them? Advancing research and education while protecting scientific integrity and employee whistleblower rights; safeguarding the independence of AMCD, an independent scientific and technical organization; protecting public health, the environment and public funds. Let's assure that "whistleblower" ethical employees are heard and heeded whenever they raise concerns. Let's resist any further effort by the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners to take over independent AMCD, as attempted by former SJC County Administrator Michael Wanchick and County Commission Chairmen. I oppose allowing arbitration clauses in AMCD contracts, Yes, I've been a watchdog of mosquito control environmental protection and spending since December 2006. What training, experience, and characteristics qualify you for this position? Helped persuade our independent mosquito district to cancel unwise, no-bid luxury $1.8 million helicopter contract. Won declassification of our frail planet's largest-ever mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn. Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant),triggering nationwide cleanups; recommended for Pulitzer Prize by DA. Clerked for USDOL Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt and Judge Charles Rippey. Staffer for Senators Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart & Jim Sasser. B.S.F.S., Georgetown U.; J.D., Memphis State U. Your watchdog, termed an "environmental hero" by FOLIO WEEKLY (after reporting City's illegal dumping of landfill in lake and illegal sewage effluent pollution of our saltwater marsh). Shall we ask questions, demand answers & expect democracy?
How important are environmental concerns when making decisions for the Anastasia Mosquito Control District? Very important Explain your answer. Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" informs good science and use of non-toxic natural pesticides as much as possible. Amid global climate change, the next pandemic could be a mosquito-borne disease. Let's protect AMCD independence, education and applied research to protect public health and our environment. I support AMCD's leadership on natural pesticides. I once reported FEMA and AMCD to federal environmental law officials when bald eagles were exposed to organophosphate pesticides. Support AMCD working with other mosquito control districts and officials to share scientific knowledge to protect all of us "non-target species": mosquito control workers, residents, tourists, pets, horses, livestock, bees and other pollinators, flora and fauna. St. Johns County is growing rapidly. How does this impact the management of mosquito control? Overdevelopment increases the expense of mosquito control and increases exposure of families to mosquitoes from wetlands. St. Johns County Commissioners, developers and their big money clout decide way too many unwise development decisions. This requires our nimble small mosquito control special taxing district to innovate, with sensitive adaptation of mosquito control techniques to protect entire new neighborhoods, which seem to spring up overnight, adjoining wetlands. Public education, applied research, sound science-based policies and non-toxic mosquito control methods, are all essential to protecting public health from mosquito-borne diseases. AMCD exists to prevent any outbreaks of deadly mosquito-borne diseases. We must do it right!
An example of Florida wetlands. (Photo by Julie Hauserman/Florida Phoenix)
Florida environmentalists are sounding the alarm that the Florida Legislature once again appears poised to dramatically reduce funding for Florida Forever, the state’s main program for buying land for conservation.
Although the Legislature allocated $18 million last year, the House’s proposed FY 2026/27 budget defunds the program outright, while the Senate allocates $35 million, with that money directed to easements on private agricultural lands only, eliminating traditional land acquisition.
Instead, GOP lawmakers would direct hundreds of millions of dollars to the Rural and Family Lands Protection program, which allows agricultural landowners to permanently preserve their land from development.
Conservation easements not the same thing, environmentalists maintain
“While these conservation easements are good for cattle, provide linkages to wildlife, and keep these properties from being converted to subdivisions and shopping malls, they do not allow for public access,” noted St. Petersburg Democratic Rep. Lindsay Cross on the floor of the House last week.
“You can’t just park on the side of the road, sneak under a barbed wire fence, and take your family for a hike on a cattle ranch. What we are losing by not funding a program like Florida Forever and programs like the Florida Community Trust is safe access to our beautiful wild Florida for families and tourists who flock to this state.”
Republicans have hailed rural lands protection easements as a way to prevent future development of land while allowing agricultural operations to continue contributing to the state’s economy, all while not imposing burdens on taxpayer by having to maintain state-owned land.
GOP Rep. John Snyder from Stuart is chair of the Agriculture & Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee. He says that over the past two years, there has been a “false” battle between Florida Forever and Rural and Family Lands programs.
