Hi, kids!

It’s time once again to turn a jaundiced eye toward the news and newsmakers of the day who, in my cynical opinion, either contributed to our quality of life or detracted from it in some significant way:

This week, Barker’s View is focused on a single issue that I believe threatens to impact every resident of Florida: The half-baked idea of eliminating or drastically reducing property taxes to exsanguinate small cities and counties, then forcing everyone into the massive bureaucracies that will take their place.

Ineffective and unapproachable centralized governments that concentrate power and are more easily controlled by special interests than a mosaic of unique communities each practicing self-governance under home rule authority.  

Last month, the Florida DOGE Report recommended reducing “wasteful and excessive spending” by the dissolution or consolidation of municipalities – small communities that have historically lived within their means and become comfortable hometowns for families seeking to escape urban sprawl, crime, density, noise, and big city traffic and living expenses.    

Now, Floridian’s face the very real possibility that small and mid-sized communities who attempt to protect their character with strategic planning and growth management regulations – or those who rebel against intrusive carte blanche overdevelopment – will be sacrificed on the altar of greed.  

The term “small” remains subjective and undefined, so just assume your city is in the state’s crosshairs…

Why is our demonstrably compromised state government pushing to eliminate your hometown and mine?

“Do as I Say, Not as I do”: Is the State of Florida is Coming for Your Hometown?

“Florida should review the 411 municipalities for potential opportunities to provide local government services more efficiently through abolition or consolidation, with particular attention paid to small municipalities and highly urbanized counties.

Consideration should be given to creating incentives to encourage the simplification of local government through the consolidation of municipalities.”

–Florida DOGE Report on Local Government Spending, Page 99, “Recommendations for Improved Governance, Fiscal Responsibility, and Streamlined Government Services,” January 2026

For the bulk of my adult life, I was a staunch Republican.   

Like my father and grandfather before me, I was drawn to the tenets of a party that (I thought) stressed the values of fiscal conservatism, reasonable taxation to fund efficient essential services, free market capitalism, a strong national defense, and holding sacrosanct the concept of law and order balanced with the personal freedoms and inalienable rights enshrined in the United States Constitution for all Americans.

A party that once embraced a concept President Ronald Reagan described as a ‘social safety net’ for those who, through no fault of their own, are truly unable to care for themselves.

I was particularly fond of the GOP’s concept of small, responsive, and accessible government, legislating local regulations with the input of those affected, and protecting the unique character of communities through the concept of self-government.

Over a decade ago, I sent a letter to the Republican Party of Florida voicing a concern on the direction of the party.  I assume that when a staffer in Tallahassee opened the envelope and a check didn’t fall out my note was expeditiously sent to the round file… 

Regardless, I never received a response. 

But they did…

The next day, I went to the Volusia County Supervisor of Elections and changed my registration to No Party Affiliation. 

I’ve never looked back.

Apparently, I am not alone in my distain for the two major political parties, factions that seem intent on dividing us along every social and civic fault line while tearing our nation apart from the inside out, as some 102,000 (26%) Volusia County registered voters now list themselves as No Party Affiliate…

Now, I have the ability to analyze the issues we collectively face from a vantage point uncluttered by the incendiary chaff spewed from both sides of the aisle.  The partisan rhetoric, political arm-twisting, and demands for lockstep loyalty to the decisions of party insiders on both sides who hand select malleable candidates and do the bidding of mysterious behind-the-scenes financial backers with a profit motive. 

Trust me, when you take the partisan blinders off, the clarity can be shocking…

I recently had the opportunity to review the much anticipated “Report on Local Government Spending” – a/k/a “The Florida DOGE Report” – the results of oddly conducted “audits” of some local governments around the state and billed as an effort to root out “egregious” waste, fraud, and abuse that has reportedly befallen Florida cities and counties.   

(Read it for yourself here: https://tinyurl.com/6rxupvm7 )

Except the state’s investigation didn’t find any fraud.

Instead, the report accused thirteen of the state’s largest local governments of squandering taxpayer dollars on various things like subsidies for public radio stations, “Barely used bicycle lanes,” “costly-to-operate and low-ridership transit systems,” spending on “the homeless,” pay increases for executives and staff, new office acquisition, and anything remotely associated with “Art,” etc.– essentially any local spending those political spinmeisters in the CFO’s office in Tallahassee could paint as “wasteful.”

