In the case of James Gaddis, the state got frisky with technicalities.
Anyone with two fighting brain cells can see that James Gaddis was a whistleblower. He could not be more of a whistleblower if he wore a conductor’s hat and tooted out the theme to “Thomas and Friends.” Gaddis was Mickey Mouse operating a steamboat, OK? If he was a mountain in British Columbia, he would be Whistler.
Alas, his opponents have successfully argued in court that he’s not a whistleblower at all. A lawyer for Florida’s environmental agency maintained this week that Gaddis, a fired cartographer who leaked plans to build golf courses and hotels on state parks, doesn’t qualify for whistleblower protections. In the state’s view, he was just an employee with a difference of policy opinion.
Sure! Let’s review the totally normal, definitely not suspicious activity that led to the disintegration of Florida’s proposed polo shirt playgrounds:
Gaddis claimed he learned of the secretive park plans in a meeting via a Post-It note from the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis. He said a supervisor later made him hide the plans in another legit, above-board folder called “DirectTV Subscription Info.” Because where else does one store information about pickleball courts on public lands?
In 2024, Gaddis wrote an anonymous memo about the plan that would threaten acres of habitat full of native species. The Tampa Bay Times obtained it and broke news of the alarming plot.
Surely you remember the fallout: bipartisan uproar...
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