“At the end of the day, Floridians expect this Legislature to use the money that we are stewards over to dedicate a portion of that to preserving beautiful real Florida forever,” he said in response to Cross. “To make sure that the lands that make this state what it is can be put into a place of trust, where for generations to come Floridians have the ability to look and reap the benefits of that.”
House Budget Appropriations Chair Lawrence McClure said last week that criticism about defunding Florida Forever without discussing the other conservation efforts that his chamber is spending money on is “cheap conservation.”
“The role of ‘Family Lands’ has a tremendous track record of conserving lands while keeping it in production, right? So, government can specifically say, ‘This is how we want to conserve it.’ But the taxpayer’s not going to own the burden of maintaining it,” he said.
McClure added that there are definitely places that the state should protect to the fullest extent possible “with feasible purchases,” such as state parks. “I think that there’s a balance that needs to be had and this year’s budget contemplates that balance.”
“I think there is a philosophical opposition among some legislative leaders to fee-simple purchases because they see it as taking land off the tax rolls and imposing a management burden on the state for the future,” said Paul Owens, president of 1000 Friends of Florida.
“But that perspective downplays the benefits that come with fee-simple purchases of public access and the possibility of expanding park plans and wildlife management areas and preserves in the future.”
Democratic House Leader Fentrice Driskell said she doesn’t have a problem with directing money towards the Rural and Family Land program but is disturbed that the House has zeroed out funding for Florida Forever.
“It’s concerning to me because it seems to be a shift in policy priorities that is out of alignment with how we’re supposed to spend those funds,” she said.
In discussing Florida Forever last week, Rep. Cross noted that the program had been funded at around $300 million regularly under previous governors, like Jeb Bush.
The popularity of Florida Forever
The Legislature created the program in 1999, a year after more than 72% of Florida voters approved a conservation constitutional amendment. As Cross stated, the program was regularly funded with Bush at the helm at $300 million annually.
Those funding levels dropped after the Great Recession, and then the program was totally defunded under then-Gov. Rick Scott. Since its inception, the state has acquired more than 907,000 acres, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
In 2014, 75% of Floridians passed another constitutional amendment requiring that the state set aside $10 billion in tax money over the subsequent 20 years to purchase environmentally sensitive land.
Those sentiments haven’t changed in 2026.
A public opinion survey conducted earlier this month by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy found that 78% of Republican voters and 83% of Democratic voters supported $100 million in state funding for Florida Forever in next year’s budget.
While House Republicans appear to have their own philosophy on how best to use state funds, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ doesn’t take the same approach. The governor proposed $115 million in his 2026-’27 FY budget unveiled last December, as well as $200 million for the Rural and Family Lands program.
Paul Owens with 1000 Friends of Florida credits the governor for “recognizing the importance of maintaining and sustaining consistent funding for Florida Forever,” but adds that even if the state were somehow to fund at that amount this year, it’d be a relative drop in the state’s economic bucket.
“Even at $115 million dollars, that’s a relatively modest commitment to Florida Forever when you consider that’s a tenth of a percent of the state’s $115 billion budget, so Florida has room in its budget to properly fund and sustain Florida Forever,” Owens said.
Failing to do so could result in some important environmental properties being “lost to development in the meantime,” he added.
The environmental community in Florida isn’t throwing in the towel just yet. The Florida Wildlife Federation is among the groups calling on their supporters to contact state legislators to restore the program to its $300 million level.
In their proposed budgets, the House has proposed $300 million for the Rural and Family Lands program; the Senate, $200 million.
The legislative session is set to end on March 13.
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Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Courthouse for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. (Photo by Michael Moline/Florida Phoenix)
Lawyers for a state worker fired after a Charlie Kirk-related social media post are again asking a judge to reinstate her.
The American Civil Liberties Union and attorneys representing Brittney Brown, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission employee fired in September, are asking for summary judgement in the suit filed against the state.
That would mean the evidence against the agency is strong enough on its face to make a trial unnecessary.
“After a right-wing social media account stalked, copied, and amplified Brown’s private post along with information about her position with the FWC and demanded her immediate termination, the FWC terminated Brown within 24 hours,” Brown’s attorneys argue in a plea for her to get her job back and for injunctive relief preventing further retaliation from FWC, considering the limited opportunities in her field of research.
