Florida State Employee Fired After Leaking Secret Plans About State Parks!

A former Florida state employee who leaked details on plans to add golf courses, pickleball courts and lodges at state parks says he was fired last week from his job at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) but doesn’t regret making the proposals public.

James Gaddis set up a GoFundMe page claiming he was terminated by the Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Park Planning. He lost his job, he said, after leaking a “secret, fast-tracked plan to build golf courses, 350-room hotels, disc golf courts, and pickleball courts within critical habitats across 9 of our Florida State Parks.”

“These atrocious proposals, which were not going to be released until the day before the scheduled public meetings, have been suspended for now, and we are all feeling great about that,” Gaddis wrote.

“As a state employee and single dad working a weekend side-job, I knew that sounding the alarm was a risky move. However, I saw myself as a public servant first and felt that it was the only ethical thing to do.”

The Tampa Bay Times’ Politifact reported the newspaper had received leaked plans before the DEP press release went out.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis made clear last week in Polk County he wasn't happy with whoever leaked the plans to further develop state parks.

"A lot of that stuff was just half-baked, and it was not ready for prime time, and it was intentionally leaked out to a left-wing group to try to create a narrative," shared DeSantis.

James Gaddis was a cartographer in the Office of Park Planning where he said he was personally tasked with drawing the plans to add amenities to nine state parks, including the three golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

“I was drawing the golf course polygons and putting a point down where the hotel was going to go in Anastasia State Park (near St. Augustine) and I was already disgusted but it just kept getting worse and worse,” Gaddis said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post on Monday. “I said, ‘What I am mapping out here is too bad and too egregious and I can’t take this anymore.’”

Environmentalists said they were caught off guard by the plans, which began circulating around Aug. 19 with the announcement by DEP of the Great Outdoors Initiative meant to increase public visits to state parks. The plans were so unexpected and unusual that some people even believed in the beginning that the documents released were fake.

DEP employees who were asked to create the plans also initially thought the request was a joke, Gaddis said. He said DeSantis is generally well regarded within the DEP because of the money he's dedicated to the environment and buying land for conservation. Gaddis said that's why the park plans were even more of a "head-scratcher."

The statewide public outcry against the proposed park additions forced Gov. DeSantis and the DEP to withdraw all planned changes last week. Groups pushing the golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson — Tuskegee Dunes Foundation and Folds of Honor — also pulled the plug on the project.

The state scheduled public meetings for Aug. 27, but they were canceled as public anger rose.

A letter of termination from DEP deputy secretary Mara Gambineri to Gaddis says, "He intentionally released unauthorized and inaccurate information to the public. At least one document was created, authored and disseminated by you without direction or permission," and that he admitted doing so during work hours using department equipment.

The letter says "employees shall not bring discredit or embarrassment to the state."

The letter to Gaddis does not specify what information he released that the state considers inaccurate.

James GaddisPhoto byWPTV Palm Beach