Never-to-back-down Governor Ron DeSantis abandons Florida park plan

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday abandoned a widely criticized plan to build housing complexes in nine state parks, curiously blaming the firestorm on documents “intentionally leaked to a left-wing group” about a proposal his own spokespeople had been promoting on social media last week.

DeSantis called the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s proposal “half-baked” and said he had “never seen” the plans before news of it spread like wildfire last week, sparking a bipartisan backlash. But he also acknowledged — as has been reported — that he had been approached by an outside nonprofit, Folds of Honor, about the possibility of adding a golf course to a state park, an idea remarkably similar to the DEP’s now-abandoned plan, developed at the request of a mysterious foundation close to Folds of Honor, to add three golf courses to Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

It was a clumsy and strained defense of his administration. For example, the conspiratorial edge of his explanation—that documents were leaked to a “left-wing group” he didn’t identify—flies in the face of the obvious fact that the DEP had originally scheduled hearings this week to supposedly solicit public input on the toxic plans, not to mention the fact that the government documents are public documents by their very nature, despite DeSantis’ Nixonian fixation on executive secrecy, and therefore cannot really be leak in a meaningful sense.

This claim also seems to imply that the plans were to be kept secret. Otherwise, what difference would it make if people were informed of the DEP’s elaborate plans, on which their views were supposed to be sought before any action was taken?

DeSantis’ announcement puts an end to the immediate controversy, but it does little to shed light on where this toxic proposal came from. How did it get here? DeSantis has been oddly passive at times, suggesting that “people asked” for changes at some national parks. Really? Is it even necessary to “ask” for a 350-room hotel at Anastasia Park to get the DEP up and running? There’s clearly a lot to learn here.

The parks controversy and DeSantis’s withdrawal capped one of the most grueling non-presidential campaign weeks of his tenure as Florida governor. Last week, voters across Florida, including in some very conservative districts, rejected several of the candidates he had endorsed and appointed to public office, a sure sign that his image is not what it used to be. The DEP’s parks plan has been criticized by nearly every prominent Republican leader in the state, none of whom seem concerned about upsetting a governor with whom they once marched in lockstep.

On Wednesday, DeSantis — perhaps the most powerful governor in modern Florida history — seemed almost sheepish.

“I’m completely fine with doing nothing,” he said.

Nate Monroe is a Florida columnist for USA Today. Follow him on Twitter @NateMonroeTUEmail him at [email protected].

This article was originally published on Florida Times-Union: Ron DeSantis blames ‘left-wing group’ for state park backlash