The case started in September, following Kirk’s killing. Brown reposted to her private Instagram story something that eventually caught the attention of Libs of TikTok, which posted it to X alongside her LinkedIn profile, calling for her firing.
“The whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all,” Brown shared from a profile that parodies how a whale might see the world. She attests that she shared the post while on vacation and outside of Florida.
The agency claimed the post FWC violated its “zero-tolerance policy towards the promotion of violence and hate,” but Brown’s attorneys argued her repost in no way called for further violence.
Brown wants compensatory damages, given that from the time she was fired until the end of January she’s missed out on nearly $20,000 in wages. She seeks punitive damages, too.
The state argues “her assertions of chill and irreparable harm cannot create standing where there is no ongoing or imminent government action against her.”
Speech in Brown’s social media repost is “protected by the First Amendment and unrelated to her job duties,” the ACLU argues, adding that Brown’s termination was due to “unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination” and that evidence the state produced in the case “confirms that conclusion.”
FWC posted to social media following the Libs of TikTok post that “comments and actions of this individual are not in line with the FWC, our values, or our mission. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards the promotion of violence and hate, and we will not stand for such behavior.”
The state claimed Brown’s social media repost resulted in hundreds of documented complaints, disrupting FWC operations. Later, it was revealed that approximately 50 documented complaints reached the department and most of those complaints did not reach the people who decided to fire Brown, her attorneys argue.
Background
Brown was a biological scientist studying shorebirds and seabirds at the Tyndall Air Force Base Critical Wildlife Area.
According to the suit filed by Brown, she received performance-based bonuses every year since 2019.
“For over seven years, I showed up to work for Florida and protected our imperiled species. I loved my job; I believed I made a difference and I was proud to work alongside hundreds of dedicated biologists across the state. I never could have imagined that expressing a personal opinion on my own time — separate and unrelated to my work — would end my career overnight,” Brown said in a news release from the ACLU.
“Public employees do not surrender their constitutional rights when they accept a government job. No one should have to choose between their livelihood and their freedom of speech,” Brown said.
FWC has no formal policies governing employees’ private social media accounts, Brown’s attorneys argue.
“FWC’s actions make one thing clear: some state officials are willing to protect speech only when they agree with the message. Political pressure from Tallahassee has reached so deeply into state government that agency leaders feel compelled to enforce a preferred ideology. That kind of state-sanctioned suppression creates a culture of fear, corrodes public trust, and has no place in a free society,” ACLU Florida Executive Director Bacardi Jackson said in the news release.
Kirk’s death and those who made subsequent social media postings prompted firings similar to Brown’s nationwide. When it did not cause firings, it at times caused public backlash and political tension, such as for the Alachua Countyschool board.
“Plaintiff is a scientist, not a public information officer, and her primary job duties do not include regular interaction with the public on behalf of the FWC. Her natural constituency is birds; not human beings,” Brown’s attorneys wrote in their complaint.
The lawsuit mentions, but does not involve, two other FWC employees terminated shortly after Brown “for similar posts.”
The case is in front of U.S. Judge Mark Walker in the Northern District of Florida. Walker denied Brown’s request for a preliminary injunction in November.
“Defendants try to twist the explanation for Plaintiff’s termination, claiming they fired her based on the public’s reaction to her speech and not because of her speech. But that dog won’t hunt,” Walker wrote in his denial of a preliminary injunction.
Since then, the plaintiff’s team learned that the agency had exaggerated the blowback, the ACLU argues, leaving the state’s version of events a “a smoldering crater.”
“FWC has intentionally exacerbated Plaintiff’s injuries by litigating in bad faith, as well as interfering with Plaintiff’s reputation within a tiny professional community, precluding her future employment in Florida and likely beyond. Even now, after the full evidentiary record shines a spotlight on Defendants’ perfidy, FWC still refuses to admit wrongdoing,” the brief reads.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.
Jay covers education for the Florida Phoenix. He previously worked for the Iowa Capital Dispatch and the Iowa State Daily. He grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of Iowa State University.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
