Florida State Park whistleblower fires to sue state retaliation agency

A state employee who leaked plans to develop nine Florida State Parks with golf courses, hotels and other amenities alleges in a new lawsuit that Gov. Ron DeSantis retaliated against him.

Whistleblower James Gaddis claims in the lawsuit that he was “differently treated and retaliated” by DeSantis, former director of Florida Environmental Protection Agency Sean Hamilton, and DeSantis, Director Jake Vick, after releasing information about the secret plan.

Gaddis filed a civil complaint on May 29th in Leon County Circuit Court, including Tallahassee.

According to court records, Gaddis is seeking at least $50,000 in damages, claiming illegal termination. Environmental department spokesman Alexandra Kuchta said the agency had not commented on the pending lawsuit.

A spokesman for the governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The seven-page complaint alleges that the former Gaddis team, the Park Planning Office, was instructed to begin creating maps and park development plans around August 1st last year.

Parks employees were told not to talk to colleagues about the plan, the complaint alleges.

According to a lawsuit filed by Tallahassee-based employment and civil rights lawyer Marie Matox, Gaddis was increasingly irritated by the rushing secret behind a plan that would result in “significant environmental destruction.”

“(Gaddis) felt like he was mapping future crime scenes,” reads the lawsuit filed under Florida’s Whistleblower Act.

Claiming that his previous agency was hiding documents from the public on behalf of DeSantis, Gaddis copied the plan to a flash drive and gave it to the intermediary.

On August 20th, the Tampa Bay Times defeated the park plan news.

“These plans to build recreational facilities in sensitive habitats over the next two weeks have become the state’s biggest news story and sparked bipartisan condemnation of the (Environmental Protection Agency) and the governor’s office,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit alleges that 10 days after the park’s plans were broken, Gaddis admitted to drafting an anonymous memo to Vic. He took administrative leave and was fired the next day.

In response to the public backlash against the parks plan, the Florida Legislature unanimously passed the State Park Preservation Act in May. This increases transparency regarding the park’s government plans and prohibits golf courses and hotels on protected park land.

Desantis signed the bill on May 22nd.

In a statement to the Times, Gaddis wrote, “The passage of the State Parks Preservation Act was itself a proof that it had made the right decision last August.”

Gaddis continued: “I am fortunate enough to have the support of a solid lawyer and I am confident in the positive outcomes from the legal process.”

A few days after he was fired, the Desantis administration released some of Gaddis’s personnel files detailing the issues from previous state jobs, The Times reported earlier.

Another department under DeSantis, the Healthcare Administration, has announced some of Gadis’s personnel files to the Gainesville TV news station, despite not requesting such documents.

The file details how the women filed human resources complaints and how they filed police reports on Gaddis when they both worked in health care management after the romantic relationship ended.

Gaddis was not criminally charged in the case. He resigned in exchange for being fired in early 2022, and in a recent lawsuit he was hired by the Environmental Protection Agency in March 2022.

After news of his firing spread, the public donated more than $250,000 to GoFundMe, which supports him.

Times staff writer Emily L. Mahony contributed to this report.

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