Florida state parks whistleblower fired after exposing Ron DeSantis’s plans | James Gaddis tanked Florida governor’s secretive scheme to build hotels and golf courses over acres of preserved land
This may be different. Protests were not partisan. There was uproar from those without deep pockets across the whole spectrum. While I don't doubt some dipshits will still do it, it'll probably be fewer than other, more hyper-partisan issues.
Seems like they can always find something. Or make up something to fire a person over. “He was 5 minutes late for a meeting in 1975” or other bullshit.
You can still sue if that punishment isn't being consistently applied. It's a civil trial, so you don't have to prove retaliation beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Glad to see people supporting this guy on his GoFundMe page. He was fired, but has probably made more in the last few days than he would have in 2 years. Doing the right thing not only stopped the project, but also worked out well for him personally.
It is funny because I was just explaining to someone a week ago why states should not control all the federal lands.
He was one of those guys who heard the state's rights propaganda. I explained that states have not been a good steward of the land in the past and what typically happens is monied interests try to take control.
Low and behold we have another state showing us why we can't trust them. Trying to convert public lands into private ones to make a quick buck and get more campaign money.
Fuck this plan. Those parks he wants to pave over, many are in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate markets here. Oleta park is the last mangrove habitat in the area, beach, trails, but the mangroves are the most important. Fuckers want to tear it down for pickle ball and golf so rich asses in the area have more stuff to do that they need to pay for so the city and county profit, instead of a park that's almost free for many people to enjoy.
It's crazy to me people are still willing to blow any whistles. I've yet to see a single person rewarded for doing the right thing. Society is doing its absolute darndest to make sure we learn that despite the lip service paid to whistleblowers, you're actually just turning yourself into public enemy number one and get railroaded.
Killing the plan, leaving a clearly toxic work environment, forever can put "stopped racist asswipe from destroying protected nature reserves" on your resume, name in national news etc etc
I think you'll find that getting another job after whistleblowing is anything but the norm. In most cases you'll be blacklisted/blackballed and will either have to move, emigrate completely or go into a completely different career.
I absolutely applaud the guy of course, but I don't think I'd be as brave as he is.
Republicans want people to think that all government employees are just lazy grifters. It's not true. Many of them are like this brave man who worked in a position where he could make a difference and help protect the environment he cares about, as the Florida DEP is supposed to. When the scumbags running the state and the DEP crossed he line, he stood up to stop them. I hope he finds a satisfying position with another organization that is honestly focused on protecting the environment.
Speaking with the Tampa Bay Times on Monday, Gaddis said preservation of the state parks was more important to him than his position.
“It was the absolute flagrant disregard for the critical, globally imperiled habitat in these parks,” he said. “This was going to be a complete bulldozing of all of that habitat. The secrecy was totally confusing and very frustrating. No state agency should be behaving like this.”