Unfortunately, the report lost me after the executive summary, which laughably held out the State of Florida as the perfect example of fiscal stewardship and accountability: “The example of the State illustrates that this level of fiscal responsibility is attainable.”

Later in the report, the Orwellian denialism got so deep I needed stilts to stay above it:

“State government has shown that disciplined budgeting, transparency, and good faith reviews can be done without weakening public safety or core services. If the state can operate under these standards, there is no credible reason local governments cannot.”

Does anything about that statement ring true?

For instance, while reviewing the “government efficiency” report, I found no mention of the “Hope Florida” scandal – frightening allegations of money laundering and wire fraud that reached the highest levels of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration. 

The debacle centered on questions surrounding $10 million reportedly diverted from a state Medicaid settlement to the Hope Florida Foundation, an organization associated with First Lady Casey DeSantis and ultimately funneled through a labyrinth of political committees to Gov. DeSantis’ campaign to stop a recreational marijuana referendum.  

Last week, Florida news outlets reported that the United States Department of Justice reviewed the matter and found “…no predicate to open up an intake on this, and no further action is anticipated.”

I know this comes as a shocker, but scuttlebutt around Tallahassee says no state criminal charges will be forthcoming either…

Now, Gov. DeSantis claims the entire bruhaha was a “hoax” and a “witch hunt,” with Attorney General James Uthmeier – now our state’s chief law enforcement officer – using Florida legalese to describe the whole thing a “nothingburger.”

Glad we got we got to the bottom of that ugly mess…

In another example of the state’s idea of “financial stewardship,” does anyone remember when the DeSantis administration used a sentence (authored by a lobbyist working on behalf of a developer) that was wedged into last year’s state budget appropriating $83.3 million in public funds to purchase a sliver of land in Destin (ostensibly for “conservation”) that was majority owned by a real-estate developer and prolific political donor doing business in Florida and Louisiana?

According to reports, the landowner donated some $250,000 to Gov. DeSantis during his first campaign for Florida governor…

In turn, Florida residents paid some $20 million an acre – more than 10 times what the developer and his partners paid for the land less than ten-years ago – a deal that conservationists have branded a “sham” against the citizens of Florida.

In my view, that’s not a bad ROI, eh?

Don’t get me started on the legendary use of “emergency powers” to gift millions in “no-bid” contracts to political donors that many believe reek of quid pro quo corruption.

Here’s a few more examples of our state government’s idea of “disciplined budgeting,” “transparency,” and “fiscal responsibility.” 

Last week, news broke of a growing scandal involving the upper echelons of Gov. DeSantis’ “Florida Guard” – a military force separate from the Florida National Guard with an annual budget in excess of $35 million – that ostensibly stands ready to assist in the event of an emergency.

According to reports, senior members of the Florida Guard – comprised of former military officers to include members of U.S. special operations forces – lived up to their oath and attempted to report the gross waste, fraud, and abuse of public funds and assets by the Guard’s command to the DeSantis administration.   

Internal whistleblowers reported that Florida Guard Director Mark Thieme misused the organization’s aircraft and instructor pilots – apparently racking up $100,000 in flight time and related costs by misusing state resources to train for his private pilot certificate.

In addition, last year, James Ethridge, a retired United States Navy Commander and experienced aviator was hired to “analyze and fix safety issues with the guard’s Aviation Response Squadron.” 

The Ethridge audit uncovered “severe” safety, administrative, compliance, and procedural violations in the Guard’s aviation function, to include mismanagement that saw “millions of dollars wasted.”

For his efforts to keep guard member’s safe and protect our tax dollars, Ethridge was summarily drummed out of the Guard by the DeSantis administration… 

According to a scathing report by Jeffrey Schweers writing in the Orlando Sentinel:

“Three weeks after he was hired and days after sharing his concerns with the guard’s executive director Mark Thieme and then-chief of staff Jay Arnold, Ethridge was fired. Arnold told him by phone that “it just wasn’t working out,” but in his official letter of termination said the cause was “a result of your failure to follow directives, and conduct unbecoming a public employee,” Ethridge said.

