Corruption matters, to our waterways and our state

VoteWater has long held that political corruption is a key factor in Florida’s ongoing water crisis. A previous iteration of our mission statement cited the need to “fight political corruption in Florida by galvanizing public resolve to end the systemic pollution and mismanagement of our waterways.” Corruption is why we put together our “Dirty Money Project,” to demonstrate how big bucks from special interests influence political decisions that affect our waterways.

The Hope Florida scandal has the feel of the straw that broke the camel’s back. Certainly the sum involved, $10 million, is dwarfed by the amount frittered away at Alligator Alcatraz thanks to Attorney General James Uthmeier and the broader DeSantis administration. But it’s all cut from the same corrupt cloth.

Where Uthmeir goes, corruption follows and that has implications for clean water. In the 1980s there was an iconic political cartoon lampooning then-Interior Secretary James Watt, an environmental villain, which showed him walking out of his way to stomp on a flower.

That’s Uthmeier. As a high-level staffer in the Governor’s Office he helped hatch the harebrained plan to develop Florida’s state parks. At “Alligator Alcatraz,” Uthmeier saw the Everglades not as a priceless natural resource to be protected, but as a swamp to be exploited for political gain. 

Now Hope Florida.

What next?

Making the Attorney General race particularly compelling is the fact Uthmeier’s opponent, Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez, is the real deal. During his time as a state legislator he consistently stood up for environmental causes, even receiving “The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Defender of the Everglades” award from Friends of the Everglades. He’s been victimized by political corruption in the past, knows the cost and had vowed to fight it, not wallow in it like his opponent. He promises to fight for Floridians, not the special interests that continue to call all the shots in Tallahassee.

The choice couldn’t be clearer for clean water — and everything else.