Here’s a question for you: Did Florida DEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton know about the controversial and now (temporarily) shelved plan to develop Florida’s state parks?

Given that the Department of Environmental Protection was riding herd over the project, it would make sense that the Secretary would know that Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office had ordered DEP staff to basically drop everything and expedite plans to build golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, huge hotels in other parks, plus pickleball courts and more.

So did Hamilton support the idea? Was he involved in the effort to push these terrible plans through as quickly as possible? Where does the buck stop on this?

And why has there been no accountability?

By most accounts Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office was the driving force behind this terrible plan. But the Florida DEP has long been disparaged by critics who say “DEP” ought to stand for “Don’t Expect Protection.”

And here, with this parks proposal, is proof of the department actually working against Floridians. At the governor’s behest? Maybe. But someone needs to be held accountable, if Floridians are to have any faith in the agency.

We are not suggesting rank-and-file employees should pay a price; we’re sure many are as appalled as we are by this whole episode. And indeed, the only one punished in the wake of the controversy was James Gaddis, the whistleblower who leaked word of the plan, who was subsequently fired. Then the department leaked his personnel file to the media in an attempt to smear him.

What message do you think was sent to DEP employees? How does this in any way serve the people of Florida, DEP’s constituency?

This parks fiasco may be over (for now), but under no circumstances should we let FDEP leadership OR the Governor’s office off the hook. Indeed, DeSantis may have set the. DEP up as the fall guy here. But bottom line, they’ll do this again unless we send a clear message: The higher-ups responsible for the parks plan need to take full responsibility for it. They — not the whistleblowers; not the workers, not the people of Florida — screwed up here.

And someone needs to fall on their sword as a good-faith effort to show the people of Florida that the DEP — and the Governor — is a friend rather than the enemy of clean water, a healthy environment — and the people of Florida themselves.