The DeSantis administration managed to keep Ethridge’s concerns, and those of other guard employees, under wraps until last week, when the Sentinel broke the news that senior officers, pilots and soldiers were leaving the agency after alleging misuse of taxpayer dollars, unreported sexual harassment claims and poor planning and budgeting by the agency’s top executives.”

On January 14, Command Sergeant Major Michael Pintacura, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran who helped oversee the Guard’s Special Missions Unit, submitted his resignation citing his “loss of confidence” in Director Thieme’s ability to “exercise sound, informed and accountable judgment.”

According to an earlier report in the Sentinel, “Pintacura said he was most concerned about a “sustained pattern of compromised integrity, lack of accountability in maintaining budget controls and equipment tracking,” retaliating against perceived criticism and detrimental decision-making regarding mission authorization and the use of guard resources.

Pintacura’s resignation comes on the heels of the forced ouster of Lt. Col. Jordan Bowen for refusing to give what he thought was an unlawful command to another guard member, and the resignation of a half-dozen other officers and guard members over disagreements with Thieme and the alleged misspending of state resources.”

As I understand it, when current and former Guard members brought their concerns to Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins and DeSantis Chief of Staff Jason Weida – nothing was done to alleviate the reported waste, fraud, and dysfunction. 

Yeah.  I know…who audits the auditors?

I was reminded of these and other alarming examples of using public funds to facilitate Florida’s infamous pay-to-play system of governance when I came to the end of the Florida DODGE report and the true purpose of this well-choreographed exercise became frighteningly clear. 

In my view, compromised state officials want to dissolve small and mid-size communities – strangulating municipal and county governments by cutting off the supply of tax dollars that fund our local essential services – forcing their absorption by larger neighboring governments (the same ones the state accused of wasteful and excessive spending) as a mean of removing any further local regulatory hurdles to more, more, more malignant development across the state.  

This has nothing to do with government efficiency and everything to do with a major donor’s bottom line…

What? 

Your family likes its small-town way of life? 

One with accessible elected officials and tailored essential services, like police, fire, EMS, city utilities, emergency management, planning, and recreation – overseen by a responsive locally elected body comprised of your neighbors who listen to your concerns, value input in community decisions, and provide an excellent quality of life in a place with a unique civic and historical identity? 

You don’t want to become just another neglected appendage of an irresponsible, inaccessible, and unaccountable massive bureaucracy with a history of overspending, waste and abuse? 

Tough shit, rube… 

The state wants Florida’s municipalities eating out of their hands like baby birds – beholden to Tallahassee for their survival – not likely to make waves for influential political donors with a chip in the game who are tired of navigating local growth management regulations.  

I realize it’s hard to feel sorry for those cities and counties who continue to live beyond their means, using clockwork tax increases to fund massive salary and benefit increases for already overpaid senior executives, construct Taj Mahal facilities, and build bloated bureaucracies in place of manageable, efficient, and effective public services. 

For years I have screamed to anyone who would listen about the importance of maintaining stable, effective, and efficient local governance.

This is different. 

In fact, it threatens everything Floridian’s hold dear. 

Now it is clear why the DeSantis administration is pushing to eliminate property taxes without any viable option – the life blood of Florida counties and municipalities – coupled with a sustained effort by the Florida legislature to strip Home Rule protections and preempt local decision-making to the state.

It has nothing to do with saving us money.  I assure you, the state is going to wring it out of us one way or another…

In my view, this is a well-orchestrated effort to destroy municipalities, eviscerate responsive local services, and remove any further local impediments to the mercenary wants of those special interests who own the soul of the State of Florida. 

Let’s protect our beautiful mosaic of communities that form the backbone of Volusia County and beyond from this pernicious push to destroy our way of life while the state continues to normalize pay-to-play politics.

Florida voters are responsible for the leaders we have chosen. We have the power and responsibility to future generations to elect state legislators who respect the character and independence of our hometowns and the quaint communities our forefathers built, over the mercenary wants of those special interests who own the paper on their political souls.

Elections have consequences.  Real change begins at the ballot box.  

It is time to let those who view Tallahassee as their personal candy store know there is some shit We, The Little People won’t eat…