Flights of Fantasy

In what appears to be round two of public concern over air travel by the Governor’s Office, the Eternal OptiCrist has admitted to accepting flights on corporate jets owned by several high profile businessmen and GOP contributors. The Sun Sentinel reported Sunday that since taking office two years ago, the OptiCrist has flown more than 100 times on wealthy businessmen's jets to attend concerts, dinners, sporting events and political gatherings. He takes private planes to and from St. Petersburg and Miami, where he and his wife have homes. But the Luv Guv has refused to answer questions or produce documents about the flights despite repeated inquiry, and he continues to defend using the jets as a way to save tax dollars. All of which raises the question…what is he hiding? And why is he hiding it?

After all, this is the Guv, who on his second day in office, issued an Executive Order creating the Office of Open Government. That order states, in part, the Luv Guv’s commitment “to serve Florida with integrity and transparency…to assure full and expeditious compliance with Florida’s open government and public records laws, and (to ensure) that the Office of the Governor complies with public records requests in an expeditious manner.” So now he is breaking the rules. And by his actions he is truly transparent, just not in the way he intended when he issued the Executive Order.

And then there’s the little issue of the Gift Ban, that pesky law passed a few years intended to curb the cozy relationships between lobbyists and lawmakers. No more free cups of coffee, meals, or other items. Florida Statute 112.3148 states the Eternal OptiCrist is “prohibited from knowingly accepting, directly or indirectly, a gift…from a lobbyist…or principal of such lobbyist, where such gift is for the personal benefit of the reporting individual.” A principal is the entity represented by the lobbyist.

So the Luv Guv must pay the market value of any gift and report to the Ethics Commission these dealing each year. And although he has been accepting these flights for at least two years, he has not made any such disclosure to the Commission. A check of state records shows Dr. Steven Scott, one of those who have provided the jets, may be a principal in Vista Health Plan, Inc., a south Florida health insurance company that employs several lobbyists.

All this means the Luv Guv must pay his own way. Even if the flights are taken for personal business, they are viewed by the State as gifts and must be disclosed. It’s hypocritical for the Eternal OptiCrist to stand on a platform of “integrity and transparency” while refusing to answer questions or produce documents about his conduct.

His failure to address the issue raises serious concern about violations of state ethics laws that cannot be ignored.