Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused of lack of transparency, sued again in Tallahassee

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been hit with another lawsuit accusing his office of a lack of transparency in how it responds – or doesn’t respond – to public records requests.

American Oversight, a government accountability watchdog organization, sued the governor’s office last week in Leon County Circuit Civil court, saying it delayed providing public information, contrary to state law.

DeSantis' “unlawful delay in responding to public records has undermined Florida’s long-held commitment to government transparency,” said Heather Sawyer, American Oversight’s executive director, in a statement.

American Oversight says it has 23 public records requests pending with the office, specifically mentioning 12 of them in its suit. The group has been waiting for more than a year with many of them, it says, and two to three years with some.

That includes requests for the office’s communications with certain corporate and right-wing leaders about abortion restrictions , as well as communications about controversial education topics , like DeSantis’ targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

“Without intervention from the court, it is very likely that DeSantis’ office will continue its pattern of noncompliance with Florida’s Public Records Act through delay tactics and inconsistent response practices and times,” Sawyer said.

American Oversight is being represented by Tampa free speech law firm Thomas & LoCicero, which also represents media outlets ranging from Newsmax to Gannett, the parent company of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida.

A request for comment on the suit was pending with the governor’s press office as of Tuesday afternoon.

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It's one lawsuit of many involving Ron DeSantis

To be sure, courtrooms in Florida’s capital county have been busy with cases involving the DeSantis administration and public records.

The nonprofit Florida Center for Government Accountability, for example, accused the state Department of Transportation and a contractor of not properly responding to records requests about DeSantis’s 2022 relocation of nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Its lawsuit was dismissed last year by a Tallahassee-based circuit judge but is now before a state appeals court .

That group also sued DeSantis’ office over accusations of withholding records on the controversial migrant relocation. A different Leon County judge agreed, and that case is also under appeal.

Also in state appeals court is a case stemming from a Leon County lawsuit by someone who filed an anonymous public records request trying to figure out who helped DeSantis select Florida Supreme Court justices. The unnamed individual sued after not getting the information within several weeks.

In response, DeSantis’ attorneys argued the request was vague and seeks information that is not what’s statutorily defined as "public records." They also say that an unnamed person can’t use the courts to get public records, and even if they could, the records in question would be protected by “executive privilege.”

Open records advocates and media groups say how the court rules on that point could dramatically affect the public’s ability to get information in Florida, a state long known for its open records laws.

DeSantis' interpretation "runs afoul of the virtually unfettered right of access and serves no public purpose," wrote organizations including the Florida Center for Government Accountability and the League of Women Voters of Florida in a friend-of-the-court brief . “In the 178 years that Florida has existed, not a single court decision has recognized the existence of any executive privilege.”

Another high-profile case in Leon County: The Washington Post sued over a new state law shielding DeSantis’ travel records.

That case became even more noteworthy after the litigation uncovered that, as reported by The Post , top DeSantis aides prevented records on taxpayer-funded travel from being released and retaliated against those who disagreed.

"It's deeply disturbing and deeply frustrating that our governor continually thumbs his nose at our constitutional right of access," said Barbara Petersen, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, in an interview. "Every time there's a lawsuit, the people of Florida are paying to defend our governor for violating our rights."

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused of lack of transparency, sued again in Tallahassee