Weaponized Bureaucrats Part 7
Kleptocrats are a sign of an unhealthy Democracy
June 8, 2023, was the last time I published a piece on the weaponization of civil servants under the DeSantis administration. To date, “Weaponized Bureaucrats” has remained an incomplete six-part series.
It sat dormant because of legal action that consumed my every moment. That battle has ended. For now. So, here’s “Weaponized Bureaucrats” Part 7. But first, a quick recap.
About four years after the DeSantis v. Beaven Congressional campaign, I was tired of waiting for the Florida Department of Education to implement essential and needed changes in the federal law governing Vocational Rehabilitation. Specifically, transition services for disabled high school students that are designed to help prepare for life, work, and school as a young adult. The law passed in 2014, was one of Congressman DeSantis’ first “yea” votes, but here he was running for Governor in 2018, and Florida was woefully behind in getting services to the people who needed them. Read more in Part 1.
In Part 2, we dive right into the meat of it. The troubling interference into a routine audit. The overreaction by senior-level government officials at the Florida Department of Education as they tried to insert undue influence on the Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG). Many of these same players, none of which had any history of successfully running a large, complex organization, would find themselves being accused of inappropriately interfering with the IG during the Jefferson County Bid Rigging Scandal, which is now under federal investigation thanks to meticulous reporting by Billy Townsend and the Tampa Bay Times.
Part 3 dives into the end of the audit. In the end, just as dozens of times before, pointed to a lack of oversight within the Department. Still, the Department decided to duck and cover when they should have been cleaning house.
Part 4 is a look at the toll it takes on the target of those who are authorized and willing to abuse their power. As Dan Christensen reported in Florida Bulldog, the stress can be life-altering, and the callous disregard can be deadly. In my experience, people of high empathy can not work for people devoid of empathy and, therefore, eventually, all that is left is the apathetic and the cruel.
Part 5 is a little ray of hope. A new Vocational Rehabilitation Director and a new Commissioner of Education. But that was just the calm before another storm.
In Part 6, the storm clouds are rolling in. In a fit of ego, the new Division Director took offense to my candor during a series of meetings with the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. His reaction was so incomparable with good governance that something in me switched and I decided enough is enough.
Part 7: Kleptocrats Can’t Hide Forever
When I received the October 2022 letter demanding “documentation demonstrating that its services do not supplant those the respective school districts must provide” by January 1, 2023, I wasn’t terribly concerned.
This question has been asked and answered in Louisiana, Maine, Kentucky, Indiana, and Kansas. At the time, I saw it as a matter to be resolved simply and quickly. I didn’t yet know that Brent McNeal forwarded the email he sent to me to his leadership team just one minute later.
And I didn’t know that five minutes after that, he forwarded it to the 750+ people who work for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. I didn’t know until the Department was forced to provide me these emails in a public records request that the January 1, 2023 deadline given me was never real.
Public records laws are vital to keeping our civil servants and elected officials accountable. Without them, I would have never known all the plotting, planning and scheming that was going on behind the scenes.
Up Next? Mismanagement, Hostility, Paranoia and Anonymous Letters.
There are nine people in the 4:32 PM email thread, six of whom have resigned from the Florida Department of Education. We’re gonna talk about that next.